Williamson Maurice: General Debate 
Williamson Maurice: General Debate 
[Volume:620;Page:15473] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (National—Pakuranga) 
: 
 One of the most powerful laws in the universe is the law of nature. It takes care of itself and we can see it in operation any day we look at the animal kingdom. A herd of zebras stays together as a pack and moves together as a pack to protect each other but every so often one of the animals slips due to sickness injury or for whatever reason. It starts to lag to the back of the herd and that is when the hyenas the lions and the jackals start to move. 
Now there is not one member of this House who can counter the laws of nature and sadly we are seeing them unfold before our eyes in this House in the last few days. My colleague Tony Ryall is right. We do not get journalists in the  
Dominion Post 
 or the  
New Zealand Herald 
 speculating on ministerial demise just by chance—“I think today I will go with …”. Of course they do not. 
We all know how it works. In this case the Prime Minister is really good at it: she has the speed dials loaded up she calls the journalists and she says: “Look! I need to start some softening up here. I’ve got to get rid of an incompetent Minister or two and move a couple of people who are alienating— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Me—incompetent! 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: I am not suggesting that Trevor Mallard is incompetent but I am saying that he has hugely alienated his sector and he will have to be moved into some other area. I think that the police portfolio is probably ideal for him. 
But what is absolutely tragic in this House is to sit here day after day listening to George Hawkins answering questions. What is even sadder is to watch his own colleagues their heads in their hands looking at the floor in embarrassment. George Hawkins is actually quite good with his first answer because it is written down. He knows the question. His officials would all get together. I am sure Mr Mallard and Dr Cullen get together before question time and say: “Right Mr Hawkins here’s your answer. Read it out.” 
Simon Power 
: As well as “Swainy”! 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: Yes “Swainy” helps him as well. But Mr Hawkins does not even do that very well; on a number of occasions even his reading out of the fixed answer is botched and a mess. But when he gets on to the supplementaries and does not know what the question will be or what people will ask him then it becomes enormously embarrassing. 
A new phrase came into the vocabulary of New Zealand quite recently called a “Parakurism”. That phrase was used by the media to refer to comments that the Minister of Maori Affairs made that were nonsensical and absolute garbage. Well I tell members that his comments have been gazumped by “Hawkisms”. We have no clue what the Minister of Police the Minister of Internal Affairs—or the Minister of whatever other portfolios he either has or does not have—will say because he does not know when he answers questions. He keeps saying: “No that’s another Minister.” but then it turns out that it is not. 
I have been going through the  
Hansard 
 and I have seen that his answers are embarrassing. He says things like: “The member might say that but frankly that won’t be completed until it’s finished.” And then he sits down. We ask what it means but it is a “Hawkism”—that is it will not be completed until it is finished. Is that not great? We see Labour MPs’ heads going into their hands and hear them saying: “Oh no.” 
There is a United Nations charter against cruel and unusual punishment. The Prime Minister has to stop this now. She has been on a track where there are still a few more days on the calendar before she finally brings the axe down. She has got about three more speed-dial calls to make for three more journalists to do a little bit more putting the boot in. Well I say that the Prime Minister should stop it. This country cannot go on with a Minister of Police whose only claim to fame in his whole time is that he plays with toy police cars. He decided what coloured spots the cars would have. He was very proud. The colour was something like ecclesiastic orange that was to be painted— 
Simon Power 
: Angelic orange. 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON 
: My colleagues tell me it was angelic orange. That is the Minister’s entire claim to fame. If we read all of the other logs from the media about what this Minister of Police has done we can see that he is just a disaster. Fran Mold wrote in the  
New Zealand Herald 
 that he “left the whiff of incompetence wafting around his office.” I think she is wrong. There is no longer a whiff; it is a stench so strong that other people cannot even stay there. The Government cannot have a Minister of Police engendering any confidence in the public who looks like the picture I have here: Mr Hawkins is not even wearing a baseball cap. Trevor Mallard would look good in a baseball cap and I think he would also be able to play with toy cars quite well.