Fairbrother Russell: General Debates 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fairbrother Russell: General Debates 
[Sitting date: 15 October 2003. Volume:612;Page:9191. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER (Labour—Napier) 
: 
 That is the man who on 25 November 2000 was quoted in the Christchurch  
Press  
as saying: “Jenny is in the view of the majority of caucus far better for that job [of National Party leader] than Bill is.” What was that article called? It was called “English boring—Nat MP”. 
Gordon Copeland 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. We are back on that faulty microphone again. Mr Fairbrother is completely garbled down this end of the House. 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: I thank Mr Copeland. Does the member want to hear that again? That is the man who said: “Jenny is in the view of the majority of caucus far better for that job than Bill is.” and the article is called “English boring—Nat MP”. What has changed since? We see Gerry Brownlee yawning across the Chamber as his leader gets up and tries to expound. When the leader in the  
New Zealand Herald 
 this morning states that National has been “internal navel-gazing” I wonder whether Bill English is talking about the occupational hazard of Gerry Brownlee whose navel-gazing must be something that he cannot avoid. I will tell members what that “internal navel-gazing” is. It is lack of— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Would the member like a demo? 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: I see it every day. I would like the member to do his buttons up. Not only does he not have the belly for politics he does not have the belly to sit in his own chair and listen to his own custard. 
That is the party that 13 days ago through the tractor driver Shane Ardern—with his tractor Myrtle that great threat to biosecurity which was not even clean before it polluted the grounds of Parliament—released a biosecurity strategy. It stated: “We will increase surveillance to ensure all containers that arrive in New Zealand each year are inspected.” I wonder where the National Party got that original thought from. It was not from Gerry Brownlee or the judge who decided on his credibility. No it got it from Labour’s policy. National recycled it because Labour announced in August that it would implement the new Import Health Standard for sea containers by which all sea containers are inspected. It looks as though National are a couple of months behind the eightball on that one. 
What did the tractor driver say when he released National’s biosecurity policy 13 days ago? “We will increase fines” he said. Labour increased fines for biosecurity offences in 2001 something the Nats were too scared to do when they were in Government. He went on about the inadequate funding of biosecurity. National funded biosecurity so poorly that the painted apple moth the Argentine ant and the varroa bee mite got in under National control and we are spending a lot of money to keep them out. Fortunately the New Zealand public is not fooled. 
The headline in the  
New Zealand Herald  
today is “Big two lose ground”. I immediately thought of Gerry Brownlee and Simon Power but I realised that the paper was not referring to Simon Power—it had mistaken Gerry Brownlee for two people. National is running at the same level it was when its leader skited after the election that he would provide decisive leadership to lead National out of the quagmire. His boots are still in the mud that Myrtle emerged from when she went up the steps of Parliament House. Labour’s rating has not even dipped as far as it was in the last election yet National still descends—at the same rate as its leader—into the quagmire of Myrtle’s home ground. 
What we have here is a party that has leadership and vision. We have a party that does not have time for internal navel-gazing whatever that might be. We have a party that states what is good for the country makes up its mind and goes ahead with it. It is a party that states that this country is old enough to govern itself and passes the Supreme Court Bill which abolishes appeals to the Privy Council. It passes a bill so that we can have laws in this country that are made for people like Gerry Brownlee and so that judges in Christchurch can apply the laws knowing that our senior judges will interpret them correctly. I notice that no appeal happened in that case either. 
We have a country that states that genetic modification is the future of our agricultural products—if it is exercised cautiously. What did National do about that? Did it state that it had a different policy? No. Throughout that debate yesterday and last week National Party members said: “Me too.” They ridiculed the items in the schedules to the legislation and endorsed the policy without offering an original solution at all. No wonder biodiversity left Gerry Brownlee at birth. 
Finally I want to talk quite seriously about the parlous state of politics in this House. I came to the House 15 months ago and I have spent them looking at a vacuum. Every day I am forced to look at the National Party across the Chamber and it is absolutely pitiful.