Goff Phil: General Debates 
Goff Phil: General Debates 
[Volume:617;Page:13068] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade) 
: 
 If student debt has gone up it is because there is a record number of students in tertiary education today. There are twice as many tertiary students as there were a few years ago. Because of the changes made by this Labour Government getting a student loan has to be the best deal in town. This Government has spent $2 billion on keeping student fees down frozen for 3 years and in providing interest-free loans for students while they are studying. Why would a student not take out a loan? This is unlike Dr Lockwood Smith who in 1990 as spokesperson on education promised that the fees would be abolished by any new National Government and he promised to resign if it did not do it. Did he abolish fees? No he doubled them. Did he resign? No not even by lunchtime not by Christmas or by any other time. 
I come back to the National Party and say that the country has cringed at the blunders made by this National Opposition this pathetic Opposition over the last week or so. Who led the charge? It was Simon Power the bright young hope from Rangitikei. 
What did Simon Power tell the country when speaking to a National Party conference? He said: “Without reservation we will support our close allies Australia the United States and Britain when and wheresoever our commitment is called upon.” In one sentence the National Party spokesperson on defence surrendered our sovereignty surrendered our independence and surrendered our right to make our own judgment. 
What Simon Power said was important. He said that if ever there were a National Government important foreign policy decisions for this country would be made not by New Zealanders in New Zealand but that they would be made in Canberra in Washington and in London. He was saying that National will unquestioningly allow our vital decisions to be made by others. It is no wonder the country treated that announcement with derision. It is no wonder the country asked: “Is the National Party really taking us back to the days of Gallipoli when our decisions were made by people in foreign countries and by foreign military officers?”. People raised the question of why Don Brash is now saying he would have had us in Iraq and they raised the question of why we should revert to allowing our decisions to be made by some other country when 80 percent of New Zealanders stand by the judgment of their country their Government in keeping out of the war in Iraq. I wonder where Simon Power thinks he is taking the country. His local paper said he ought to be sacked. We really hate that—when one’s local paper says one should be sacked! But did Don Brash sack him? No I believe that Don Brash approved that speech. Even if he had not approved the speech Don Brash has made blunders at such a monumental level that he was in no position to sack anyone in his caucus. 
Don Brash got caught out. He told the country and the newspapers: “I’m a peacenik. I’m against nuclear ships.” That was for the edification of the New Zealand public. Then we found out that Don Brash in secret told the American congressional delegation: “We’ll have the nuclear ban lifted by lunchtime.” Then he said he could not remember. He then said it was private; he could not talk about it. Finally he admitted that he did say it; the  
New Zealand Herald 
 of course still said: “Oh maybe he didn’t say it.” even after he had admitted he had said it; and he admitted thatit was unwise to do so. It was more than unwise. It is an example of a leader and a party that will surrender the right of this country to make decisions according to its own values and its own judgments. If we need more evidence of that we have Nick Smith promising to withdraw New Zealand’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol if Australia and the United States do not sign it. He wants to withdraw it if two other countries do something different. That is the party that once upon a time under the leadership of Don McKinnon showed some leadership in foreign policy and did not kowtow to others—[ 
Interruption 
]