Goff Phil: General Debate 
Goff Phil: General Debate 
[Volume:650;Page:18699] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 When it comes to credibility in this area John Key has absolutely none. Ten days ago John Key was asked a straightforward question by Duncan Garner on TV3. Michael Ashcroft the British billionaire who had donated to the Conservative Party and to the Australian Liberal Party was in the country. Duncan Garner asked John Key this question: “Has anyone in the National Party met Lord Ashcroft over the past week?”. John Key said: “Ah yes I think they have.” Duncan Garner opened the trap a bit wider. He asked the question again and what did John Key say: “Ah yes I think they have.” “They have”—somebody else had! John Key was not telling the truth. John Key knew that he had met Lord Ashcroft. He had met him in his own house at his invitation. As the trap sprung Duncan Garner commented when he knew John Key had nowhere to hide and Mr Key came out and admitted it. Why did he not tell the truth in the first instance? Why did he not tell the truth? What did he have to hide? 
Then there was the John Key of the Exclusive Brethren fame—the John Key who got the email that stated: “urgent important and strictly confidential.” That is how the email was headed. John Key got it Don Brash got it and both of them told the country that they did not open it. Can anybody believe John Key about that? The answer is no. So the member should not come in here and show off his double standards with the accusations he makes about other members. You know John Key. You know that you opened that email. You met Ron Hickmott a couple of weeks beforehand. You knew that he was promising a million dollars but you did not tell the truth. 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know Mr Goff is desperate to get himself looking angry on TV but he is not allowed to address a member of Parliament as “you”. That is a reference to the Speaker. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member is quite right but in this debate I have allowed another speaker to use that term. But Mr Goff is aware of that. Please continue. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: So there are two examples. Mr Key did not tell the truth about the email that he got promising $1 million. Every campaign organiser for the National Party around the country knew that. Mr Key who had met with the Exclusive Brethren and who got the email promising a million dollars went out and told the country he knew nothing about it. Mr Key should come clean. Mr Key knows that that is not the truth. Mr Key knows that he did not tell the truth to TV3 when he tried to pretend that he had not met Michael Ashcroft. There is Mr Key talking about secret donations. The National Party at the last election got $2 million from secret trusts anonymously—secret donations. The country wants to know who those donors were what their commercial motivation was in promising you that money and in giving you that money and they want to know what the National Party and Mr Key promised in return. 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr Goff is even more desperate now to get himself on TV while yelling at the Leader of the Opposition. But the fact is you drew the matter to his attention. He now appears to be deliberately flouting the Standing Orders and I suggest that he should not be allowed to do so. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: You are right of course but he is not deliberately flouting the Standing Orders. But I give notice that during this debate any speaker who uses the term “you” or refers to me—I do not wish to be involved in the matters—will be pulled up by the Chair. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: There we have the double standards and the hypocrisy of the National Party— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Point of order— 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: —$2 million in anonymous donations not transparent not open— 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am very concerned that this member is continuing to speak when a point of order has been called. This is the third time I have risen to my feet on a point of order—both of the last ones have been valid—and this member is just continuing to shout. Everyone knows that when a point of order is taken in this House the speaker is to be quiet and to sit down because that is how points of order are dealt with. That is my first point. The second point is that he is not allowed to use that unparliamentary term. He might use it in the Labour caucus but not here. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Speaking to the point of order Mr Speaker I say firstly that the point of order had ended. Secondly many times people have talked about other parties being hypocritical. I addressed it about the National Party. Mr English and you know that that is in order and Mr English is embarking on a well-known tactic when he is under pressure when he is under attack and when he is feeling embarrassed—trying to interrupt another member’s speech that is just 5 minutes long. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: There are to be no comments or interjections during a point of order but a point of order is not a point of order until the Chair acknowledges that person and that was the case here. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: So we have had that hypocrisy from the National Party. We have had Mr Key who is up to his neck in hiding the fact that he knew about— 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. There have been many Speakers’ rulings regarding the “h” word. Speakers’ rulings have not been suspended today and the member is not allowed to use that unparliamentary term. That is the rule of this House. It is not discretionary; it is the rule of the House. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I ask the member to withdraw please. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I withdraw. Then there are the National members who make comments when they think the public is not listening that are different from the comments they make in public. Mr English is guilty of that. He told us that Kiwibank was going to be privatised to the Australians and he said that Working for Families would be cut. Mr English—“Mr 20 percent” at the last election—has egg all over his face because the mask slipped and he forgot what Crosby/Textor had told him. 
Hon Bill English 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. As is typical with allegations from that member none of those things is true. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: Speaking to the point of order I say that not only were they true but the whole country saw Mr English get up and apologise for embarrassing John Key by saying them. I rest my case. 
Those are the double standards of the National Party with its secret agenda its secret donors—the people who are financing it. The National Party does not tell New Zealand what those donors’ commercial motivation is or what the National Party is promising them in return. It is the National Party that says one thing in private and another thing in public. It does not let the public know what the secret agenda is. It is the National Party that will have Michael Ashcroft paying for Crosby/Textor the spin doctors to try to keep the National Party’s mask from slipping. But the mask keeps slipping. Maurice Williamson promised $50 road tolls for each week and Bill English told the country that he will privatise Kiwibank—nobody believes their denials.