Wall Louisa: General Debate 
Wall Louisa: General Debate 
[Volume:648;Page:17564] 
LOUISA WALL (Labour) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. Tena koutou katoa. It is my pleasure as a member of team Labour under the leadership of Prime Minister Helen Clark to korero and take the final call in this general debate. Labour is a team committed to change and we are the Government that can manage the great changes that are happening not only in Aotearoa but also globally. I am talking about the need to prepare our country not only for higher global temperatures but also for higher fuel prices and higher food prices. Labour is the only Government for these difficult and changing times. 
Labour is the only major party that will work with and for hard-working Kiwis. For us those who are the most vulnerable are a priority; we make no apologies for that. One of our priority communities is and always will be working New Zealanders. We have raised the minimum wage five times in our time in Government to $12 an hour and I note that this rate can only change and increase under team Labour. 
National by contrast seems to have a secret employment policy document—apparently more than the 83 words that is its accident compensation policy—but John Key will not front up with this 14-page background document which he knows and we all know will scare the living daylights out of hard-working Kiwis. What specific policy might such a document contain? Well we can only assume by National’s actions alone that as a start there will be a reduction of the minimum wage back to $7 an hour given that National members have voted against every proposed increase. 
How about a policy from the mouth of John Key himself? In late 2003 when he was arguing against team Labour’s push for a minimum of 4 weeks’ annual leave for workers he urged Kiwis to “go and have a look at the United States of America which has a minimum of 2 weeks’ holiday a year and the economic prosperity in the US is so much greater than New Zealand’s.” Apparently his word is his bond and when he does not keep it and flip-flops he does not see anything slippery or deceitful in his change of language. They are only words after all. 
Actually from the free advertising in the  
New Zealand Herald  
at the weekend I noted a startling admission from John Key the wannabe self-proclaimed magician. Of his flip-flops he said: “My underlying philosophies remain the same.”—that is the only difference seems to be the language he uses. The real John Key is the guy who thinks that Kiwis deserve only 2 weeks’ annual leave. He is the guy who supported the coalition of the willing’s right to invade Iraq. He would have sent Kiwis to war because “blood is thicker than water”. He is the guy who rallied against the Superannuation Fund interest-free student loans early childhood education funding KiwiSaver KiwiRail etc. 
This lack of care for those who are most vulnerable is fairly typical of John Key and National and I think I can go further with a classic example of whom John Key really cares about. Youth magazine  
Tearaway  
recently interviewed both our team Labour leader—and New Zealand’s Prime Minister—Helen Clark and John Key. They were both asked what they would do if they suddenly received $1 billion. Do members want to know what they said? Team Labour’s leader said she would give to “development agencies offering education and opportunity and campaigns against HIV and AIDS in developing countries.” What did John Key say? It was something quite profound. He said he would like “a jet a personal jet”. There was then what seemed like an afterthought comment about donating some of it to charity. 
That is what the Opposition calls great leadership—it is all about John Key; forget about the people. It was not such a slip-up in this instance. John Key was being interviewed about himself after all. It is his goal to be Prime Minister lest we forget. There was no mention of serving the people or of being a leader by with and for the people—definitely not those from his National team. In fact John Key is fairly adamant that National must speak with one voice—that is only his—unless he has to explain himself and then any of the others will do because in his own words explaining is losing. His team must be losers then. 
A cold hard fact about the man who wants to be New Zealand’s Prime Minister is that he will do whatever at any cost. His word is his bond but it depends on whom he is talking to. Fundamentally he is a mirage an illusion at whatever place or time. John Key: what we get is what we do not see; what we get is what National does not want us to see or hear for that matter. If we contrast that with team Labour’s leader Helen Clark we find there is no comparison.