King Annette: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Annette: General Debate[Sitting date: 20 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3463. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour): I think it is time to ask at this time of the electoral cycle what we look for in a Government. What do we look for in the leader of a Government? I think the answer to those two questions must be integrity ethics and morals trustworthiness truthfulness and sincerity. So the next question that I would then ask this Parliament—[Interruption] Oh! They are responding before I even get to it. That is kind of like they are admitting defeat before I even start. But I would say that the next question must be: does this current Government and its leader John Key have integrity? Do they have ethics and morals? Are they truthful? Are they trustworthy? And are they sincere? [Interruption] Thank you. Well I think that it is fair to say after almost 7 years that the National Government did start out with—those members were keen they were eager they were cooperative and they were very very excited after 9 years in Opposition. But 7 years later on almost all of those fundamental measures of good leadership and government that I have mentioned today this Government is a failure—it is a failure. John Key now acts on the understanding of what he can get away with what can never be found out and what he can cover up. There is a mounting number of examples of deception of trickery of evasion and duplicity and of downright Tory arrogance.If you wanted to see Tory arrogance you saw it today—you saw it in question time today. It started with the Prime Minister who did not answer a single question but attacked every other party in this House that is not in Government. It was then followed by Steven Joyce who is the most self-satisfied smug member of the Government and Anne Tolley who kept saying: “One more sleep one more sleep.” when she would not answer questions about the Budget that were not even about the Budget but about what she had done towards it. Then we had Simon Bridges the cabin boy who stood up and insulted New Zealand First. And then the doozy of them all—the doozy of them all—Tim Groser who has been going around the world grossing out all the people we would like to do trade with. He is the man headed for Washington. He is going to be our man over there in a diplomatic role—what an embarrassment.This Government made some pretty big solemn promises to New Zealand before the last election. Not just orally; it put them in pamphlets and stuffed them through just about everybody’s letterbox in New Zealand. Then it sent letters—personally addressed letters—paid for by the taxpayer and signed “Yours sincerely” by the Prime Minister and now we are told that those promises are just mere suggestions they are just aspirational goals and they are “nice-to-haves”. The latest one of all from the Prime Minister was when he said: “They were never promises in the first place.” So the promises that were solemn promises are not promises now according to the Prime Minister. Well there is a good word for that: it is chicanery. That is what it is—it is chicanery. And that now describes the modus operandi of this Government.Let us look at some of the trickery and duplicity of this Government that New Zealanders are experiencing. What did it promise around wages? It told us that they would be increased by $7000 per annum by 2017 and now the Prime Minister tells us that it will be only half that. It promised 150000 new jobs; now it can deliver only half of that promise according to the Prime Minister.Hon Dr Nick Smith: 194000.Hon ANNETTE KING: It promised balanced books Mr Smith. It promised balanced books and now we are going to have a $5 million to $6 million deficit. “Never really mattered—didn’t really care if we had a deficit or not.” That is not what was said last year—solemn promises to New Zealand. It promised that housing would be more affordable. Well what a big fat fabrication that was. We have seen house price inflation running at 14.6 percent per year and Auckland house prices rising by 63 percent under this Government. The Prime Minister said: “There’s no crisis.” but this week he finally said: “I think they are rising faster than is healthy.” He then said: “They have been going up a little more rapidly than we would like.” So finally the Government knows there is a problem and it is trying to put the cotton wool around it. This Government is not being honest with New Zealanders. It does not show the moral fibre that it ought to have as a Government. It has become tired it has become arrogant and it ought to leave this Parliament.