Barker Rick: General Debate 
Barker Rick: General Debate 
[Volume:635;Page:6511] 
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
: 
 If anybody has any doubts about the paralysis in the National Party they have only to read the transcripts of both of those National Party speeches. On the Auckland stadium options Don Brash said: “I am not going to express my opinion.” which is short for the fact that he has no opinion. Gerry Brownlee the second speaker for the National Party said: “I am not going to discuss the merits of one against the other.” or in other words: “I have no opinion at all either.” Parliament should be a contest of ideas and it is very clear that on the Government side of the House there are ideas. On the Opposition side of the House there are no ideas—none whatsoever. 
It is interesting to see that this Labour Government has been promoting issues around global warming for quite some time and that the deniers of global warming and the destroyers of the environment on the National side have been loud and clear. But what do those members say when public opinion turns around dramatically after Helen Clark’s speech on global warming at the Labour Party conference? Suddenly John Key the show pony of the National Party gets attention when he appears before the cameras and says that he wants to see Al Gore. He had not expressed an opinion on global warming at all until then but when one is looking for big ideas one looks to the Labour Government. The Government is talking about economic transformation it is talking about national identity and both of these notions resonate with our community. 
From the other side of the House we had a speech today from the leader of the Opposition that was so wooden and dull it could have been delivered only by a Haitian zombie. The single most important achievement of Don Brash in this House has been to make Gerry Brownlee look good. No one else has been able to make Gerry Brownlee look as good as that before. 
Dr Brash is yesterday’s man. It is over for Don Brash; we all know that. Here is just one example. Dr Brash went to the RSA’s 90th anniversary do here in Wellington and said that he would have a review of the legislation for veterans. Well the Government has already announced that. He also said that he would have a review of Veterans Affairs New Zealand. Well I had already announced that. He is always picking up yesterday’s ideas. He is yesterday’s man. Mr Brownlee shows some energy and enthusiasm but we do not get any sense of energy or enthusiasm from Dr Don Brash. 
Don Brash reminds me of that fabulous quote from Winston Churchill on his political opponent Mr Attlee. He said: “An empty taxi turned up outside 10 Downing Street and Mr Attlee got out.” Well that is like Dr Brash. He went overseas to follow Helen Clark to the opening of the New Zealand Memorial in London. Who knew he was over there? No one seemed to know that he was over there. There were no reports of him—nothing. He drifted in and out of London. The only people who knew that he was in and out were the customs staff on the border; no one else knew about that. And he left early because he knew there was a vote going on in the National Party caucus. He is very nervous. 
It is springtime in the National Party and it is time for a change. Let us not forget that Bolger was rolled by Shipley in November Shipley was rolled by English in October and English was rolled by Brash at the end of the year—and Dr Don Brash knew that it would be four in a row so he scurried home to shore up the numbers. 
All the writers and commentators are saying that National has to get its leadership sorted out. Supporters of the National Party want to see strong leadership. The National Party cannot be united around Don Brash because the writers and the public know that Don Brash will not cannot and will never lead the National Party to victory—and certainly not at the next election. So the question is who will lead the National Party. 
 Well one obvious contender is Mr Key. If we find a television camera there is Mr Key in front of it. He is trying to make himself more appealing so he has suddenly found the issue of climate change. This is from the party that is determined to rip out the guts of the Resource Management Act which is a key part of protecting our natural environment. But National has suddenly found that global warming is an issue in New Zealand and it is coming to that issue. It is not that it is saying that the science is there or that it is committing itself to anything; it is just simply saying that it believes there should be some consideration given to the issue. 
But when we look at the National Party front bench we see that it is pretty woeful. I was interested to see in  
Hawke’s Bay Today 
 the other day that Dr Nick Smith one of the front bench members of the National Party was referred to as being “on another planet”.