Peters Winston: General Debate 
Peters Winston: General Debate 
[Volume:626;Page:21147] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Before I deal with that last vicious attack from a tired old party’s nominal leader I want to address the issue of the Civil Aviation Authority. In the last 12 months an increasing number of people have been expressing grave concern about alleged conflicts of interest in the Civil Aviation Authority and the operations of its director. The close relationship between John Funnell President of the Aviation Industry Association of New Zealand and John Jones Director of the Civil Aviation Authority and former Aviation Industry Association president has been causing concern both within the Civil Aviation Authority and outside the authority. Questions are being asked about whether the director has broken the very Act he is supposed to enforce. The New Zealand Airline Pilots Association has formally raised this matter with the Minister responsible for civil aviation but the Minister has done nothing except announce an internal inquiry led by Jones himself. 
But one can always tell when the two tired old parties have their aspirations for re-election somewhat upset by the polls. We have just heard a frenetic nervous embarrassed speech made by the member for Mt Roskill. He knows full well that Labour is in deep trouble and deep decline as is National. Last year they were 45 percent as was Labour at the start of this year. All of a sudden they are both in the 30s heading to the middle and low 30s. Do members know what that means? It means it is a three-horse race. It is a three-horse race and the third horse—the horse with all the money coming on its back—is New Zealand First. 
The previous speaker had the effrontery to mention the INCIS debacle. He knew full well that INCIS was inherited by the coalition Government in 1997 that it was already in place under the previous National Government but he got up and said it anyway. He planted it in there to try to leave the impression we were responsible in the same way that he did in the last campaign. In the last campaign he tried to say that there were more murders when New Zealand First was in office than in the previous year— 
Jill Pettis 
: What about Tau? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: It is not market day today. The fish wife can make all the noise she likes but market day is on Friday. I can tell that those members are nervous. The reason is that they have tired old leaders who are out of touch. They never hold a public meeting. When was the last time Helen Clark held a public meeting? When was the last time Don Brash held a public meeting? [ 
Interruption 
] No they never do that. It is always some captured tied audience—one they can control. But in New Zealand First we go out and confront Mary and Joe Bloggs on the streets in the hamlets on the country roads and in the country towns and it is paying off. We are getting audiences of between 750 and 800 people at our country meetings. We got almost 800 in Wanganui. What a shock that was to the fish wife from Wanganui. The paint stripper! 
Jill Pettis 
: Stand somebody against me. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: The louder they shout the more indicative it is of their nervousness. It is like a barometer measure of failure. Both National and Labour are trying to call it a two-horse race. If they even dream that it is a two-horse race then they had better wake up and apologise because we will have a three-way fight in this election. We will have a three-way contest. Already it is a three-way race for the party and a two-way race for the leadership—Helen Clark and me. One has got to know this game to be experienced and to know where the parliamentary toilets are before hoping to lead. That is why it is a two-horse race. I know that Helen Clark has never campaigned well. She hates the public. She goes for the photo opportunity. She has the media taking photographs and they call that an event. But she never goes out and campaigns so it will be a free run. 
Darren Hughes 
: What about Don Brash? What does the old bloke do? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: He does not campaign either. Don Brash cannot campaign because he has a problem with delivering speeches. Basically he cannot remember what happened yesterday. He does not know what happened last year. As a consequence when he is asked questions about what his party’s policies are he does not know the detail. He is a great plagiarist but when he is asked for detail he does not know.