Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
Brownlee Gerry: General Debate 
[Volume:627;Page:22052] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 It is no wonder that after that speech the Labour back benches are empty. The ninth-ranked Cabinet Minister came to the House and opened his speech by saying that the only person in the running to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand at this election is Don Brash. He is right—absolutely right. That is a concession. All those Labour back-benchers have scurried back to their offices and are on the phone to Michael Cullen to say that they think they should go on the list of those who will give a valedictory speech. That is what is going on at the moment. 
They cannot be happy that the Prime Minister has gone out and said that this election will be about trust integrity and experience. Let us look at those three things. Voters trusted Labour with treaty issues and Labour divided the public. They trusted Labour with education and Labour ditched the system. They trusted Labour with health and they got longer waiting lists. They trusted Labour with welfare and they got a bigger bill. It is not a surprise then that voters are perplexed scratching their heads and asking why they should trust that woman. 
Then voters start remembering “corngate” “paintergate” the Yelash allegations the allegations against the Auckland surgeon and the speeding incident in Canterbury—the 140-kilometre-an-hour dash across the Canterbury Plains with the Prime Minister apparently having no memory of what happened. She is not being called into court. We wonder why that is because we know that at the last minute as the Prime Minister stepped into the Koru lounge she told the policeman who was responsible for her safety that it had been a courageous trip. 
Hon Member 
: What was that? 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: She said it had been a courageous trip. The woman who sat in the back of the car who had no idea how fast it was going told the policeman that it had been a courageous trip. That was Helen Clark the Prime Minister. There we have two examples of why Labour is in trouble—people cannot trust Labour members and they have no integrity. 
Then we come to experience. I want to say only one or two words to show how valuable experience is in the Labour Party. I say two words only: George Hawkins. That is what experience can do for us. I have another two words: Trevor Mallard. Members should have a look at the education system; it is completely botched. Here are another two words: Pete Hodgson. The taxpayer now has a $1 billion bill through sheer incompetence and the misleading of the country over climate change issues. That is what we have with that party. There can be no trust Labour has no integrity and has experience that we just do not want. 
I move now to the issue of Maori Language Week. This is Maori Language Week. The National Party has made it very clear that it wants to support te reo Maori and promote tikanga etc. but we will not tolerate some of the patronising programmes put in place by this Government. I want New Zealanders to know and to be comforted by the fact that today Inland Revenue Department offices throughout the country are doing some special things for Maori Language Week. On Monday all staff were given name badges with their names translated into Maori however that might happen. All the Johns became Hone and all the Stevens became Tipene etc. Then today the Inland Revenue Department stopped work for 2 hours— 
Rodney Hide 
: That’s good. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Mr Hide says that is good. I sort of agree with him on that. However the Inland Revenue Department stopped work for 2 hours so that staff could all participate in and observe an acting out of Maori myths and legends. Then on Friday just to cap off the week and put a bit of a lid on the patronising way in which the department has dealt with this important subject it will have a hangi. But most of the Inland Revenue Department offices are in the concrete jungles of this country and there is no way to put a hangi in the ground. So it will bring in the big boilers and will basically have a European-style hangi. 
That is the sort of thing this Government engages in all the time. A race relations Minister was going to deal with some of the nonsense around this stuff. There are a few more words that one can use there: no trust no experience and no integrity. 
Darren Hughes 
: Ka kite ano. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Goodbye Darren hello Mr Guy.