Carter DavidRt Hon DAVID CARTER (National): Mr Speaker I want to start my contribution to the general debate by congratulating you on your appointment as Speaker of this House and I extend my congratulations also to your fellow presiding officers. You will realise as Speaker that it is a very critical role in this Parliament. It's actually a very critical role in the democratic system of New Zealand and for good democracy to function it requires a Speaker who is prepared to accept that role of making sure that the democracy of this country can operate within this House. I'm certainly at no time going to tell you how you do your job; that's something you're going to figure out for yourself. But I can give one piece of advice I guess as to what guided me every day that I came into this place. I attempted to gain the respect of all the members of Parliament that I was attempting to do my job in a fair and impartial way. I think that is an important test as to whether you've gained the respect of all members of Parliament.I was overseas at the time that Mr Peters made his announcement. I listened on my phone; it was 9 o'clock in the morning as I was attending an Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in St Petersburg and I could never have been happier with the result of that announcement. Because I had no wish to go into any Government of which the Rt Hon Winston Peters was a part. I was there in 1996; in fact I whipped with Mr Mark in the seat over there in the 1996-99 Government and I knew then how it fell apart. I'm not one that will ever trust Mr Winston Peters but I do wish those that are now going to deal with Mr Peters and his colleagues the very very best of luck because they're going to need it.I say that it is an absolute privilege to be in this Opposition because what we are going to have the opportunity to do as Opposition members is hold what is appearing to be a very shaky coalition Government to account. And it is going to be a lot of fun doing it over the next three years.We've already seen the cracks exposed in question time today: the Work for the Dole scheme advanced by the Hon Shane Jones and then we tried to get some information from the Hon Willie Jackson as to whether he now supports it or doesn't and I'm none the wiser after Willie Jackson's comments in question time today. But I will go back and look at the Hansard later on in the day very carefully to see whether the Hon Willie Jackson supports Work for the Dole.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's comments—well again I'm not sure whether she's supportive or not. Her answers are very evasive in the House. But we do know one thing: there's one leg of the coalition that doesn't support any Work for the Dole scheme and that is of course the Green Party who are essential—Darroch Ball: There's only two parties in the coalition.Rt Hon DAVID CARTER: There's only two parties in the coalition." We look forward to many many votes—many votes—in this House relying on two votes "two parties in the coalition"! We look forward to it. And if Darroch Ball really believes that then it won't be long before he's over on this side of the House.I've got a message for the Prime Minister: this is no longer student politics; this is about real Government. And it's going to get tougher and tougher from here on in. We've already seen the different positions. Pike River's a classic: "We will re-enter Pike River." was the call from the Labour Party right throughout the campaign. The Rt Hon Winston Peters was going to be the first one down the mine. Well I'm going to give him the box of the matches and the glass of whisky to go down there as well and there'll be a lot of other New Zealanders cheering him on.But now they're in Government they've looked at the reports and their position is in fact the same as the former National Government's: that we will allow entry into the mine provided it is safe to do so—provided it is safe to do so. And Darroch Ball shakes his head because he wants the Rt Hon Winston Peters to go down that mine. He can't wait for that to happen because he's going to then be part of the contest whether it be Ron Mark Darroch Ball or the Hon Shane Jones to be the next leader of New Zealand First. [Interruption] But it won't matter Ron Mark. I've got a message for you: it won't matter because you're only here for another 2½ years because then the New Zealand First Party will be totally destroyed over the next two to three years."