Tamihere John: General Debates 
Tamihere John: General Debates 
[Volume:617;Page:13079] 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE (Minister of Youth Affairs) 
: 
 The previous speaker’s contribution is perhaps best encapsulated by a comment made by the great Winston Churchill in the House of Commons—an empty cab arrived outside Parliament and out jumped Sandra Goudie. 
We have had to witness over the last 7 months one of the greatest acts of purgatory ever inflicted upon the people of New Zealand. This is the 7-months anniversary of the appointment of one Dr Donald Brash as the Leader of the Opposition. We all know about purgatory but this is disgraceful. During the last 7 months we have heard nothing from the former Reserve Bank Governor who has a doctorate in economics about the economy the exchange rate business the exchange or anything at all from that paragon of the economy. 
What we have heard the Leader of the Opposition banging on about is Maori-related matters. He has to be a specialist in that regard. He understands and knows quite carefully and clearly why he can get out to the communities and tell them we should dislike one another. For 7 long months speech in and speech out he has poured petrol on racial fires in this country. We do not need that type of leadership. It is about time that Kiwis started to ask the real questions of the Leader of the Opposition. What are the solutions to the problems? By all means he should mention them and make acknowledgment of them but it is time for solutions because out there in the heartland they are starting to ask the real questions. What is this bloke up to? Where is he coming from? What is his real agenda? Is it taking a scalpel to the nation politic—to the body of this great country? Yes it is. 
Why is it that wonderful Kiwis—I do not want to overstate and mislead Parliament so I will just say “a Kiwi like Gerry Brownlee”—like the members opposite do not bring their leader to heel on that particular issue? They know that their constituencies—and we know because we hear it—have had a gutsful of that banging on about Maori-related matters. It is one thing to ask for scrutiny accountability and a robust approach. It is another thing when it tips. Here is how it tips. The day a Maori can get a degree from one of our august tertiary institutions it is a poor degree and it is an incompetent person. Why? Because that person is Maori. That is when it tips. That is when it becomes absolutely unfair. Kiwis out in the heartland understand what Mr Brash is banging on about. 
What else did he say? He questioned community bridging courses which have shifted tens of thousands not just of Maori but of young Kiwi Pakeha kids who did not get well serviced by mainstream education. Those bridging courses have got them into tertiary education and we say we should rejoice in that. We say we must send messages out to our young people in this country—black white brindle or whatever their creed is—that they are good that they have potential and capacity and that we live in a progressive and a positive nation. What we have got from the Leader of the Opposition and the National Party day in and day out for 7 months is why we should dislike one another. It has all been about hate hunger and hurt and we have to sort that out. I shall use a couple of examples. Dr Donald Brash got his PhD from the Australian National University. Just down the road is the Canberra Institute of Technology. One can graduate from that institute with a recreation certificate. I strongly recommend that to Gerry Brownlee. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: A bridging programme. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Down the road from that august university one can take a course on creative writing. Dr Wayne Mapp has taken several courses on that and we know they are far from the truth. There is also a fitness programme. That would be another one for Gerry Brownlee—and a programme on the storage handling and use of explosives. 
Once again it does not matter whether bridging courses are available in New Zealand or Australia. They are part and parcel of a wonderfully robust system of education. Whilst we must ask for quality and accountability we must not say to Maori children that the system is no good that they are no good or that the quality of education they are undertaking in tertiary institutions up and down this country is not good. That is not on. It is an outrage and a blight on the leadership of the National Party. 
It is about time that we asked the National Party what its real agenda is and what its smokescreen based on racial policy is all about. Is it about selling assets or putting the surcharge back on superannuitants? 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.