Maharey Steve: General Debate 
Maharey Steve: General Debate 
[Volume:620;Page:15886] 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 I have to say that with spring in the air with the start of daylight saving and with long summer nights ahead New Zealanders are feeling pretty good about themselves and New Zealand—at least the ones who are represented by people on this side of the House are. They are feeling like that because Labour is looking at opinion polls that are just breaking out all over the country like those spring flowers. The opinion polls say that Labour is 4 to 8 percent solidly in front of the National Party. 
We are busy little bees on this side of the House because we are overseeing a booming economy. We are overseeing the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years. We are overseeing regional growth. We are overseeing more New Zealanders employed than ever before in our history. We are overseeing the drop in the number of people on working-age benefits. We are overseeing the redistribution of $2.75 billion to low to modest income households. We are giving out money for Modern Apprenticeships and that is applauded by industry. Tomorrow for example we will be giving money towards the new wonderful Gateway programme. It feels like spring on this side of the House. It just gets better. It makes one proud to be a Kiwi. 
But on the other side of the House I have to say that it is all gloom. It is as if winter has not yet finished on the National side of the House. It is as though a weather bomb has just hit on the National side of the House. I say to Mr Donnelly that we do not regard him as being on the National side of the House. The sunshine is creeping across his doorstep as we speak. However the weather bomb has smacked into exactly where the National Party is sitting. We know this because nothing is happening. National members are indoors. They are beside the fire. They do not want to come out because they are failing to get their message across. 
Dr Don Brash told people in his Orewa speech and thereafter that the National Party was on its way to victory. He told them after Orewa that it was health it was education it was economics it was welfare and it was law and order. We were going to hear about all these speeches that would set the scene and the agenda and how the National Party would rise again to take over the country. That is what he said. Well he did not actually say that because that was far too exciting. He would not have done it that way at all. He would not have dared to be exciting like that and of course he has not given those speeches. We have not heard any policy on race. We have heard no policy on law and order. We have heard no policy on welfare. We have heard no policy on education. National members have even told us that they do not expect to fight the next election on the economy because it is too good. They will have to move elsewhere. 
What National Party members have decided to do is listen. They have gone all the way to Invercargill. Dr Brash was there the other night with all the Rotary groups. They said he came to listen not to speak and that is exactly what he did. He listened. Today he was back in the House for the whole of question time—an hour and a half—with many opportunities to ask questions of all the Ministers on this side of the House but he listened closely to what was going on because of course National Party members have nothing to say. 
It could be hibernation but I think there are internal arguments. Mrs Rich cannot agree with Dr Don Brash on things like welfare. We know that not only can they not agree but now they do not have any ideas. If we read the  
Listener 
 article we see Mrs Rich hanging on the phone for a whole 20 seconds while she comes up with the fact that their policy is going to be—proactive. They cannot get more active than us. Mr Goff and I are even called workaholics by people in the media. We are always working. Mrs King is so thin now after all the hard work she does that if she stands side-on we cannot see her. That is how active we are. 
Mrs Rich wants to tell the country that she will get—proactive. That is a killer of a policy. I can see that going across on the hustings as they ask: “What are you going to do?” and National Party members say: “Get proactive.” That party dumped Mrs Shipley it dumped Mr English and if we look at the way the polls are changing it is about to dump Dr Brash.