Pettis Jill: General Debates 
Pettis Jill: General Debates 
[Volume:615;Page:11106] 
JILL PETTIS (Labour—Whanganui) 
: 
 I thank the member for her speech. I enjoyed listening to it. My colleague Mita Ririnui gave a very good speech as well as did my colleagues Lynne Pillay and Steve Maharey. 
National’s attack on Maori issues has been coming for some time. I have to say I was surprised at the ugliness and the desperation of it—and I was genuinely surprised by those two elements. I underestimated National’s lust for power but after all we here in Labour are sitting where National believes is its rightful place in Parliament. National’s born to rule arrogance is coming to the fore. I remember Maurice Williamson who has a good sense of humour saying after the last election that where National went wrong was that every time it did something for Maori it lost votes in rural New Zealand. That is a quote from Mr Williamson. 
I also have to say there is a degree of emotion surrounding myself in this whole debate; of course there is. I remind the House of a very important poem by Pastor Martin Niemoeller. It is known throughout history and found in religious quotations. We are all familiar with this poem. One version is: “In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists …”. It goes on and then at the very end he concludes by saying: “Then they came for me and by that time there was no one left to speak up.” 
We on this side of the House will speak up for minority groups. We will speak up for those people who are not in a position of power and authority to protect their own interests. I am proud of the philosophy of this party. I know why I am Labour. I know exactly why I am Labour; so do all my colleagues on this side of the House. We are political. This is not just a job where we look out for the money that goes in by automatic payment every fortnight. This is a commitment. This is a passion. This is a belief for us. That is why we are in Parliament. We on this side of the House will continue to speak up for people who are not in a position to do so themselves. I am proud of my colleagues and the collegial way in which they are behaving at the moment. 
I am also very worried about the implications of what is being said by the National Party at the moment for this country’s economy. I was on an official visit to Taiwan some years ago with colleagues from both sides of the House. I met a woman from Queensland who was on an education sector recruitment visit. It was her 14th visit to Taiwan and she said it was the worst recruitment period she had ever experienced. Why was that? It was because a certain woman—an Australian politician—was getting an awful lot of publicity at the time. This woman said that the parents of potential recruits in Taiwan were saying they would not send their children to Australia. They would send them to Canada. So Canada very smartly while we were in Taiwan had a wonderful publicity campaign: “Send your children to Canada; we are not racist.” 
These comments that are being espoused by that National Party over there have huge potential to damage this country long term. Tourism is one of the biggest growth markets in this country second only to dairying. It provides 9 percent of our gross domestic product. Tourists come to New Zealand because they are attracted by our unique environment and our culture. They do not come to look at people like us who are rather boring. They come to look at people like my Maoricolleagues and my tangata whenua relations as well. 
One of the things that has the National Party really rattled is the fact that out in provincial New Zealand our economy is really strong. In my electorate we have more people working more building consents and more young people in training. We have a spirit and a sense of attitude in the electorate that we have not experienced for a very long time and it is wonderful.