Wong Pansy: General Debate 
Wong Pansy: General Debate 
[Volume:646;Page:15736] 
PANSY WONG (National) 
: 
 We have just heard from a departing member the Hon Paul Swain. He saw the writing on the wall. He is saying goodbye. He saw the writing on the wall: the Labour Government will be gone. 
Today is a very sad day at Elim Christian College at Botany. A close-knit school community is mourning the loss of six students and one teacher who were caught in a swollen river during their outdoor training course. Our sympathy goes to the families fellow students and teachers and we entrust the leadership of the principal Mr Murray Burton to lead the grieving process at this difficult time. I am sure that the Christian faith can ease some of the pain that must be being felt by the families who are suffering the loss of their dear ones. 
New Zealand communities in general are suffering a pain of a slightly different kind. They are suffering in order to make ends meet. The latest statistical report shows that in the past year the price of nine common household food items has gone up by 25 percent. Like my effective and hard-working colleague Judith Collins—very shortly the Hon Judith Collins—has said the household items going up are not luxury items. They are necessary food items. A kilo block of mild cheddar went up from $6.49 to $10.69. That is what New Zealanders want politicians to debate—not asset sales but the price of food on their table. There has been a whopping increase of 82 percent in the price of butter. 
The Minister of Maori Affairs the Hon Parekura Horomia needs to reflect on his facts. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: What did he say? 
PANSY WONG 
: He accused some of our kids of going to school without breakfast because they want to stay slim. That is an outrage. It shows how out of touch this Labour Government is. 
Last Saturday the Hon Maryan Street found her voice. She sang. She was mimicking and having fun at the expense of our leader John Key. She did not find her voice last December when the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) quietly—on 23 December 2 days before Christmas—put out a little price increase a pressie for all New Zealanders. There was a 2c increase in the accident compensation levy for petrol. The workers’ levy went up from $1.16 to $1.24. Senior citizens who seldom use their cars will find that their registration fee will go up by $40. 
Judith Collins 
: What! 
PANSY WONG 
: It will go up by $40. Well Maryan Street did not find her voice at Christmas. She did not speak up and tell New Zealanders the good news of how wonderful the ACC is for dealing them another increase. 
Maryan Street did not find her voice in early January of this year when we found out that a serial burglar who has been behind bars for 12 years had demanded cosmetic surgery for a part of his ear that was bitten off during one of those burglaries. She did not find her voice to speak up. I as the Opposition spokesperson had to put out a statement and say that the Minister for ACC needs to front up and tell the corporation it does not have to be intimidated by that type of demand. She did not find her voice to speak up for the people. 
Daily like other members here I have people approaching my office about not getting operations when they were genuinely injured in an accident and being made to wait and wait. Maryan Street did not find her voice to speak out for all those people. Instead she endorsed the corporation to spend $5 million telling the public what a wonderful job it is doing and to tell people that they are covered. But then the Advertising Standards Authority found that the advertisements—$5 million worth—were misleading. People are not covered and the corporation has had to withdraw the ad. So with $2 million what did it do? 
Chris Auchinvole 
: What? 
PANSY WONG 
: It handed out paper fans at the Pasifika Festival. I am not too sure how people with a paper fan in their hands would suddenly learn a lot about the ACC. What is the correlation between the corporation and paper fans? 
Judith Collins 
: Paper fans? 
PANSY WONG 
: Yes and it gave out minties. What does the ACC have to do with handing out minties? The corporation also spent $1 million on Australian consultants to tell us nothing new. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.