King Annette: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
King Annette: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:660;Page:8670] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 Members will know that 2009 was the Year of the Ox. I think it aptly named National in Government because an ox is a castrated bull and John Key and his Cabinet spent 2009 acting like castrated bulls. They had the semblance of the equipment they needed to make an impact but they lacked the necessaries to drive home their agenda. So instead of seeing some bold ideas for action we spent the entire 2009 year witnessing lots of grinning and lots of spinning lots of flipping and lots of flopping over 40 reviews and inquiries thousands of photo opportunities and lots of bluster and blatherskite. 
But wait—it is now the Year of the Tiger. The tiger is a very dynamic beast indeed—a very forceful beast ready to spring into action. So with a drum roll and with breathless anticipation today we waited for the tiger to pounce. We waited to get the motorway to the future. We were waiting for “Big Tuesday” to be a winner for all New Zealanders. We were waiting for “Ambiguous for New Zealand” to become “Ambitious for New Zealand” as we were promised. We waited for John Key to reach his own national standard. 
What did we get from the Prime Minister today for his much-hyped programme of action? Well I think Bernard Hickey got it right. Members should go and look at what some of the commentators are saying. Bernard Hickey said that it is a clear message to leave New Zealand now. 
I have to say that looking at the Prime Minister’s statement has been described particularly by my colleague Grant Robertson as looking at a late-night television guide. It is full of repeats—repeat after repeat after repeat. John Key announced today over 50 repeat policies—over 50 repeat policies. He announced 50 old policies—some of them were ours I have to say—and that is supposed to represent a step change to the future. There were 50 policies that had already been announced. The old Kopu Bridge was rolled out yet again. In fact the entire transport portfolio which Labour had already announced when we were in Government and had started was rolled out again as new policy today. 
You see 2009 was the year of reviews and inquiries and this year those inquiries and reviews will be replaced. I went through the speech and I saw that they will be replaced with such actions as looking at issues putting out discussion documents and developing some action plans. The Government will consider reports do a little bit of reviewing and develop a few policies. It will be setting up a working group and—wait—establishing an advisory group. 
Is that a step change to the future? What are the commentators saying? Well within minutes of that speech that so-called world-shattering speech the greatest speech John Key would ever make as Prime Minister what were the commentators saying? Bernard Hickey said: “Today he did nothing. He did worse than nothing. He shut down the debate.” Bernard Hickey went on to say: “He has finally shown his colours. He is a mediocre leader without the vision or the ability to change New Zealand. He is a seat-warmer who is too scared to scare the masses.” That was said by Bernard Hickey who is one of theirs—one of National’s. He also said: “He is saying he wants to get re-elected. How uninspiring. How pedestrian. He is saying he is not a real leader.” 
What does Brian Fallow say? Brian Fallow is a well-respected business commentator. He has said that “Business is unlikely to be blown away by the boldness of the vision outlined in today’s agenda-setting speech. Indeed the average thistledown would not be blown away.” Then we have John Armstrong. He is probably one of the foremost political commentators in New Zealand. What did John Armstrong say within minutes of hearing the speech? He said: “Key’s quick march … little more than a crawl”. But the doozy of them all is a comment by David Farrar the great blogger who runs the National Party’s lines. I have a great lot of respect for David Farrar actually believe it or not—in fact I do today because he said that John Key’s speech was a B-grade effort. It really was like a repeat movie from the past. It was a B-grade effort. 
New Zealanders should not be surprised that today was about hype and not action. The signs were all there before John Key became the Prime Minister of this country. We knew that John Key’s Government would be all mouth and no trousers. It was obvious before the election. Can members remember when he went to McGehan Close? It was the street that he called dead-end as Phil Goff has already said today—the place where the rungs of the ladder of opportunity had broken. It was the place where he pulled up in his limo his VIP limo and took an innocent 12-year-old girl to Waitangi to parade her in front of the media not for her benefit but for his photo-opportunity. Can members remember the job he arranged for the mother—for Joan Nathan? Do they remember the job he arranged before the election with great fanfare? She was given a job— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: An aspirational future. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: —and an aspirational future as my colleague has said. Well what happened? It was all aimed at showing New Zealanders that he the former State house boy could relate to Struggle Street and that he could fix the problems its people had. 
It has all turned out to be a big fat lie. There has been no road paved with gold for Struggle Street. In fact there has been no street at all for them. Mrs Nathan said on Sunday that she is worse off under Mr Key. She even lost the job he got for her soon after he got elected. She represents thousands of Kiwis who have suffered over the last year and today they were looking to see what was in this forward-looking visionary package from the Prime Minister. But like Mrs Nathan they will be used they will be abused and they will be dumped. 
Where in Mr Key’s speech was the fairness for hard-working Kiwis to get ahead? Where was the plan for the 3500 Kiwis who queued for 150 supermarket jobs? Where was the plan for the 200 people who applied for a single job in a pet shop in Wanganui? John Key said that the unemployment rate had levelled out at 7 percent but I say to Mr Key that it is still going up. 
Last week the Australian Government released a major report called the 2010 Intergenerational Report which looks at that country from 2010 to 2050. Brian Gaynor a respected business journalist said it showed that the Australian Government was “far more forward looking” than the one we have in New Zealand. He pointed out that if we “do not create more high paying jobs for our 15 to 24 age group the flow of people crossing the Tasman will increase.” Is there anything in the statement from Mr Key that will turn round those shameful unemployment statistics? Is there anything that will close the gap with Australia? No there is absolutely nothing. 
What about National’s pre-election promise of the fresh start for young New Zealanders? John Key claimed before the election that there were 25000 young New Zealanders who did not have any qualifications when they left school. They had no education and no training. So what happened to the promise that there would be universal access for all those young people under 18 years of age? There are now 43000 of them—not 25000 but 43000—and do members know what the promise has been to them until the election in 2011? There has been a promise of 4000 positions. For 43000 young people the vision and the promise is 4000 guaranteed positions for jobs training or education. That is what they have got out of this speech today.