Hughes Darren: General Debate 
Hughes Darren: General Debate 
[Volume:620;Page:15896] 
DARREN HUGHES (Labour—Otaki) 
: 
 If members tune into TV3 tonight they will see a new Kiwi comedy that is taking the country by storm. It is called  
bro’Town 
 and it is a good example of Kiwi ingenuity and comedy. But another TV programme will be hitting our screens sometime in the next 12 months. It will have fanciful cartoon characters that are equally as unbelievable and it will be called “ 
Dr Flip-Flop” 
. It will be a cartoon show that will feature an elderly main star with a PhD surrounded by a hapless band of bandits as they go around trying to convince the people in their neighbourhoods that they have ideas. It will be a disaster of a show. It will get no ratings. New Zealand On Air will not touch it. But it will make great viewing for people interested in politics and Parliament because those on “ 
Dr Flip-Flop 
” are about to be exposed on television as the kinds of characters they are. 
It is almost 1 year since the National Party list MP Don Brash a first-term member of Parliament—not that there is anything wrong with that—became the Leader of the Opposition. Since that time we could only describe the National Party as being a riderless horse in this Parliament. There is no better example than in recent times—being yesterday and today. As members know we have had a 2-week adjournment—a chance for members to fan out across the country. I noticed that the leader of New Zealand First was very busy over the adjournment. Labour and Progressive members were very busy with party caucuses and talks with constituents. They were out around the country getting a contest of ideas that they could bring back to Parliament so we can debate the things we believe in. But what has happened in the last 2 days within the re-energized and refreshed National Party? We have seen the same tired old style and strategy that it has had in the year since we have been subjected to Don Brash as the Leader of the Opposition. 
When we look at what has happened so far this year in the opinion polls we see that the National Party under Dr Brash’s strong and solid leadership has shaved off a quarter of its support. I predict that by the time Dr Brash gets to his first anniversary as leader he will be polling exactly the same as when he took over from Mr English. The National Party will have been on this extraordinary 1-year journey with its leader—a list MP and first-term member—and it will have arrived back at exactly the point it left with Mr English. That has me thinking that the Labour Party will have to do some thinking. 
I say to my colleagues that I am not convinced we will be facing Dr Brash on the hustings in the next general election campaign. I think the “possum in the headlights” approach he has been taking shows that this man is rattled. The “great debater” is nowhere to be seen and nowhere to be heard. I know we have adjusted for daylight saving time but we can still work out that Parliament starts at 2 o’clock and that members should get their questions in to the Clerk by some time in the morning— 
Jill Pettis 
: By 10.30. 
DARREN HUGHES 
: By 10.30 I am told. Members get their questions in by 10.30 and they have a chance to get up in Parliament and ask questions of the Prime Minister and other Ministers. When the general debate starts at just after 3 o’clock members have the chance take the first slot in the debate and take it to the Government—like a Leader of the Opposition is meant to do. 
I think Gerry Brownlee is getting ready to lurch up and take the job. How do I know that? Mindless speculation? Oh no! I watch Murray McCully on these matters. Murray McCully is the great ace strategist of the National Party. I know that because Simon Power says it. If Simon Power says it it must be right. Where George Bush goes Simon Power goes. Where Murray McCully goes Simon Power is not too far after him. Murray McCully has given advice to Jim Bolger to Jenny Shipley to Bill English and now to Don Brash. We know that Murray McCully has stopped paying for Don Brash’s lemon lime and bitters at the end of the day. He is now funding Gerry Brownlee’s cheeseburgers. I would be very worried. 
Don Brash was going to be the man available 24/7 to defeat the Government. But now when we ask him a question what does he say? “I am uncomfortable with the National Party policy position. I have yet to reread our 2002 manifesto and although I am not unsympathetic to the point that is made I am not sure I can announce my policy at this time.” If one is going be available 24/7 to defeat the Government that is hardly the way to do it. He said he would work with the Devil to defeat the Labour Party. At the time I thought that was a very rough analogy to draw with the ACT party but as it turns out sinning is the done thing in that party. There were going to be five speeches. Only two of them have been given. That is a 40-percent work rate which I guess is not too bad for a part-time worker. That is not too bad for Dr Brash. Forty percent is not bad. He is a bit tired after giving 40 percent of the work he promised to give. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Two speeches in a year! 
DARREN HUGHES 
: Two speeches out of five have been given and the other three will not be made. In 1 year he will give only two. He turned up in the tea party hat in Ratana and he gave a speech to the Sensible Sentencing Trust about being tough on crime. He was going to be the big prison warden. It reminded me of  
Hogan’s Heroes 
 with Dr Brash as Colonel Klink and Gerry Brownlee as Sergeant Schultz. It was an absolute joke but it was much better than the normal Monty Burns and Homer Simpson routine they do. That party is a joke.