Parker David: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParker David: General Debate[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17055. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID PARKER (Deputy Leader—Labour):I am not going to address the climate change issues that have been addressed by my colleague from the Greens Kennedy Graham but I do acknowledge the petition that has been lodged today by amongst others Sir Lloyd Geering and Sir Alan Mark.The Deputy Prime Minister said in his address that the Labour Party was letting down this Parliament. The worst example of someone letting down this Parliament is the member who is just walking out Judith Collins. That Minister will not answer questions and will not be held to account. That Minister most clearly allowed her personal family financial interests to come into conflict with her ministerial duties. She profited her family through her ministerial rank and she will not answer questions in this House. She does not claim that there is a public interest at stake. She says that there is some private interest of hers that means she does not have to acknowledge who the paid officials were who were there.We do not know whether this particular official is a multibillionaire on the back of corrupt practices in China. We do not know whether this person is a good person. We cannot tell—despite the fact that there is lots of news of corruption in China in respect of the facilitation of international trade with companies including no doubt some companies from New Zealand—because the Minister refuses to answer questions. That is a disgraceful stain upon the reputation of this Government and through its actions a stain upon the character of New Zealand. New Zealanders do not like it because we have a reputation for transparency and freedom from corruption. We have no transparency from this Minister. We have the stink of corruption her personal interests having come into conflict with her ministerial interests.In the last week we have had the Prime Minister lay bare what the Government’s narrative is for the Budget. The Government is trying to say to not blame it for rising interest rates; blame a future Labour Government. I thought John Armstrong got that quite right. His column over the weekend hit the nail on the head there. The Government claimed responsibility for interest rate reductions caused by the global financial crisis. That was its good management it said—its good economic management. Then the Government turned round and its next line was that rising interest rates are caused by its good economic management. That did not work so now it is trying to say that rising interest rates are caused by the next Labour Government.Why this worries people is that if you have got a $400000 mortgage in Auckland—and a lot of people do because house price inflation has gone out of control in Auckland because of the terrible housing policies of the National Government—at 5 percent interest you are paying 20 grand a year. At 8 percent interest you are paying one and a half times that. You are paying about $1000 a month more—$1000 a month more—on your mortgage. National is scared of that. National is scared of that.What else is National scared of? It is scared of the fact as John Armstrong puts it here that “The placid mood of the electorate … [is] a reflection of the current optimism that New Zealand has finally turned a very important corner. It is a mood which is the harbinger of one of the most dangerous forces in politics—rising public expectations of what politicians can and must deliver.” New Zealanders are sick of waiting. Forty-five percent of New Zealanders did not get a wage increase last year. They are facing higher interest rates higher rents and higher electricity prices. All they want is their fair share. They know that under this crowd they will never get it because everything goes to the top few percent who are disproportionately owning all of the houses buying all the luxury cars and buying the shares in the State-owned enterprises. Under this crowd that is what happens and New Zealanders are tiring of it.You know the Government has had the playing of golf with Obama the visit to the Premier of China—Rt Hon Winston Peters: Kissing George.Hon DAVID PARKER: —and it has got the royal tour but you know what? It is still stuck in terms of the divide between left and right. The difference between them is 2 percent and the Rt Hon Winston Peters is on about 7 percent. That is why the National Party is worried. That is why it is worried. Labour and the Greens combined are within 2 percent of National. National has run out of friends. They are either in the dock or on their way out of Parliament for other reasons. Winston Peters is sitting there smiling to his ears today on 7 percent in the polls. The National Party has got a problem and that is why it is trying to blame increases in interest rates on the next Labour Government.