Maharey Steve: General Debate 
Maharey Steve: General Debate 
[Volume:631;Page:2921] 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Education) 
: 
 If people cast their minds back to the last election they will remember that the National Party fought its campaign on three things: massive tax cuts racial division and Don Brash—and it lost. Straight after the election Don Brash was asked whether he wanted to be the National Party leader and he said he did not really know and was not really sure. From that minute on he became a dead man walking. 
Since the election no doubt on the advice of highly paid American strategic folks—or Murray McCully; one of the two I guess—National members have gone on the attack in a personal sense. They have been led by the rising—now fading—star Judith Collins. The plan has not worked; it has folded back on them. I say to people like Mark Blumsky that it is obvious—the National Party has gone down that track and now all of those attacks have left it with no real plan at all. They have not worked; nothing has happened. But once the attacks have gone away—drained away—the National Party has been left with nothing of just about anything. It has no policy; it has no plan. National Party members have nothing to say in the House—they are doing nothing. 
A back-bench member like Mark Blumsky would expect that into this vacuum would charge the leader and that that leader would give scene-setting large speeches; that he would come to the House and ask penetrating questions and would be seen and heard in every hamlet across the country as he led the charge in the rebirth of the once-great National Party. I ask members whether that has happened. I ask National Party members why Don Brash has virtually disappeared off the scene in New Zealand. 
I ask why Don Brash’s speeches are so bad. Members may recall his speech after David Parker’s speech to the House which was reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart in terms of its quality—it brought tears to our eyes. It was an occasion for a leader to rise and bring his troops with him into a major debate. But Don Brash embarrassed every single National Party member by bumbling his way through his speech for 15 minutes. I ask why Don Brash cannot ask a question in the House—he has been here for a while; why can he not do it—why he has no policy and why he hates New Zealand. What does he have against New Zealand? He talks about Australia Singapore China and Malaysia—anywhere but here. Perhaps he does not know he is here—he is confused about everything else so maybe he is not sure he is in New Zealand. 
I can tell that the National Party does not like this situation because its members have done some cruel cruel things to this man. Mr Nick Smith—the bagman for Bill English—got Don Brash to go all the way down to the southern lakes stand in them and say we would have a power shortage because of a lack of water. If he went back there today and stood in the same spot as he was in last time he would drown. How awful can Nick Smith get? 
Have members noticed that John Key has gone quiet? If there is ever a sign of someone moving towards a leadership challenge it is when that person goes quiet. John Key is so cruel. Bill English has had a haircut and got a new suit. What further signs do we need that he is trying to overthrow the leader? Gerry Brownlee stood behind Bill English out on the forecourt while Bill English led the charge on the Telecom leak. Bill English was there with big Gerry right behind him—as if Bill was the leader. How cruel and how cutting can the National members be? 
It is no wonder. After Don Brash made the latest bungle yesterday with the email leak National members must now be plotting. Members should look at the press release I have here. It came out after the email leak and states that a spokesman for Dr Brash had said that how to respond to the email leak was still being discussed. Then a press conference was called. No National MPs went to it. There was no big Gerry Brownlee standing behind the leader at this press conference—he had already been behind Bill. No one turned up and then we found out that Dr Brash—who his staff were saying was thinking about how to respond to the email leak—had not even read it. He called a press conference went along said a series of things that were completely and utterly mistaken had to be given the email by a journalist and said: “Frankly I didn’t understand.” 
The National Party members are sitting up and I want to say to them that the 70th National Party anniversary on Thursday will be the last supper for Don Brash.