King Annette: General Debate 
King Annette: General Debate 
[Volume:620;Page:15891] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Health) 
: 
 Did Rodney Hide not get excited today? He was worried about Darren Hughes’ red face. All I can say to the member is that at least Darren Hughes’ hair has not fallen out. Rodney Hide was to be the man who would be a different leader when he got control of ACT; he was to be a statesman. Well that did not last very long. Today we have seen him fluff and flounce; he has been full of verbal flatulence all day. That is Rodney Hide the new leader. That is the leader of a party that talks about “Do what I say not what I do.” ACT is a party that preaches abstinence but whose leader took ACT from the dizzy heights to 1 percent. ACT is a party that is on the way out. I say ACT should bring back Richard Prebble. 
However I have to say that at times we are too harsh on each other in the House during a Wednesday debate. Today as Minister of Health I want to share some good advice with the House from a lovely little book that I have been given. I have some advice for members out of this dear little book which is called  
The Little Book of Calm 
. I have a homily for a few people. The first one is for the National Party. It is a little bit of wisdom that states: “Select your company well.” I say to Maurice Williamson that he has selected his company well but there are many people in the National Party who are worrying about the factions that they have ended up in. So that is the first piece of wisdom for the National Party. What about the second piece? The book states: “Pause between changes.” That is a very good piece of advice. There is always a temptation to lump all one’s changes into one big masochistic event. Well that is what happened to the National Party. It put all its changes into one big event. It dumped one leader after the next leader after the next leader. I say that National Party members should take a little advice out of this book and wait a little longer before they change Don Brash. They should get themselves really down in the doldrums before they change him. 
Here is a little bit of advice from  
The Little Book of Calm 
 for Tony Ryall. It states here: “Pretend you’re human.” I think that is very good advice. The book states: “Be content with what you are.” I say to Tony Ryall that he should be content with what he is. 
But I am not just giving advice to the National Party. I have a bit of advice from this book for a couple of other parties. Here is some good advice for the Green Party: “Grow your own.” It is very calming to grow one’s own. For the ACT party I thought this was very apt: “Know when to withdraw.” It is very important when one is preaching abstinence to know when to withdraw. The time is right for the ACT party to withdraw. It is a spent force and life is over for it. Spring is in the air. The people of New Zealand are looking forward to the summer. The sun is shining and they are feeling good about themselves. Certainly older New Zealanders are feeling good about themselves. They know if they go to the doctor that they will pay less to go to that doctor today through a primary health organisation than they paid previously. As I have gone around all the bowling clubs in my electorate the RSA and so on I have found it is the older folk who are thanking the Labour Government for what it has done for them. They now can afford to go to the doctor. 
I feel very sorry for the National Party and I think that I can give it another little bit of advice from  
The Little Book of Calm 
: “Run for your life.” If I were a National Party member I would run for my life because when one looks at the headlines one sees that that party has received in about 3 short months—[ 
Interruption 
] Yes “Skinny” Robinson gave Mr Power that advice today and I hope he will take some of it. “Bumbling Brash loses plot”—how is that for a headline? “Home or away Brash is losing it”. Well he is very seldom at home if home is this House. We seldom see him around here. I do not know about losing it when he is away but we know he has lost it in here. When Don Brash is away I gather that he is too busy listening to actually tell people anything. Now everyone is asking whether he has a tongue. He sits there like a stunned mullet saying absolutely nothing. This headline is one of my favourites: “Brash attack: his boomerang did come back”. That is fantastic. It tells us what the National Party is like today.