Wilson Margaret:  
Wilson Margaret:  
[Volume:622;Page:17317] 
Hon MARGARET WILSON (Attorney-General) 
: 
 Mr Speaker we have just heard from the party that leads the Opposition in this House and as you would say: “It’s a bit of a worry really isn’t it?”. 
I think it is important to concentrate on what has been happening through the past year. After all we are getting to that time of the year where it is probably sensible to take a review of our performance. I know that certainly the Government is doing that and has been reviewing it and in our excellent conference we gave to the country an accounting of our performance and we also set out how we are going to lead it in the future. 
I know of course that National must also be doing some accounting of its performance. Certainly it is obvious from not only the latest poll but now a series of polls—and all serious politicians know that one does not take notice of a single poll; we certainly do not and we are serious politicians—that a certain trend is developing. The trend has obviously been that the people of New Zealand have made their judgment for this year certainly on the National Party. 
They have also made their judgment on its leader and the decision that has been made on the National Party comes as no surprise when one reflects upon the leadership of that party. Apart from the fact that some people still do not quite know who the leader of the National Party is because there have been so many changes those who have focused on it have been I think assessing what in fact is required to lead a political party. I say to Dr Brash that I am afraid that his end-of-year performance is wanting. I know he would take these matters seriously being a man of the past and in particular one who enjoyed the economics and the management performance regimes of the 1980s and 1990s. He will be taking a good honest hard look at his own performance as I am sure the party of which he is leader is also doing. 
In terms of that reflection I think it comes down to an understanding of what political leadership is really all about. The fact remains and it is sad to say it that Dr Brash simply has not got it. He has not got it on many many counts but one of the most important counts is that he lacks courage. He lacks the capacity to make the hard decisions. He lacks the capacity to front both his own colleagues and the people of New Zealand. 
It is seen in this House by the fact that his appearances here are so rare that on occasions one is not sure who the leader is. We know that he is out there in the electorate meeting the declining number of members of the National Party. He is not meeting the real people of New Zealand. They have made their choice. They have made their views known on the type of leadership style that Dr Brash is showing in the series of polls that we are going out on this year. 
The other thing that is apparent to some of us who observe politics both from within the House and outside is that Dr Brash was ill-prepared for leadership. He came in thinking it was like running a company. He did not seem to understand that in politics a leader has to engage with people particularly one’s colleagues on a one-to-one basis. A leader has to find time for them; one has to be able to conduct one’s caucus in a way that shows respect for the diversity amongst one’s own members while showing leadership and unity as to how to bring them together to act as a team. Anyone who observes what happens in this House on a day-to-day basis knows that there is disunity on the other side. There is no focus there is no energy and there is no strategy. The tactics are abysmal. I know that it is not the job of the Government to give an assessment and a report on how to improve his leadership rating in the polls but the state of democracy is such at the moment that I feel obliged to make at least a few observations as to what is happening in that direction. 
Leadership does not come only from the way that one interacts with people with one’s own colleagues but also people in the electorate—one does not talk down to them; one listens and uses language that people can understand; one relates to the issues that are real to the people not those highfalutin boardroom-type issues that seem important if one is the Governor of the Reserve Bank but are not so important if one aspires to be a serious leader of a political party. A person shows leadership not only through style but through substance. That comes through giving leadership on policy. There are no policies from the National Party and there are no policies that are relevant to the times at the moment because Dr Brash leads a party back to the future so to speak. He has all his experience centred on the 1970s the 1980s and the 1990s. Anyone who observes what is happening in this country today knows we have to look to the future. If in fact we look back if we go back to the Stone Age which is where he wants to lead us then we are doomed and the people of New Zealand know that.