Dyson Ruth: General Debate 
Dyson Ruth: General Debate 
[Volume:640;Page:10257] 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Minister of Labour) 
: 
 What an absolute insult that speech was not just to this House and not just to the Rt Hon Winston Peters who spoke immediately prior to him but more than anyone else to Georgina te Heuheu. What has Georgina te Heuheu ever done to deserve being treated as that member’s deputy? How insulting it is to a longstanding highly respected member of this House to be a deputy to that member! 
Tau Henare made an accusation against the Rt Hon Winston Peters of his moving from party to party and supporting different parties. I have just about run out of fingers on this hand to count how many parties that member has been a member of. The first one was the Alliance as a member of the Mana Motuhake o Aotearoa party. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Liar. 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: Then he came into Parliament as a member of New Zealand First— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: What a liar. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: The member knows he cannot use that term. The member will stand withdraw and apologise. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: Then he came into Parliament as the very loyal and doting deputy of the Rt Hon Winston Peters. Talk about a jilted lover’s resentment! It just oozes from him every time he takes the call. 
Then he left that party. I cannot remember which party he was supporting at the time because it is very hard to keep track. Then he started his own party Mauri Pacific so he could be a leader. Then he came back as a National member of Parliament. I know that the front-bench members particularly the Hon Maurice Williamson took great pleasure in the addition to their caucus of the Hon Tau Henare. 
Following his political career is like picking up mercury with chopsticks. It is just extraordinary. But his was a better contribution than the very sad although dignified contribution of Gerry Brownlee. He is attracting more and more sympathy from this side of the House as his demotion is becoming less and less deserved. Every day in the House as we see the contribution that Gerry Brownlee makes we realise how unfair that demotion was. But he does put on a very brave front. 
This Sunday is 1 July and not only will we see the start of a new month but we will see another package of roll-outs of the Labour-led Government’s policies. Of course one of the biggest and most significant is mark II of KiwiSaver. KiwiSaver will give future generations financial security it will promote a savings habit and it will help New Zealanders better save for their retirement. Those are three very critical very important areas. I pay tribute to the Hon Dr Michael Cullen for his work and his huge contribution not just to the present but to the future of our society. It will mean that we have a larger pool of domestic capital with which to promote New Zealand investment in our own country. It will reduce demand. It will take pressure off interest rates accordingly and it will help our companies to attract and retain the skilled workers we need. That is a huge contribution to New Zealand and New Zealanders and the National Party opposes it. National has said it does not support the extension to KiwiSaver— 
Hon Paul Swain 
: What’s their policy? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: Well it is very hard to tell what National’s policy is. It shifts about as often as Tau Henare’s party political membership. It depends on whether we are talking to the numbers man the programmes man or the spokesperson on whatever the policy issue is. 
 It is exactly the same in early childhood education. What does the National Party have against free early childhood education? Quite a lot. Its members have opposed it from its very instigation. They have tried to drive its price up particularly for the private providers by undermining it. They know if they are ever elected to lead the Government of New Zealand that policy will go. So not one single family would benefit from free early childhood education under National because it does not support the policy. 
Free early childhood education is the biggest contribution to education since the first Labour Government introduced free secondary education and I am very proud of it. We can do a huge amount for the future opportunities of young New Zealanders by helping them to get access to quality early childhood education. 
On Sunday we also see the final stage of the roll-out of the primary health care affordability strategy. I commend Pete Hodgson and his predecessor Annette King for that work. We know that the most important thing for people’s health is to ensure they can get access to a primary health specialist as early as they need it. This strategy helps to deliver that policy.