Tamihere John: Appropriation (2002/03 Supplementary Estimates) Bill — Second Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Tamihere John: Appropriation (2002/03 Supplementary Estimates) Bill — Second Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:609;Page:6378] 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE (Minister of Youth Affairs) 
: 
 It is always a pleasure to speak after the National front-bench heavyweight has spoken because if one speaks after him anything one says has to sound reasonably good. I want to commend the Appropriation (2002/03 Supplementary Estimates) Bill to the House and I will shape my speech particularly around pages 25 and 26 of schedule 1 which are about Parliamentary Service’s budget and what the taxpayer might spend for value in that regard. I want to look at a couple of cases to explore that. There was once a person called Donna Awatere Huata who had great credentials before she came to this House. Her biggest problem in coming to this House was that she got involved with the ACT party. She would not have understood and would not have been able to keep together the Pipi Trust unless she had seen the way secret trusts secret commissions and a range of other secretive deals might well have been engineered and geared. So the difficulty Donna Awatere Huata has is the company she keeps. If one wants to know how to rort something if one wants to see a scam—whether it is in Fiji or anywhere else—one has to go to the ACT party because ACT is a specialist in those sorts of things. [ 
Interruption 
] Yes it could run tutorials. 
Let us work a bit further on that. Rodney Hide the perk-buster extraordinaire went on a 3-week taxpayer-funded holiday. He was missing in action. Where did he go? Well he travelled. Did he travel economy class? No he travelled business class and he went to New York London and on to Geneva. Who lives there? The underwriters of the ACT party the people who pull the strings—that is who lives there. That is where he goes to get instructions but not on behalf of the Kiwi taxpayer. Rodney Hide can travel business class but Hemana Waaka like Rosa Parks has to sit in the back of the plane. Hemana Waaka a Maori boy is no good up the front. That is disgraceful. Maori people are told: “Get down the back of the plane!” That is the type of treatment we get served up and that is the amount of money Kiwi taxpayers pay. Is it any wonder that the ACT party is just about on the margin for error in the polls? We will see how it goes in today’s TV3 poll. 
It worries me desperately when people come into this House and are actually on the take outside it. I am not saying that the ACT party particularly Rodney Hide gets cash for questions—I am not saying that. I would never say that; I would never even try to allege it. But I would say that we have to be very careful about people’s motivations and intent and that we must look behind those things. That is what worries me with the “rort party” the ACT party. Time and again in this House its members get up and do nothing on the policy front-foot. They are not here on the policy front-foot; they are here to hunt down a few heads. I think the “rort party” is disgraceful whether it is the Pipitea office that is not an office or you name it whether it is the pyramid scheme operating out of Owen’s office or wherever else. It is disgraceful. So I am pleased we are starting to put more money into the Parliamentary Service so that Rodney can go on more 3-week holidays. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member may not refer to someone by his or her first name. He must refer to members by their title or their full name. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Yes Rodney Philip Hide. Not only does Rodney Philip Hide go on a 3-week junket flying business class to take his instructions from New York London and Geneva— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No. The member cannot imply that the member is taking instructions from somewhere else. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Advice—he took great advice. That was part of the trip. He picked up advice—and it was not from the stewardess or from someone in the urinal; it was actually from somebody who is a bit closer than that to Rodney Philip Hide. We all know who the underwriters of the ACT party are. They all live over there in New York London and Geneva and they keep trying to pull the strings over here. It is disgraceful. 
The other juxtaposition is that Hemana Waaka was paid by way of a contract to do a job. He was paid by a purchasing agency and he did the job. Whether he wanted to travel business class is his business—he had the profit to do it. Oh but Maori are not allowed to travel business class! What a joke! It is absolutely disgraceful discriminatory and prejudicial. What an ugly evil man Rodney Philip Hide is—and I do not say that in terms of his external presence which is bad enough but internally. 
The next dollar value that one has to ask oneself about relates to the pinstriped one from Tauranga. He is well past his use-by date—we all know that—but apart from that he is the champion of honesty integrity and credibility; that beacon of justice from Tauranga! Here is the truth of it. He has misled this House and the Kiwi voter more times than Richard Prebble. How bad is that? It is absolutely disgraceful. But it gets worse. When one actually starts to crawl through the times that he has been misleading one starts to understand that it gets worse—and it does so for this reason. There is a chap called Michael John Laws—his confidante and closest lieutenant. 
 He deposes in an affidavit that the wonderful one the one with integrity credibility and honesty rorted the Electoral Act; committed a fraud—discriminatory— 
Peter Brown 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is totally out of order where he is going and I seek your advice to give him some advice. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: What do you expect from a £10 pom? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I caution the member that the path that he is going down may well lead to gross disorder in the House. I ask him to come back to the point. 
Peter Brown 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. For the member’s enlightenment I am not a £10 pom; I came here for nothing. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: That is not a point of order. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Is that not a wonderful confession! A stowaway! The immigration-busting party has a stowaway as a member of Parliament! That is absolutely disgraceful. I will tell Winston that tomorrow. “Peter Brown Wong”—that is what we will call him. Anyway I will continue on the topic of that wonderful affidavit signed out by Michael John Laws. It is quite clear that the honourable one from Tauranga is not as squeaky clean as he would have us believe in the House or out on the street. It is quite clear in the same affidavit that Doug Woolerton knows all about it because he is named in the same affidavit. One does not waltz into the House and make all sorts of serious allegations and believe that one is squeaky clean. That particular member from Tauranga has never made it in the legal profession and has never made it out in the street in terms of business. He would not know how to run a chequebook but more important he knows how to rort the Electoral Act. That is a fact. That is what was deposed in that particular affidavit. 
Peter Brown 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Rt Hon Winston Peters has never been convicted of or even charged with anything. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Not yet. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Points of order will be heard in silence. There are a number of yellow cards coming. 
Peter Brown 
: For that member to make an allegation such as that is an absolute disgrace. He is not entitled to besmirch a person’s reputation and that is what he is doing. I repeat that the Rt Hon Winston Peters has never been charged with or convicted of anything unlike that member who has a track record of being charged and convicted of quite a lot. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I thank the member for drawing that to my attention and I refer the member to Standing Order 117 about personal reflections. Let us leave it at that. I know it is an open and robust debate— 
Peter Brown 
: With due respect Mr Assistant Speaker I believe it has gone a little bit further than that. This is the second time I have taken a point of order and I believe that the member should be asked to withdraw and apologise. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: We have witnessed Mr Peters raising a large number of inflammatory allegations against Mr Tamihere in the House. They were heard. Secondly Mr Assistant Speaker I point out to you that Mr Brown has three times raised points of order that are not points of order—and I think you have ruled so on two occasions—in order to break up the member’s speech. I would ask you to ask him to pull his head in. 
Ron Mark 
: That member is quite incorrect. It is quite in order and within Standing Orders to demand that members who are besmirching an MP’s reputation be pulled into line and that they be asked to withdraw and apologise if offence is taken. Offence has been taken. The bottom line is this: if a member of Parliament comes to the House as I have with criminal convictions then people quite rightly can say that I Ron Mark have a criminal conviction. There is not a lot I can say about that because it is a fact. When a member stands up and says that I Ron Mark have defrauded the electoral system or have defrauded a bank and there is no proof no charges and no evidence of such a thing then that member has just crossed the line and all the honourable Peter Brown is asking you to do is to bring members back within Standing Orders and as offence has been taken to ask for a withdrawal and an apology. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I refer the member to Speaker’s ruling 33/3 which states: “Words or phrases used robustly in debate but which do not impugn the honour of a member will not be ruled out of order.” It is up to the member him or herself to take exception. 
Ron Mark 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I have already ruled. 
Ron Mark 
: I am asking for your guidance on this because this goes from the sublime to the somewhat ridiculous. How can members who might not be able to be here to stand and take a point of order be defended? We are caught in a bit of a catch-22. [ 
Interruption 
] I am on my feet. Given that one cannot refer to members who may or may not be present in the House as per the Standing Orders who then can object? If the Prime Minister is away on official business and I stand up and besmirch her reputation it is perfectly in order for the Deputy Prime Minister the Government whip or anyone else to demand a withdrawal and an apology. I think that we are getting ourselves a bit crossed here and that last ruling creates some difficulty. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I take the opportunity to caution the member as to the manner in which he is addressing the House. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: They do not like it. They can dish it up but they do not like it. The honourable pinstriped one from Tauranga who is well past his use-by date can waltz in here ambush anybody when that person is not in the House and run all over him or her. His team over there chortles. They are getting very excited—they are “over-Viagra’ised”—but I tell them that this is Parliament. One cannot zip the lips of the highest court in the land. That is what it is for. It is for identifying people who live double lives in that regard. All my stuff is out of the closet. Mr Peters’ is not; not by a long measure. So the reality is that I am allowed to waltz down here in this debate and actually put some evidence on the Table—they will allow me to table it. There will be no problems over there and away we will go. For the edification of the New Zealand First members over there—none of whom we know apart from Winston Peters—I just want to say: “Have a great time!” I will leave that issue because I have been cautioned by the Assistant Speaker. 
I conclude by saying that it is really wonderful to be on this side of the House in such a great Government which is going great guns in terms of every measure from the gross domestic product measures all the way up to all the others. I say to the Rt Hon Winston Peters that when I go home up to Auckland the people in Waiparera are proud to be Waiparera people. The people in Waitakere City who are part of us are proud of us. We are into nationhood-building. We on this side of the House are solution drivers. So when that member climbs and slithers and slides outside the sewers and the gutters or wherever they come out from in that caucus the reality is that we over here are going great guns. We have all the solutions and those members have all the problems. They are welcome to keep them.