Yates Dianne: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Yates Dianne: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:629;Page:1115] 
DIANNE YATES (Labour) 
: 
 What a terrible speech from a man who used to be mayor of Wellington—and what a cheek! I hope he read the  
New Zealand Herald 
 yesterday because it had a very good article about older people setting an example in this country. I think it is a terrible shame that the police have to waste time with older people who should know better about behaviour in the streets and so on. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: The police dragged him up the stairs. 
DIANNE YATES 
: Did they! But he is talking about the police and young people when the police are having to waste time with older people who should be setting an example in terms of behaviour in this city and this country. It is appalling. 
I am proud though to be a New Zealander. I am very proud to be a New Zealander and I am proud to be one of the Prime Minister’s team and to be with Helen Clark of whom I am tremendously proud. That is why Helen Clark is polling very high. Members may laugh and snigger but Helen Clark is polling three times as high as “Dr Mogadon Brash”. 
Dr Brash is hardly polling any higher than John Key and we are very interested in watching John Key saying: “Beg me beg me beg me. I might be the leader one day. I’m not going to say I won’t be. Other people are saying I might be but we do not know who and we can’t name them.” Is it Maurice Williamson or is it Bill English? Somebody has got the knife into Don Brash. It might be David Bennett over there. He has a fairly high place on the list and he has a good contribution to make to the National Party. So who is out for Dr Don Brash’s back? Dr Brash has not delivered. He promised—and he has broken his promise already—that if he did not deliver he would resign. But who do we have in the Chinese Year of the Dog? We have John Key snapping at his heels. I would not mind betting that John Key was born in the Year of the Dog because he is certainly snapping at the heels of Don Brash. 
Why is Helen Clark the most preferred Prime Minister in this country? She is most preferred because of good Government because of integrity because she has an international reputation for working for world peace because she is consistent because we stand for a non-nuclear society and because we stand for sustainability. I do not know why National members are laughing. They have just changed their policy on nuclear issues because they realised we were right. And what about social democratic principles? We in New Zealand are known throughout the world for upholding social democratic principles and principles of a fair society where everyone gets a fair go and it is a great place to bring up kids. This is and should be a land of opportunity for all. 
We are not talking down this country. I am embarrassed that members of the Opposition should be talking down this country. It is appalling. Where is their pride? Where is their integrity? Where is their sense of what New Zealand is about? We have the lowest unemployment rate in the Western World. We have good working conditions. We have decent standards of living in this country. We have a growing economy. There may be a dip but we have a growing economy. We are investing heavily in health and education and in the police. That is more than National ever did. What did John Banks ever do? He gave us those flak jackets—something stupid—and a lot of hot air. We are protecting our environment and we are a country that is proud of that. We have a reputation as a principled independent and nuclear-free society. 
What is more we are a country that not only has a rich culture and unique identity but that has an identity spread throughout the world. At the moment I do not have enough time to view all the movies that are promoting New Zealanders and New Zealand talent:  
No. 2 
 a great movie about the Pacific and New Zealand;  
North Country 
 which has a New Zealand director;  
River Queen 
;  
The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe; King Kong 
; and 
 The World’s Fastest Indian. 
 I need more time. 
Steve Chadwick 
: It didn’t happen by chance. 
DIANNE YATES 
: No but it happened. When we talk to New Zealand musicians and when we go to concerts we hear them say: “Thank goodness for Helen Clark! Thank you for the support of Helen Clark who is proud to be a New Zealander and to promote New Zealand and New Zealand values.” We have a New Zealand that values actors directors writers and special effects people. They are known internationally and that recognition has happened in recent years. Thankfully we have a Prime Minister who is the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage and who is proud of this country. She is proud of our talent and she is encouraging that talent which is known worldwide as she is known worldwide. 
I heard Lianne Dalziel talk about skills and talent and skilled workers. I talked just the other day with people from the Waikato who were from the Katolyst Group and who were talking about the needs in the Waikato for trained skilled workers. We are working hard on that. We are analysing it. We have more apprentices and Modern Apprentices than we have ever had before. But where is the gap? The gap is in the middle range. The gap is from those 10 years when National was in power and not offering training and now there is that gap in the middle management area the area of senior skilled people who are not there to train the young ones. That is where the gap is and we know who to blame for it. We are working hard to get over that shortfall with apprenticeships. I talked to a young man in Hamilton the other day and I talked to his mum. She said that her lad is doing really well and that the Modern Apprenticeship scheme is great. She said that he is getting trained and that he is proud of what he does. He is proud of his training he is proud of his job and he is doing well. He is working extremely well within his trade and that is where we are building up and trying to recover from the gap created by National. 
I heard the Minister of Women’s Affairs talking about women’s affairs and I saw members opposite laughing. 
Simon Power 
: We were not laughing; we were just saying it was rubbish! 
DIANNE YATES 
: The member may yell but I was on an election platform where not one National Party person I heard knew what National’s women’s policy was. When they were asked about women’s policy they talked about children. They did not even have a clue what the policy was. I saw nothing in their policy. They had no idea what pay equity was about. They had no idea about women’s health policy. 
They had no idea about student loans. I see a member in this House not very far from me who in his maiden speech talked about youth then voted against getting rid of the interest on student loans. And he wondered why 3000 students at Waikato University booed when he got up to speak. Where is someone in favour of youth who does not want a youth facility in his electorate? Where is the person who would rather have wayward kids wandering around the streets than have a decent youth facility in a place where they would be looked after by good church people and social services? That member does not want to have that. He would sooner have kids wandering the streets. He probably wants them living under plastic outside the city walls or under bridges. He does not want a decent facility. Probably that same person will stand up and say he wants more prisons as well. 
People have been talking about confidence in New Zealand because some people at the last election were afraid. People in local government were afraid that National might get in. People on low incomes were afraid that National might get in. People in health facilities were afraid. People with disabilities and superannuitants were afraid. Teachers people in State houses young people seeking employment students and young families were all afraid that the National Party might get in. They were afraid about what would happen to New Zealand as we know it—a country with values where families are respected where children are respected where all ethnic groups are respected and where people get a decent day’s pay for a decent day’s work and are not screwed over by an Employment Contracts Act. Those people were afraid of going back to the old days of Jenny Shipley and food banks. They were people who knew that we have a society of which we can proud. We have a society where we have decent social services and where we have decent standards of living. We are working towards a society where there is sustainable growth a decent economy and a decent life for all Kiwis. [ 
Interruption 
] People who snigger and laugh need to be ashamed of themselves because they are going to take this country backwards. 
I am proud of Helen Clark. She will go down in history as the best Prime Minister this country ever had.