Nash Stuart: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNash Stuart: General Debate[Sitting date: 18 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2362. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]STUART NASH (Labour—Napier): I must admit I found it quite amusing when the last speaker Ms Kaye talked about Northland and how Labour was disconnected and then she realised that over three-quarters of the people sitting on this side of the House have actually been up there and spoken to the people of Northland. One of the most enlightening things for me is that I made a few visits and then I went to a local pub. I started talking to the people about who they are going to vote for and they said to me: “We used to vote National but we are sick to death of being taken for granted by this Government.” They said they were going to vote for Winston Peters. I said: “Really? You’re really going to vote for Winston? Why are you going to do that?” and they said: “National has taken us for granted for so long and we’re sick to death of it. We’re absolutely sick to death of it.” The thing is that we all know that by-elections are often referendums on a Government’s performance. Well I think that this will be a very strong referendum on this Government’s performance and I think this Government is going to get a very big shock.The other thing I found quite amusing is that the Hon Anne Tolley stood up and said she is sick and tired of being in this House. Well I have some very good news for the honourable Minister. I was up in Whakatāne and Ōhope recently and we had three fantastic people who want to be the Labour candidate for the East Coast electorate. So Ms Tolley do not worry about it. You will not be there in 2017.Once again that electorate will be returning to Labour and I can tell you why. The reason is that wherever I go around provincial New Zealand people say to me: “We’ve been forgotten by this National Government.” They say that if you own a house in Auckland or if you are involved in the rebuild in Christchurch you are probably doing OK. Even the guy who was the chair of Local Government New Zealand the Mayor of Hastings who used to be a supporter of this National Government came out and said that this Government does not have a strategy for the provinces. This Government has no plan for the regions. I think that this is what we will be seeing in Northland. There will be a very loud and clear message.But the interesting thing is that I am back in my second term. I took a bit of break—Hon Member: A sabbatical.STUART NASH: I took a sabbatical. I took time out to talk to the people to reconnect with the people of the Napier electorate. But when I was in my first term the Government was quite an engaged Government. There was the Hon Simon Power who I reckon put through about 40 percent of the legislation on the Order Paper. He was a very engaged and very hard-working Minister. There was John Key who went out and promised the world and there was a National Government that was really driving what it thought was an agenda. As we have since learnt it was not a particularly favourable agenda for the rest of New Zealand. But when I came back to Parliament after 3 years goodness me the change was immeasurable. It is like a lot of things. I think that if you have been sitting here for the last 6 years it is sort of incremental and you will not have seen it. But coming back after 3 years goodness me the change is immeasurable.There are a couple of things. Mr Joyce’s performance must be a worry to the Prime Minister in terms of the way Mr Joyce has tried to arrogantly handle the Skycity debacle Northland and corporate welfare. The man is so out of touch with the way the vast majority of New Zealanders think it must be of concern to the Prime Minister. There is no doubt about that. Then I was astounded Mr Speaker—and you would appreciate this—to hear the Deputy Prime Minister the Minister of Finance stand up and basically say that you cannot trust anything a politician says during election time. I thought that was despicable. I know that members on this side of the House go out there and work really hard. We have key messages. David Parker spent an inordinate amount of time costing a fantastic fiscal policy that was going to put the Labour Government and New Zealand back on track. And then Mr English has the nerve to stand up and say: “Don’t trust a politician during election time.”Well there is one thing I would like to say to the people of New Zealand: trust the Labour Party. Trust everything we say everything we will do and when we say that we will stand for the people in regional New Zealand when we say that we will champion those who have been forgotten by this Government believe us because it is what we do. We are a party that stands by what we say. We are not a party of empty slogans or bribery of throwing lollies out in a by-election. The Northland by-election is a referendum on the performance of this Government and I think there will be a very very clear message sent from provisional New Zealand to that Government that it is out of touch. Thank you very much.