Finlayson Christopher: General Debate 
Finlayson Christopher: General Debate 
[Volume:673;Page:19382] 
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Attorney-General) 
: 
 The thoughts of all of us are with the people of Christchurch. It is very frustrating that so many people’s properties have suffered further damage. Many people are back to square one and are now faced with the task of cleaning up and starting all over again. Once again we witnessed the courage of the people of Christchurch and Lyttelton. For every picture of destruction that we see on our televisions we also see people helping neighbours cleaning up and getting on as best they can with their lives. Unfortunately both cathedrals and the Arts Centre of Christchurch have sustained more damage this week and very very sadly the Lyttelton Timeball Station is in total ruins. Some people who were working on heritage buildings were injured on Monday and we are all very very grateful that no one was killed. 
This Government is 100 percent committed to Christchurch. On top of the billions of dollars that we have committed to rebuilding Christchurch it too will benefit from the plans laid out in Budget 2011 for a strong growing economy a return to surplus and getting on top of national debt. The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister are tackling the serious issues of our times that face our country and these are indeed serious times. But wherever we look it seems that some parties are just not interested in grappling with these serious issues. Former justice Minister Annette King was last seen engaging in what young folk call a flame war with New Zealand’s top blogger David Farrar and the MP for Hutt South is currently training for a cycle race against another blogger. This follows a war of words last year between senior Labour and Green MPs about who unfriended whom on Facebook. They say people find their own level in life. Well these folk have certainly found theirs. 
Last month Chris Hipkins tried to smear the Prime Minister with the scoop that two separate legal entities both had the letters “BMW” in their names. Well “ 
NCIS Rimutaka 
” this was not. It seems that Pete Hodgson has bequeathed to Chris Hipkins his filing cabinet of unsolved cases including old carpet and curtain cleaning bills the secret of the H-Fee conspiracy and the possible whereabouts of the “Ashburton Panther”. This is Opposition in a nutshell. Labour is the “Yahoo Party” the “Once-Over-Lightly Party”—it is not the “Serious Party”. 
The Greens recently pulled their “Gone off Phil Goff” ads from the internet. Russel Norman said they were an unauthorised experiment by one of the Greens’ campaign team. The obvious question is how one can have an unauthorised decision in a party where everything is done by sharing caring and consensus. But more likely the Greens’ focus group suggested that just like Labour voters none of the Greens’ supporters knew who Phil Goff was. 
My message to the Labour Party today to those in Labour who are serious about politics is to stop the rot. Take back control of the once-great party of Peter Fraser—although if Peter Fraser were alive today he would be a member of the National Party. The truth is that they have already gone off Mr Goff in Labour. The truth is that his successors in Labour simply do not have the nerve to topple him before the election. Safe in their high places on the list they are happy to see people like my friend Mrs Chadwick at No. 35 on the Labour list take the fall when the votes are counted. To paraphrase John Milton’s  
Paradise Lost 
 Mr Robertson Mr Cunliffe and Mr Jones have decided they would rather rule in Opposition than serve in Government.