Power Simon: General Debate 
Power Simon: General Debate 
[Volume:640;Page:10694] 
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 Before my colleague Gerry Brownlee was interrupted by the contribution from the Hon Ruth Dyson he was bringing to the attention of the House the advertisement from the Ministry for the Environment about the opportunity to work at the forefront of New Zealand’s political agenda. 
However what was more interesting in that advertisement in the  
Dominion Post  
of 30 June was this paragraph: “To staff these work programmes the Ministry for the Environment has established and will soon be advertising some great opportunities to work in our organisation where we focus on the big questions dominating the headlines and the Government’s agenda.” It does not state: “Come and work for the Ministry for the Environment in a safe workplace where you will regardless of your political affiliations progress up the ladder.” It is all about selling the Government’s political agenda—as advertised in the  
Dominion Post  
of 30 June. 
Members of this House know when a Government is in its dying days because the Public Service is no longer a safe place to work for people who have any sort of connection with those in the political environment. We know and we have heard that the press secretaries in the Beehive and in ministerial offices are not happy at all about the way in which this matter has been handled. We know that professional State sector public servants in the Beehive who are apolitical are finding the current situation far from satisfactory. The State sector is bordering on being deeply politicised and that has to stop. In the meantime and alongside this new trend the election laws in New Zealand through the Electoral Finance Bill that was tabled yesterday are being rorted to suit the incumbent Government. 
 That member the Hon Ruth Dyson gets on her feet in this House and talks about bipartisan discussions on things like the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill and gets a conciliatory nod from her colleagues on the Government benches. Let me say this right now. Partisan electoral reform sets an extremely bad precedent in this House; there has always been a bit of an understanding between the senior members of both parties. One day—a day not too far from now—members on that side of the House will be sitting on the Opposition benches. Legislation that they have passed to screw the scrum in favour of the incumbent when no other political party is able to advertise or speak directly or indirectly with the public 12 months before or in the year of an election alongside the fact that a Government can continue to use taxpayers’ money to advertise Government policy is just a rort. 
The only thing this particular legislation is covering up—or in fact fiscally replacing for want of a more clumsy phrase—is the way the pledge card was funded in the last election. This is the next step in the series of being able to use taxpayer funding to drive the Government’s political agenda. This is a shameful screwing of an electoral reform scrum and members on that side of the House should be ashamed of the partisan way that this electoral reform is being proposed. Let me give an assurance that over the next few months the National Party will not take this sitting down. 
We know things are going badly for the Government because of the three key signs that we in the National Party look for in order to know the Government is on the way out. The first is that Phil Goff’s smile gets wider and wider and wider. The wider Phil Goff’s smile gets the closer to extinction this Government and this Prime Minister are coming. The second sign of course is that David Cunliffe gets more and more sure of himself. It is difficult to imagine I know but he gets more and more sure of himself. He starts lounging back on the third-row bench with his arms outstretched across two seats. We know that he can see opportunity. 
The last dead give-away sign of course that this Government’s days are coming to an end is that Clayton Cosgrove’s wardrobe is constantly updated. He knows he is on the way forward when this Government falters at the end of next year. Those three signs are being carefully watched. [ 
Interruption 
] Mark Burton can interject but that Minister will not want to be reading the front page of today’s  
Independent 
 which says—essentially—that he is gone. He tries hard but he is just not up to it. He is gone. The man who is still recovering from not being made Speaker after the last election is now finding his political future printed in front of him on the front page of Wednesday’s  
Independent 
.