Tolley Anne: General Debate 
Tolley Anne: General Debate 
[Volume:656;Page:5683] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Education) 
: 
 Talk about parading around the countryside! We had the spectacle of Labour members taking a bus trip. They flew into Wellington from all around the country and then climbed on a bus so that they would look as though they were trying to conserve carbon. What happened? They headed west. From the time they left they were going downhill. What was their first port of call on this big reconnect with their electorate? Their first point of a call was with a business. When has a business been Labour’s traditional electorate? In fact when National came back into Government business confidence went up! So Labour did not even start by reconnecting with its own electorate. When we look at that business and at what it was— 
Chris Auchinvole 
: What was it? 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
:—we see that it was a family business of one of the Labour members. It was the business of Darren Hughes’ uncle. It was not any random business; no one else would have them. There was some strange sort of business with stuffed animals on the wall which had remarkably similar smiles to Labour leader Phil Goff. But that is another question. This first stop tells us that Labour members are so offside with the public of New Zealand that they have to convince their own family members to host them on their tour to reconnect with the electorate. Quite frankly by the looks of Darren Hughes’ uncle he was not too pleased about it either—so there we go. 
I say to Labour members sitting over there on the Opposition benches that the days are getting longer. Have they not noticed it? The days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter. That tells us that spring is coming. What happens in spring? Well there is Labour weekend. Guess what! This Labour weekend the Labour Party is hosting a variety of BBQs I hear. It cannot use taxpayers’ money to fund its pledge cards any more so its members have had to dip into their own pockets and try to convince family members probably to host parties to raise funds for the Labour Party. Apparently if they hold one of these BBQs Labour will send them a party pack. In the party pack there will be pre-printed invitations and envelopes— 
Hon Member 
: That’s exciting! 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: That is exciting! Also in the party pack there will be menu ideas for BBQ sausages and probably a few chops. There will also be Labour Day fridge magnets. I suggest to Labour members that there are probably a few “Wassup!” badges lying around schools that they could go round and gather up to wear instead of giving out fridge magnets—it could save a bit of money. There will also be balloons serviettes etc. The pièce de résistance is a DVD of Phil Goff. I can tell members that recent reviews suggest that the DVD is best described as a C-grade horror and Phil Goff is killing off support faster than “Norman Bates”. 
I want to talk about why it is that Labour has to reconnect. Why is it? Let us remind ourselves. Why did Labour members lose touch? When we talk about KiwiSport what do these guys say? I ask that member with the red hair who is sitting up there in the front seat: what did he say about giving money to schools so that they would help kids into sport? He said “You can’t trust schools. How do you know they will spend the money on the right things?”. Well members on this side of the House understand these people are professionals. We trust schools because we know that they will use the money wisely to get more kids into schools. 
What else did the previous Government do? It regulated school tuck shops. It was absolutely oblivious to the fact that dairies across the road from schools were ordering in hundreds of pies a day for the kids who were eating more pies than if they had been able to have them as a Friday treat. That is why Labour lost touch with its electorate. Labour had expensive advertising campaigns telling parents to make sure their children eat vegetables among other things. That is how Labour addressed obesity. 
The previous Prime Minister launched the Mission-On website that was supposed to get kids active. It had a game called  
Cool Moves 
. Do members remember that? Six keys moved a character around the screen through a series of hip-hop moves while the kids sat in their chairs. That is why Labour lost touch with the electorate.