Power Simon: General Debate 
Power Simon: General Debate 
[Volume:638;Page:8632] 
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 I am grateful that I was placed three spots after the Hon Parekura Horomia because it has taken me that long to work out exactly what he was saying in his contribution to the general debate. I say to Ruth Berry that she should go back to the  
New Zealand Herald 
; I hope she did not draft that speech that the Hon Parekura Horomia presented to this Parliament this afternoon. 
There are some people on the Labour side of the House who are smiling though. It is worth acknowledging one or two of those. Paul Swain is grinning from ear to ear. He knows he has made the right decision and will not be coming back to be trapped in Opposition after the next election. He is thoroughly enjoying his coast to freedom. I am sure he is looking forward to getting out while the going is good. 
We know David Cunliffe is smiling. He has bought a new suit and he has done that clearly on the basis that he will be standing at the barbecue and turning the sausages and chops for Phil Goff over the next week or two and looking for a bit of recognition—finally. Clayton Cosgrove—the Hon Clayton Cosgrove—could not resist at a time when the Government desperately needed good news sneaking out the real estate announcement 8 weeks before anything was ready to go in order to get his photo in the paper and in order to make it look as if he is a go-ahead guy who is going to be part of the new broom coming through. He is home at the moment making container loads of coleslaw for Phil Goff’s next barbecue because we all know what side of the fence he sits on when it comes to the big vote. 
Maryan Street has a new hairstyle. She is getting ready for the big move up—and many of the front-benchers currently sitting on the Labour side know their time is up. We can see Trevor Mallard sitting there wondering how he will get out of this without going back into Opposition because Audrey Young wrote on the weekend in the  
New Zealand Herald  
about the landslide victory of the National Party in 2008. 
She made what are actually pretty insightful comments about many of the Ministers of the Crown. My personal favourites are these. She gives my friend and Opposition member Damien O’Connor a score of two out of 10. Her paragraph about him simply starts with “Dear oh dear.” “Dear oh dear.” is how Damien O’Connor’s paragraph starts. The leader has dealt with Mark Burton’s plight by saying he has really nowhere to go. Rick Barker’s paragraph starts with: “Not a difficult job to get right but has still made errors.” Poor old Rick Barker! The three Ministers in the justice sector averaged three out of 10 between them. I never thought I would say this but Mark Burton and Damien O’Connor must be thanking Rick Barker for dragging the average up because it was looking pretty sad until then. 
I have to say that I cannot to this day work out how it is that David Benson-Pope’s score went up from three to four. His paragraph starts with “Wrong man for the job … At least [Steve Maharey] was passionate about it.” We do not hear a lot from the Minister for Social Development and Employment these days; he has just disappeared off the face of the earth. 
We know that this Government is in big trouble on several fronts: corrections health education—and courts in relation to backlogs. I think Colin Espiner summed it up best in the Christchurch  
Press  
this week when he said the Government could no longer enjoy the credibility of being able to say it was somebody else’s fault. The crime stats the debacles in corrections the problems with the Auckland District Health Board the problems with the National Certificate of Educational Achievement and the falling over of the 20 hours free’ policy all land firmly on the laps of the Labour Party and its lacklustre front bench. No more can Labour Ministers blame others who went before them; they have to take responsibility for what is turning into an absolute shambles. 
Dave Hereora is starting—just starting—to look promising. And we know something is up when Paul Swain is loitering in the Beehive car park at 10 to 6 on a Thursday night waiting for the bells to ring so he can get out of here. He has had enough. He is smiling because that former Minister knows three things. Firstly—and creditably—he is putting his family first. Secondly he got out of the corrections portfolio in the nick of time—and he knows it. He smiles every time question time comes around. Thirdly he knows he has made the decision that all his colleagues wish they had made. He knows he is not going to be trapped in Opposition come November 2008.