Peters Winston: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Peters Winston: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 28 November 2012. Volume:686;Page:6863. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. The backroom deal with China Southern Airlines should set alarm bells ringing loud and clear. We used to have an enviable record of probity and transparency. That counts for nothing with this Government. Cutting a deal is what counts—any sort of deal—and if possible cutting a deal away from public scrutiny. [ 
Interruption 
] I tell you Mr Banks that that issue will be dealt with with speed and with honesty and integrity not like the way he is being handled in this House—OK? Cutting a deal away from public scrutiny giving special visa privileges to gold and silver card frequent flyers on China Southern Airlines would be laughable if it did not have such serious implications. 
The covert deal with China Southern Airlines is a major wake-up call and it stinks like most of the things this Government is currently doing. What is going on behind closed doors? People around the world are asking. Is New Zealand that desperate? A banana republic? Is everything for sale in New Zealand? And it leaves all other airlines including Air New Zealand outraged and bewildered that China Southern Airlines should get such special treatment. 
Did money change hands to sweeten the deal with China Southern Airlines? Enter Skycity Entertainment Group. Big money is involved and big money has a way of greasing the wheels of the Key National Government. Enter Neil Morrison who wrote in his annual report: “Finally the opening of China Southern Airlines services between”— 
Hon Member 
: Who wrote that? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I am able to write my own speeches not like the moron over there. He wrote that the opening of China Southern Airlines services between—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I think the House is getting a little disorderly here. Members must be careful not to insult each other. That is not acceptable. But I accept the level of interjection was getting unacceptably high and I do apologise to the Rt Hon Winston Peters for having interrupted but I think things were getting a bit out of hand there. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Neil Morrison was boasting about a special arrangement. Let us pause for a moment. He says: “our successful partnership with Auckland International Airport to offer airside clearance”—what does that mean? Since when did we have an airport company get to set the rules around processing visitor arrivals? There is the Minister of Immigration. He thinks it is a joke. He is laughing about it. That is the preserve of the New Zealand Government. Oh did he look embarrassing last week? He looked hopeless on his feet. He could not answer any questions. He even had the Prime Minister allowing him to get away with the statement that he did not know. 
The Prime Minister in a written answer to me this week said he had no knowledge. That is what the Prime Minister said. This is what the Prime Minister answered to a question of mine: “To the best of my knowledge no such discussions have taken place.” That is what John Key said in a written answer this week. In the House today he gainsaid that he recanted he admitted it. In short this Prime Minister cannot tell the truth for 5 minutes—for 5 minutes. Today he said he did know. That Minister said last week he did not. Remember that? The Prime Minister last week in a written answer said he did not. 
The fact is that what you have got here is a sordid deal with a Chinese airline and the casino in Auckland with the pokie machines—500 extra machines—and they think they are going to get back in 2014. They have got to be joking. 
Jacqui Dean 
: What does Grey Power think of that? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: What Grey Power thinks of all this is that they flock to my meetings unlike that member’s. That member cannot fill a telephone booth. When we go to a hall you cannot get into it. It means a thing called political market demand. It means the law of supply and demand. We supply the message they demand it and they turn up. That is what it means. 
I want to close by just saying this. This issue has got a long way to go but the day when we start doing special deals with any country that will not allow us the same privileges in that country means we are guilty of cronyism and sordid toadyism.