Robertson Grant: Urgent Debates — Hon John Banks—Ministerial ResignationText is subject to correctionRobertson Grant: Urgent Debates — Hon John Banks—Ministerial Resignation[Sitting date: 17 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14019. Text is subject to correction.]GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central):It has been a long 5 years under this Government but I want to take us back to John Key’s statement of November 2008: “I expect high standards from my Ministers … if they don’t meet the standards I set then obviously I will take action if necessary”—John Key November 2008. Consistently under John Key’s leadership the standards of ministerial behaviour have dropped further and further and further.John Banks resigned yesterday. Well you know the truth: every piece of information that came out yesterday John Key knew last September and he did nothing. He managed to forget everything that John Banks had said to him or his chief of staff and he managed to turn a blind eye to the conduct that lowered the standards of ministerial behaviour. John Key has managed to combine amnesia with wilful blindness to create a shonky tawdry Government that is now propped up by a disgraced MP. That is where the Government of New Zealand is left today. A tawdry shonky shoddy Government propped up by John Banks and Peter Dunne two disgraced MPs. That is what it has come to under John Key’s leadership.But perhaps we should not be surprised because in the midst of the trouble for John Banks last year here is what John Key said about John Banks: “There is quite a wide definition of ethics … The test I have to apply is the law.” and “I think he did exactly what he’d always said which was comply with the law.” That is what John Key said. He took John Banks’ word he tells us. Well what a big mistake that was for John Key. Does the Prime Minister not now regret not reading the police report on John Banks? Because what that police report told everybody in this country was that John Banks had filed a false return. This is not a matter that is up for debate in the current trial. That is an established fact—that John Banks filed a false return. So John Key’s test that a Minister has to obey the law has already been broken by John Banks. John Key would have known that if he had not wilfully decided not to read the police report.There is only one reason for that. There is only one reason for John Key lowering the standards of ministerial behaviour so low. That is because of his desperate venal attempt to hang on to power. This tawdry Government that we have in front of us today is clinging on on the basis of disgraceful behaviour from one of the Ministers. We need to look at what theCabinet Manual says because although John Key might think that there is “a wide definition of ethics” what theCabinet Manual says is “Ministers are expected to act lawfully and to behave in a way that upholds and is seen to uphold the highest ethical standards.” That is not a wide definition of ethics. From day one in this Government John Key has let New Zealanders down when it comes to what standards are acceptable.Today in the House we saw another chapter. Mark my words: the roll of dishonour in this Government is not over. Nick Smith will be back in this House having to apologise. He will be I predict in front of the correct authorities in this complex to justify the fact that he intervened inappropriately. That is the record of this Government—taking away New Zealanders’ democratic rights intervening in processes and not behaving in a way that most New Zealanders would regard as acceptable.This is the standard we have of John Key’s Government. This is the style of John Key’s leadership. Anything goes as long as it justifies the ends. It is the classic money trader’s approach. One day you will trade a currency up; the next day you will trade a currency down. John Key actually used to do that with the New Zealand currency. That is the approach he takes to the way he leads a Government. There is no moral compass. In fact I am going to credit my colleague Moana Mackey for this because she said very early on—I think before John Key became Prime Minister—that he is all map and no compass. That is what John Key is: all map and no compass. He knows he wants to be the Prime Minister but he does not care about what he is doing and he will try to stay in Government at all costs and with any shonky deals on the table.Let us just remember how John Banks even came to be in this House. A cup of tea—that is what it was. It was the most expensive cup of tea ever sold in Epsom in my view. John Banks is in this House because of a dodgy deal. John Banks is in this House to ensure that the National Party’s cronies continue to be rewarded. And what about the ACT Party?Hon Maryan Street: The what?GRANT ROBERTSON: The ACT Party. I can remember the Rt Hon Helen Clark saying when she stood up in the House that she might disagree with everything the ACT Party stands for but at least it has a principle that it is here for—an ideological principle. Well that time is long gone. It started off with David Garrett. I do not think I will ever forget hearing David Garrett stand up in this House and say: “I stole a dead baby’s identity.”—a disgraceful thing. Then we had Don Brash with his hostile takeover of the ACT Party. And now we have John Banks a man who clearly does not even believe in those principles and who is here only to support the National Party.Hon Annette King: What about Rodney Hide?GRANT ROBERTSON: Rodney Hide as well—he disappeared in the middle of that. The ACT Party is over. It is over. It is done. It will not be back. John Banks has played a role to prop up this Government to allow this Government to go ahead with policies and laws that fundamentally undermine our democracy and that fundamentally go against what New Zealanders want.Bill English stood up in the House twice today to tell New Zealanders that the National Government has got a great majority. Well look at the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) bill. Look at the asset sales. They were passed by one vote passed with the slimmest possible majority in this House and that is down to the dodgy sleazy deals that are done by this Government. That is down to Peter Dunne the self-described “willing buyer willing seller” on the GCSB bill and now John Banks a discredited MP an MP who has indulged in what Annette King calls “terminologicalinexactitude” on a regular basis—terminologicalinexactitude towards the Prime Minister his chief of staff and all New Zealanders.Although John Banks might now be in front of the court he was convicted in the court of public opinion last year. New Zealanders do not trust his word because what he is saying simply does not make any sense. As I have already stated the police report was quite clear. A false return was put in place. We have heard many many pieces of evidence in this case that point to the fact that John Key was misled by John Banks. That is the point at which John Key should have stepped in—September last year. He had the opportunity to do it. He did not take that opportunity and that is because he is clinging on to power. He is hugging the political corpse that is John Banks because he is so desperate to survive for the next year or so.Well the message I have from the Labour Party to the National Party is to call that snap election. Go ahead—call that snap election because we know we can win it. We know we have the agenda that New Zealanders want. This is a tired tawdry Government in its second term behaving like a third-term Government and propped up by disgraced MPs. It is time for it to go.