Carter John: General Debate 
Carter John: General Debate 
[Volume:649;Page:17786] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 The only thing I can say about that speech is that if I was in the habit of wearing make-up and I am pleased to assure the House that I am not—I am not Chris Carter; I am John Carter—it would have been stripped off. 
Over the last 3 years members of the National caucus under the leadership of John Key have gone round the country listening to talking to and discussing with the public of this nation their aspirations their needs and their desires. We have been formulating policy over the last 3 years and over the last weekend John Key our leader announced 10 things that the next National Government will achieve under his leadership. It was a good positive conference. We all felt proud to belong to and be part of the National Party. 
This caucus will continue to be proud to be part of the National Party. We will be proud to be led by John Key because of the positive things that he and we have to offer this country and its people. For example he spoke at great length about the need for development in infrastructure. This Government has failed this country. It has done little to get on top of the backlog of infrastructure in this country. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Ha ha! 
JOHN CARTER 
: The Minister of Finance might laugh but why does it take him so long to drive through Auckland? He knows that he and his Government have failed this country in Auckland and in other areas because they have not invested in infrastructure in the way that it needs to be invested in. The incoming National Government will certainly address those sorts of issues and I am proud to say that National members will be part of this country surging ahead as we make inroads into the infrastructure deficit in this country. 
The difference between this party—whose members are proud to stand up and say they are the National Party and they will represent the people of this country—and that lot over there is that they have failed this nation. Not only have they failed this nation but they have got to the stage where they are absolutely desperate to hang on to power. One can smell the dying corpse of the Labour-led Government. Let me tell members that I know that stink I know that smell and I know how it stains because I was there in 1999. No matter where one turns or where one looks and no matter how confident one pretends to be in saying that things are going to be all right there is always that smell. It is like the smell one finds when one lifts up one’s arm after one has been haymaking; it is always there and one cannot get it out of one’s nostrils. Labour members cannot get the smell out of their nostrils. 
So what are they doing? They are turning to the dirty tricks. Labour members are right into the dirty tricks. They are into it donkey deep bugging speeches at the National Party conference so that they can then go to the media and say: “Look what we’ve found! We’ve found this extraordinary thing that will be the downfall of the National Party. The public will rail against it and votes will surge back to the Labour Party.” Well I tell those members to forget it. This country hates dirty tricks. It is not interested in dirty tricks. The public is not interested in things like Labour getting a polling company to start push-polling. They do not like the Americanisation of our politics. They do not like the way in which this Labour Government is using dirty tactics to try to get support from them. The public are not interested in that sort of stuff. They do not like people asking them whether they think John Key is this and whether they think John Key is that. 
What the public are actually interested in is hearing about positive policies. They do not want to know about a Government that is propped up by the New Zealand First Party whose leader says to the Prime Minister: “Oh no it’s all OK.” and the Prime Minister says: “Oh OK then. That’s good as gold. Don’t explain any more; I’ll just accept that.” Well of course somebody who signed a painting and said she did not would accept that sort of thing. The people remember the issue around the pledge card. This Government will never get away from that smell. It is like pulling off that old dirty sock every time one has been in the cowshed. This Government has that stink about it does it not? The people remember that sort of stuff. They understand that one cannot get away from the dirt and the stink. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.