Horomia Parekura: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Horomia Parekura: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 24 October 2007. Volume:643;Page:12657. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 Was that not an interesting speech from that heavyweight? This heavyweight over here certainly knows brouhaha and incredulous statements that that member has no support for when he hears them. Gerry Brownlee is a member who was moved and who has seen leadership change five times in his party. He is a member who supported the member from the Bay of Plenty who said National would remove the cap on doctors’ fees and would let them charge anything they want to in this country. He is a member who has watched a dual role in leadership play off in the sense of diverse differences in relation to tax concessions and tax cuts. 
This Government has got involved in ensuring that working-class families are supported and certainly at the end of the day they are benefiting from the efforts of this Government. A person does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand what is going on there. 
All that this chap Simon Power from Rangitikei has been on about is the crime rate. He denies that the Government has built up the police force without too much pressure and with support from these people over here in New Zealand First and United Future. Katherine Rich certainly got her figures wrong the other day. My departing colleague Steve Maharey who is going on to lead one of the great bastions of education in this country is well rewarded in doing that because he knows where the future is in relation to that. We know that we will be fighting them in the trenches. 
There are some good people over there. I was at a function with Anne Tolley the other day where that joker Bob Clarkson who has plenty of dosh came over and looked after all the constituents there. I want to mihi to him and to Tau Henare and Georgina te Heuheu who are misplaced in that party—they are clearly misplaced. 
What has this Government done over the past 7 years? I want to remind members about that. We have achieved one of the lowest unemployment rates in this country’s history. It is good stuff—a double tick. We have put around one-third of a million people into work. What is wrong with that? 
A lot of those people roam around in the valleys and the dales of this country in the rural areas. In the rural areas the economy is so strong that there are many more new tractors and four-wheel bikes riding up and down in the Bay of Plenty and out in Rangitikei. That is because of this Government’s efforts in supporting all levels of the constituency out there. Certainly the Government could even lay claim to the price increase per kilogram at Fonterra. It is because of this great Government’s economic advancement achieved through the work of one of the best financiers in this country—Dr Cullen—and of our great leader Helen Clark. 
This Government has delivered almost the longest and most consistent run in the economy since the Second World War. We have done plenty. We have ensured that small business is surviving we have ensured that big business stays on these shores and we have done wonderful things for Maori business. I was privileged enough to deliver the futures document for Maori out to the year 2030 which tells us that Maori have an asset base in this country of $17.9 billion. At the end of the day we know how to support that and keep it alive. 
We have reduced the cost of doctors’ visits and prescription charges which is very helpful. One stands in wonder when one’s good efforts are put asunder by certain people saying: “Put the doctors’ fees up! Put the doctors’ fees up!”. What sort of legacy is that? It is outrageous and disgraceful. The Government has put out its free early childhood education scheme and now National members say they will put it down by 40 percent. Flip-flop flip-flop—it is very very interesting. 
Nearly 80 percent of all pre-school children are in education forums. We have now restored superannuitants’ living standards after they were punished so badly over nearly a decade when they were put out in the cold they had no power to keep them warm they were put asunder and their State houses were sold. Labour came back and we will still be here at the end of this debate. And we will still be here as we go forward to the next election. 
The other issue is that there is a lot of scaremongering in this country. Quite certainly at the end of the day when there are mad Pakeha and excited Maori it is not a good mix.