Clarkson Bob: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Clarkson Bob: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:629;Page:1211] 
BOB CLARKSON (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 I have a few notes written here tonight but I have had to add one. I will read it out: “That side of the House is like a tyre going flat—a lot of hot air escaping and heading nowhere.” 
I sat yesterday and listened to the speech from the leader of the country the Rt Hon Helen Clark. I must say I was upset to hear all the fluffy talk. There was a list of excuses trying to justify the past but no vision for the future. I have said it many times before and I will say it again: the country is on a slippery slope downhill. Nothing was heard yesterday to change my mind. 
Let us take the police for instance. The police are so busy dealing with the misdeeds of the Prime Minister who is speeding around the country signing pictures she did not paint and going crazy with taxpayers’ cheque books to promote the Labour Party they have very little time to deal with crime. The police are so busy with the Prime Minister’s affairs it is no wonder they cannot find time to sort out the Mongrel Mob in my electorate. It appears to me that Labour members and the leader of the country are serial lawbreakers. 
Mr Mike Williams the Labour Party President is helping the police with their inquiries. I know that he will be very helpful to the police because Mr Williams showed a touching concern about issues of overspending when he was helping Mr Winston Raymond Peters in his failed bid in Tauranga. Mr Williams found the time to help out Winston Raymond Peters when it seems he should have been looking closer to home and checking his own party’s books. I just mention at this time that I have a folder with me which is the petition. It is possibly worth $80000 now. I am also certain that when it is proved in court that the Labour Party used taxpayers’ money to overspend illegally in the last election all its members will be gentlemen and ladies—and possibly others—and resign from Parliament immediately. It was pointed out to me in the Tauranga case that if I had been found to have overspent by $1 I would no longer be a member of this Parliament. I would be prohibited from standing for election again. I think in fairness we should use that as a guideline so that Labour members both list and electorate should resign immediately if it is proved that their party raided taxpayers’ funds to massively overspend the limit. 
We of course look forward to another election in those Labour-held seats. We might be hoping in vain. They are strangers to the truth. I listened to the speech made yesterday by the previous member for Tauranga. 
Hon Member 
: Who was that? What was his name? Winston Raymond Peters? 
BOB CLARKSON 
: No it was the Rt Hon Winston Peters. I would like to have a little chat about the Rt Hon—Winston Peters. I nearly forgot his name! He is pushing very hard for the waka-jumping bill. It certainly gives me the idea that he is worried about the loyalty of his party’s members. I can understand those members feeling slightly disloyal with the way Winston has been acting lately. The “Prince of Baubles” cannot get loyalty by good leadership so he wants to make it illegal for them to leave. Real leaders do not need to use the law to get loyalty. I can understand why New Zealand First members might want to jump ship. 
I can also understand why members of the Labour Party would not want to jump ship. National would not have them for a start. But if they did jump ship it would increase the IQ of the Labour Party and lower that of the National Party. I think Muldoon said that did he not? 
But I come back to the former member for Tauranga the Rt Hon Winston Peters—the Tauranga loser. By the way that is now on his CV and soon he will be a loser again when he pays me a few bucks. He did not stop whingeing after the court case was decided and he continues to make allegations about my integrity and honesty. Well he has a problem because those remarks were made outside the House so no doubt he will be pleased to pay for them later. 
Hon Member 
: Is the bankruptcy notice filed yet? 
BOB CLARKSON 
: Yes. I can hear the sound of cheque books closing all over Tauranga—the cheque books that funded his indiscretions during and after the election. He should have a few more drinks and just get his head around the fact that the election is over. He has lost. The “Prince of Baubles” has got to grow up and be a man take the lesson on the chin and realise he is a has-been in Tauranga. 
But let me get back to this hopeless Government. Its members cannot blame anybody else but themselves for the state the country is in. The health system has gone down the drain over the last 6 years and is not performing. Who was the Government for the last 6 years? 
Hon Members 
: The Labour Party! 
BOB CLARKSON 
: Who is to blame for the poor health services? 
Hon Members 
: The Labour Party! 
BOB CLARKSON 
: Who were taken for mugs? 
Hon Members 
: The taxpayers! 
BOB CLARKSON 
: Apprenticeships have gone out the window in the last 6 years. Who was the Government in the last 6 years? 
Hon Members 
: The Labour Party! 
BOB CLARKSON 
: Who wasted money on stupid courses and dim ideas? 
Hon Members 
: The Labour Party! 
BOB CLARKSON 
: Who paid for those stupid courses? 
Hon Members 
: The taxpayer! 
BOB CLARKSON 
: The taxpayer has been shafted by Labour left right and centre. 
I would like to mention a couple of things in a more positive way because I do not like being negative actually. Unfortunately when one is dealing with negative people it is a bit awkward. I refer to the country’s roading. We keep talking about production and Labour keeps talking about building platforms. Well those platforms must be big because Labour has been building them for 6 years. They must be like a big ship in the sea. Transport is the main thing for production. If there are no roads there is no production because one cannot get from A to B. So for goodness’ sake I say to the Government start building some roads in a decent manner—get the fuel tax out of the consolidated account and let us get some action! 
The Government keeps raving on about houses and I hear that the Hon Michael Cullen has been raving on about a few things I said about housing in my maiden speech when I referred to National spending billions of dollars on housing if it got in—with Don Brash’s approval of course; he will be our leader for years to come. 
Darren Hughes 
: They didn’t clap that. 
BOB CLARKSON 
: They understand. National will be coming out with a policy on housing and we will get the job done. Labour is failing miserably. 
Paula Bennett 
: Sock it to ’em Bob. 
BOB CLARKSON 
: No I have not got too much more to say really. But when I collect the money from Winston Peters—he has had his 12 days to pay it—all National Party members are invited along for a few free drinks. 
Hon Member 
: Have you told Winston that in exchange? 
BOB CLARKSON 
: I would invite Winston but as he might drink too much I will not do that.