English Bill: Urgent Debates — Heather Roy—Ministerial Resignation 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
English Bill: Urgent Debates — Heather Roy—Ministerial Resignation 
[Sitting date: 18 August 2010. Volume:665;Page:13216. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) 
: 
 I would like to thank the Opposition for the opportunity to talk about the stability and the cohesion of the Key National Government and its relationships with the ACT Party United Future and the Maori Party. I think that Labour is very disappointed that it has not had the running camera shots. It has not had the stand-up press conferences in the airports. It has not had the apologies. It has not had a leader as well as his members being chased around and all the palaver that goes with the loving family that is the Labour Party under pressure. Labour is so disappointed that it has not seen that kind of performance going on around George Hawkins or my good friend Luamanuvao Winnie Laban who suddenly resigned precipitating a by-election without telling her leader. Labour is so disappointed that the ACT Party has not indulged in melodrama soap opera mess-ups mistakes and apologies which have been the chapter of the Labour Party for the last 3 months. I must say that new chapters are likely to be revealed as the months go on. 
The relationship between the National Party and its support parties is as we have often said one of respect not necessarily agreement. That sensible description of our relationships along with the consummate skills of the Prime Minister and the relentless attention of various Ministers and members of the respective caucuses to a positive relationship has led to a cohesive and stable Government through some very difficult times. All small parties have to bear the pressures of being in Government and I would have thought the Labour Party knew a bit about that. I can recall that at about this stage of the Labour Party’s political cycle—or in fact a wee bit later on—Jim Anderton was the leader of the Alliance in Parliament although he had been expelled from the Alliance out of Parliament. I am trying to work out whether that is exactly the obverse of the ridiculous situation with Chris Carter who is not a member of the Labour Party in Parliament but is still alive and kicking and paying his subscription as a member of the Labour Party outside of Parliament. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Do you mean like Maurice Williamson? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Maurice Williamson would be very proud to be dragged along to Labour’s ruling council to be expelled. He has said that Phil Goff cannot win just like Chris Carter so why are they not trying to kick Maurice Williamson out of the Labour Party? They have not succeeded in moving Chris Carter one inch. He is a full-blooded totally subscribed 24-hour-a-day member of the Labour Party. Even though in Labour’s Stalinist way Chris Carter has been diagnosed as suffering from mental illness which is what happens when anyone disagrees with anyone in the Labour Party he is still there. I am sure that that little show will go on. Like the show  
Two and a Half Men 
 it will continue with the same punchlines and that slightly wacky atmosphere for the next 9 12 or 15 months through to the election. I left out George Hawkins and Shane Jones but there will be more episodes. 
The Government has developed a healthy and stable culture. I think it is pretty obvious that the ACT Party does not always agree with the Maori Party and neither of those parties always agrees with the Government but we have in those parties people who are committed to a national good for New Zealand who have an ability to understand the complexity of the issues and who are able to deal with them when they are laid out in a transparent and respectful way. With that recipe this Government has been able to deal with some very complex issues. As the Minister of Finance representing Cabinet’s effort to get New Zealand through a recession for instance I have found that all of our support parties—ACT United Future and the Maori Party—have a strong intuitive grip of what is needed to get through a recession. They do not agree with every detail of the Government’s economic policy but we have been able to put together two coherent Budgets with the full support and involvement of those parties. The National Party appreciates that but more important New Zealand as a nation is benefiting from what has been a unique combination of political interests and a uniquely successful style of management by the Prime Minister. 
The Prime Minister has in the matter that is the subject of this debate simply ensured the continuity of a competent executive. Small parties and big parties have their own internal issues that they deal with. The Prime Minister has made it plain that it is his prerogative as to who is in Cabinet. That is an issue that can be discussed at any time with minor parties and support parties and it has been. He has simply ensured the continuity of the executive. I must pay a compliment to the ACT Party in the sense that whatever issues it has been dealing with it has made absolutely sure there has been no disruption to the process of government. There has been no attempt to draw focus away from the big issues that the Government has to deal with. I know that Labour members are very disappointed that issues that they have which over a series of months take night after night on TV to deal with have been dealt with within the framework of this Government and by the ACT Party in a way that ensured that those things that are properly the province of a party membership in a caucus room are dealt with there and those things that are properly required by a Government to continue with good government have remained there. 
One of the reasons the ACT Party has worked with the Prime Minister through these circumstances is because it supports the Government’s economic programme. It is a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme. For instance it knows that in order to get effective investment in infrastructure it needs to support this Government and it has done so admirably. It is particularly focused on another part of our six-point plan and that is reducing red tape. The leader of the ACT Party the Hon Rodney Hide has taken up a role somewhat as the conscience of the Government on this matter to make sure that the relentless pressure to regulate more is resisted and that the relentless pressure to react to political circumstances with low-quality regulation is also resisted. 






 The ACT Party and all its members have shown a great deal of interest in the Government’s plans for making the public sector more productive by delivering effective front-line services and reducing back-office costs. I am quite sure that the ACT caucus would rather that the National-led Government moved faster that it consolidated the Budget more quickly and that we reached surpluses more quickly. Those are all arguable propositions; other countries are following the kind of track that the ACT Party advocates. The United Kingdom would probably be the most obvious example. But because of the style of relationship that exists between National and its support parties we are able to debate those issues to come to coherent decisions and to implement them. 
The ACT Party has also shown a great deal of interest in the Government’s tax moves which the Government will implement on 1 October. That is because I think those members understand the reason for those tax changes. This economy has become unbalanced with too much consumption and excessive borrowing to pay for that consumption so we have increased taxes on consumption with an increase in GST. We have increased the effective tax rates on property we have dropped the tax rates on income work savings and investment and dropped the company tax rate and we have created a more conducive environment for exports. In principle the ACT Party and National agree on that and we were able to work through the detail of quite a complex package of tax reforms. 
It is part of the skill of running a Government that a major party can work with minor parties in a way that is constructive and forward-looking. I am sure the support parties would agree that the skill with which the Prime Minister has gone about that task has been critical to their success in getting the kinds of changes they want within reason and to the Government’s success in being able to present a programme that is broadly supported by the New Zealand public. Of course the Prime Minister’s efforts have been backed up by the efforts particularly of the spokespeople for the smaller parties because they carry a large burden. There are a lot of us; there are hardly any of them. They have to cover all of the activities of Government with fewer resources and fewer personnel. They are without exception very hard-working and very strong contributors even when we disagree or wish they did not contribute so strongly—which we do sometimes. So we are very pleased to work with that group of people. 
The Opposition made a somewhat weak attempt today to take a particular event of yesterday and turn it into some kind of problem for the Government that warranted the urgent attention of the House. Well it does not. The Government is stable the Government is coherent and the Government has a wide-ranging programme. The Government is putting in place changes that the small parties want and support and that National can present to the public as a broad-based programme. We are very proud of the ongoing relationship with the ACT Party and also with the other support parties in the Key-led National Government.