English Bill:  
English Bill:  
[Volume:654;Page:74] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) 
: 
 I rise to speak on the amendments to Part 3 and specifically the amendments that talk about redundancies. Today I should have been in my electorate because 60 people were made redundant when Bright Wood Sawmill announced it was closing down its factory in Otautau which has a population of 700. The previous speaker Brendon Burns should have been in Christchurch dealing with the prospective redundancies from Lane Walker Rudkin. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I think we are talking about Part 3 of the Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill. I have not heard any mention of that just some bitter vitriol from the Deputy Prime Minister who could have got leave to be out of here tonight. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Thank you. The member is making some introductory remarks before he moves on. I will be watching closely. He has spoken for— 
Hon Annette King 
: Why didn’t you ask for leave? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I am on my feet. He has spoken for 35 seconds so far. They are introductory remarks and I am sure he will come back to Part 3. He heard what I said before to the previous speaker and he knows we are on Part 3. Introductory remarks are permitted. I invite the Hon Bill English to resume. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I started by referring directly to the amendments to Part 3—directly. I am raising the issue that hundreds of these amendments— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I think that member is a relatively senior member of Parliament and he knows that he cannot refer to your ruling as he is now doing. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: This is a robust debate and I am inviting the member to continue. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Part 3 includes hundreds of amendments relating to the redundancies of workers. I was reminding the Committee that today 60 workers in my electorate received a redundancy notice. MPs who want to understand the reality of the recession should be dealing with that issue. The member for Christchurch Central who spoke before me should be in Christchurch dealing with the reality of redundancy today for workers at Lane Walker Rudkin. But what does Labour think is more important than people being made redundant? It thinks that stupid amendments about redundancies in relation to the Auckland Council that have not happened are more important. Fortunately the public now know what matters to the Labour Party. What matters to the Labour Party is Trevor Mallard proving that Dr Cullen knew what he was doing. What matters to the Labour Party is engaging in some kind of pathetic point-scoring in Parliament at the cost of thousands of dollars a minute when as we speak hundreds of New Zealand workers have been made redundant. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: This is a very robust debate. I am sure we are all keen to hear what the Minister has to say. Although I expect and enjoy interjections and they may be fairly robust they need to be terse and I do not want a shouting match. I ask members to tone it down. I invite the member to continue. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The workers’ party should go and explain to the workers why it does not care about them. That is what I want to hear. I want the next speaker from the workers’ party to get up and explain why Parliament is sitting here dealing with this pathetic nonsense which is the product of the political hacks who have captured the Labour Party instead of dealing with the issues that matter—the redundancies of hundreds of workers today and the prospect of the same happening to thousands of workers over the coming months. The amendments to Part 3 show that the Labour Party is now the creature of game-playing political hacks who have lost their focus on the issues that really matter in New Zealand today. Every member of Parliament should have been in his or her electorate today and should be there tomorrow. 
Darien Fenton 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I take deep offence at the line of debate the member opposite is running. We are talking about 6300 workers in Auckland; that is not an insignificant number. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: That is not a point of order; it is a debating point. If the member wants to seek a call later on the member can bring up those sorts of points at the time. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Dr Cullen knew about stopping when one had had one’s say; he knew when it was time to accept that the public would think that having one’s say had gone on for a bit long. [ 
Interruption 
] I am happy for the Labour members to be here because this behaviour will damage their brand for the rest of the year.