King Annette: General Debate 
King Annette: General Debate 
[Volume:630;Page:2502] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of State Services) 
: 
 Listeners tuning into this debate today could be excused if they thought the National Party had been struck down with a new disease. It is called snivelling syndrome—everything is bad; nothing is good. Boohoo they are “going down the garden to eat worms”! There are bogeymen conspiracies and malicious fabrications. We have just heard the biggest one from Bill English who accused the Prime Minister of asking for information. She never asked for that information. He made it up as he makes things up in this House everyday. The member knows it was made up as he walks out of the Chamber unable to face the fact that he is making up stories in this House for political advantage. Let us use the words of Shakespeare to describe National members—they are droning flap-mouthed gutter gripers. We do not need a vaccine against bird flu we actually need an anti-snivel vaccine for the National Party. 
I would not worry about the leadership of the Labour Party but I would be very worried if I sat on the front bench of the National Party as its members look sideways at each other. Who will be the next person to pull out the knife? Who will be the first person to get rid of their leader? Plotting and backstabbing are the order of the day in the National Party. 
I say that 1 April was a red-letter—[ 
Interruption 
] Oh Maurice Williamson is still here—is that not amazing? Of course he has moved from the third bench to the second bench. Well done Maurice! If he stays there long enough they might even let him sit on the front bench again. 
But I was saying that 1 April was a red-letter day for thousands of New Zealanders—for students for old people and for families. I listen in this House to members opposite and they love to talk about families. They are very caring about families in theory but they are careless in practice. I want to give them some examples today of how this Government is caring about families. They are real examples—not theoretical examples—of what this Government is doing. 
For example in relation to the Working for Families package I took this straight out of Saturday’s  
New Zealand Herald 
 which some people may have read. It refers to a benefit boost and states there is a good advantage for the Fe’ao family in Auckland—a family with seven children. Of course National members are probably appalled that anyone has seven children except for Bill English. This family with seven children had a gross income of $38000 a year and it was losing a lot of its benefits through claw-back until this change came in. That family will now be $409 a week better off. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: More welfare. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: That family man Nick Smith is yelling out that that is boring. It is boring to him that that family is getting $409 a week more. Does Nick Smith think that that family would not say that this will make a huge difference to them? They are saying that it will make a huge difference. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: More welfare. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: He never said it was welfare when farmers got subsidies. He never said it was welfare when exporters got help from hard-working taxpayers. But when families get help from the taxpayers of New Zealand—good hard-working families who go to work every day have children and bring them up properly—he says it is welfare. We say that it is the proper assistance that we ought to give to families. 
Let us take another story on Saturday. This one was in the  
Dominion Post  
and it is headed: “Student spared a small fortune on interest fees”. It states: “At only 22 Cathryn O’Sullivan still can’t get her head around the fact that she owes the Government $100000. But the sixth-year medical student is ‘absolutely elated’ that from today she will no longer be charged interest on her loan. She is one of thousands of students and loan-holders who will benefit from Labour’s interest-free scheme that comes into effect today.” I am quoting that. One of our good young doctors will save $100000 in interest on that loan. What a good Government!