Bennett David: General Debate 
Bennett David: General Debate 
[Volume:638;Page:8423] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 After about 2 years in this place one sort of loses a little bit of faith in what the political process means. One also loses a bit of faith in some of the people who are involved in this process. Outside the Parliament Buildings today stands a crowd of people who are real New Zealanders and who have come along to vent their anger at this institution. But we do not take any notice of it. We just sit in here and do what we think is right and what this House thinks should be the way for New Zealand. Perhaps we need to take a look around and see what is really happening in this world and hear what our people are really saying. It is not good enough to give the answers: “He is a hard-working and conscientious Minister.” or: “I have full confidence in my department but there is always room for improvement.” How many times have we heard those two answers from members on that side of this House over the last year? I am sick of that. The public of New Zealand are sick of that. They want a Government that will govern. There are people out there who have real issues going on in their lives and they need a Government that will stand up and deliver. 
The smacking bill is a great example. It will not solve the problems these members are talking about. If the Government is genuine it should go after the problem and solve it. Government members should not come in here and look for publicity. That is all they are doing; they are just using spin and publicity. All the Labour members’ speeches today have been about 1 April and what will be rolled out. We do not really care what the Government will do on 1 April; we want to know what it is doing today for people who need help. 
Let us look at the Auckland district health boards which are in a real mess. What have we got? We have a Government that is flip-flopping and saying: “It is not our fault. We had nothing to do with it. Let them work it out themselves.” Let us stand up and have some leadership from the Minister of Health. Let us stand up and have some leadership from the Prime Minister. Let her actually go in and say that there has been a stuff-up that something has gone wrong and that the Government is going to go in there and sort it out and do the right thing by the people of Auckland and the district health boards. But no the Government will not do that because it is politically sensitive to do that and it has mates whom it is looking after. That is where one loses faith in this Government and in this institution. At the next election the people will perceive that loss of faith and will punish Labour and the other parties that have stood behind it. The Labour Government will go down. 
It is pretty interesting to see what can happen to some people in their life. Last weekend I did the craziest thing I have done for a while. I went to San Francisco for the weekend because the mother of a friend of mine had just had surgery and basically her prospects were being decided over the next couple of days. When one comes back from a situation like that one realises there are some serious things we should be doing in this House. We have a responsibility here to deliver for people. We need a hospital system that will work. My friend’s mother was at the best hospital in California. It had the best people doing the work there and still it could not save her. We need to give everybody in this country that chance. We cannot afford to have testing or anything like that that does not deliver a first-class service for a first-class country. Our people deserve it. If anybody deserves it New Zealanders deserve it. What makes it worse is that my friend’s mother was from the Labour Party. One can go beyond all the extremes and come back to the realities of this world. 
We want to see a Government that will take some responsibility for the Auckland District Health Board and whose members will go out there and stand up in front of those people today and say what they think. Even if the Government is against what people say we want to see it out there governing this country as a Government should. Labour has a year left in office and if it does not start governing it will lose the next election. National will govern will show respect for the people of New Zealand and will deliver for them. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.