Cosgrove Clayton: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Cosgrove Clayton: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:615;Page:10825] 
CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 I rise to support the Prime Minister’s statement. I want to talk about a variety of issues but for a few moments I will talk about the strength of the New Zealand economy. Let us look at some of the measures of the strength of the New Zealand economy. Economic growth was at 4.4 percent last year and is projected to be 3.9 percent this year. Our economy is at the top of the OECD. There is no way on this earth that the National Party can take credit for that. 
Let us look at another substantial measure. Unemployment is down to 17-year lows. There have been 176000 jobs created since this Government came to office. There is a 4.4 percent unemployment rate. If we compare that with Australia’s unemployment rate—and the National Party is very fond of making stark comparisons between New Zealand and Australia in an attempt to put New Zealand and New Zealanders down—we find that Australia’s rate is 5.8 percent. If we go across to the US we learn that its unemployment rate is 6.1 percent and ours is at 4.4 percent. Then if we take the OECD average of 7.1 percent we know we are well down on 4.4 percent. But of course across the aisle every attempt by Dr Brash and his cohorts tries to paint the economy as if it is in trouble to treat New Zealanders as if they are thick and to say that life is not good when we have growth and unemployment at those figures. 
Let us look at business confidence. It is as solid as a rock. If we look at industry training we see that we have a skills shortage all over the country. It is a problem. Some would say it is a nice problem to have because most people are working. What are we doing about it? There are 7500 people in good old apprenticeships. We brought apprenticeships back. In 2002 there were 107000 people in industry training and by 2007 we will bring that number up to quarter of a million. Those are substantial achievements. 
If we look at building consents we see that there were 30000 new building consents issued last year. Job advertisements went up by 18.2 percent last year. Those are all great signs positive signs of a robust economy. But does the National Party in rebuttal of the Prime Minister’s statement come up with one shred of policy? Does it have a debate on economic matters? No it has no policy. Dr Brash’s great strength—the economic genius that he is—is the economy he says. Those members never debate it. They cannot debate it because they know things are in order in this economy. They know we have growth they know we have a solid labour market and they have surrendered. 
I want to turn to some comments made by Gerry Brownlee and others concerning the race issue the National Party has been campaigning on since the Orewa speech. Today the mask fell off that campaign in the form of Gerry Brownlee. If we were to believe the National Party it would say that it is running a very high and mighty campaign in order to have a genuine discussion about race-based issues. That might have been believable—I never believed it—but I will tell members that no one believes it now not after Mr Brownlee’s comments. The mask fell off. I had some respect for Mr Brownlee— 
Jim Peters 
: Did you? 
CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: A little bit. 
Jill Pettis 
: He can play the piano. 
CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: My colleague says he can play the piano and he can make a good cutting board as a woodwork teacher. I had some respect for him but I never thought that somebody in this House even from the National Party would stoop as low as to say what we heard today. I hope it gets on the television news. I hope Television One and TV3 play the comment he made in the House over and over again because today the mask fell off. 
We know the National Party agenda. It cannot win on its economic policy because it has been blown off the map on that. It cannot bring up any issue. It cannot put forward a policy because it has none. So what will it do? It is dirty tricks time. If we go back a couple of decades to look at National Party history we will see that we have seen it all before. I recall that in 1990 the truth was that the then Labour Government was on the way out. We knew that; everybody around the country knew that. The National Party made exorbitant promises and said anything to win. I will not use a particular word but the National Party said and did anything. Its character reflected that. Today we have seen the start of the same modus operandi. 
I recall the Kim Hill interview with Don Brash. He was asked the simple question about what it meant to be a New Zealander. Don Brash said—and this is a cracker—“I guess I’m not sure that I can answer that in 30 seconds but to me it clearly means being born in New Zealand. Well I’m not even sure that that’s a definition because there are many people who have been here for many years who were not born in New Zealand but who are in every respect New Zealanders. I don’t know that I can give a quick summary of what it means to be a New Zealander.” That is the guy who aspires to lead the country. He has no vision. If he cannot answer that question on the spot with a little vision and a little spontaneity he should not be here. He should not have had to wait 10 days to get up and make a speech weepy-eyed to say he thinks it means a feeling one gets when one flies back to New Zealand—presumably in first class unlike those poor guys down the back end in economy class. That was the best he could do—and it took him 10 days—and he wants to lead the country! 
I offer a few hints to Dr Brash. There are many answers to the question of what it means to be a New Zealander. In fact at last count there are four million answers to that question. Here are a few hints for Papa Smurf and a few other people over there. What does it mean to be a New Zealander? I shall tell them what I think. To be a New Zealander is to know that our birthright is to live in what the rest of the world regards as close to a paradise. To be a New Zealander is to show that generosity of spirit that has seen us leading the world throughout our history in areas like votes for women superannuation and looking after each other. It is to be able to see as we have seen 2 weeks in a row news coverage of ecstatic refugees—I know that Winston Peters will not like that and neither will Dail Jones; I think he is from Pakistan—who were reunited with their loved ones in a land called New Zealand that offered them a second chance in life and held out a hand of friendship and tolerance. To be a New Zealander is to feel a bit of pride that while others slam the door we stand up without fear and with courage to hold our door ajar to those who need a bit of safety and hope. To be a New Zealander is to know that we live in a nation that is historically very very young. It is like a work in progress not like a work where one sort of people think they have a right to hold the brush the paint and the canvas and then call it quits if anyone else suggests a different look. To be a New Zealander is to know that as we shape our future we cannot ignore our past. 
To be part of this nation is to know and feel that what we have here is unique robust but also very fragile—all at the same time. It might be bad news for the “Don and Gerry Show” but the tourists of the world do not come here to look at them; the tourists of the world come here to look at us as a unique nation. One would expect that the high priests of the free market who are sitting opposite would know that the profound value in a global economy is to have a point of cultural difference. One would think they would know that but maybe they are too busy holding forth about the past and cannibalising the rest of the right wing to have noticed that there is not too much tourist demand for them. In a global economy it is the cultural branding that gives a nation an edge. We have that edge. It has been established but it is also still evolving. 
I tell Dr Brash that to be a New Zealander is also to cherish our role as risk takers and pioneers in social issues. It is to acknowledge that we are welcomed everywhere around the world as peacekeepers in part because the world knows how fierce we can be when we choose. To be a New Zealander is to have the grace to feel pride as Peter Dunne said when one hears Keisha Castle-Hughes tell Hollywood and the rest of the world that after the Oscar nominations she is off home for a couple of weeks to go to school and to kapa haka. 
To be a New Zealander is to rejoice in our diversity. It is not to take the road of discord and division for temporary advantage or the free kick. That is the road our forebears often fled from and I have no wish to go down it. When the Scots came to this country they were driven by loss of land. The Irish were driven by both the loss of land and their right to follow their faith. The British came here looking for better lives than those they had had at home as did other Europeans and people of other races and cultures. 
Many of us here old and new know the awful price of fomenting and exploiting division for political ends. To be a real New Zealander is to rise above that. It is to rejoice in our humanity and to show a little humanity as well. It is regardless of race age or wealth to be able to feel the power the magic and the potential still untapped in this land. For me that is what it means to be a New Zealander and I invite Dr Brash and his tribe to reflect on that.