Henare Tau: General Debate 
Henare Tau: General Debate 
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Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 To be asked to lead off the Government side is a somewhat— 
Chris Hipkins 
: They must be really desperate. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: —oh yeah the little gnome over there; the little gnome from Weta Workshop is here—it is a somewhat mixed privilege. But I want to take the opportunity to talk about and pass on my respects to Minister Paula Bennett for her sterling job and sterling work in the job summits. 
Hon Members 
: Oh oh! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I want to say that. All those people say “Oh oh!” but I will tell the House what the summits did. They provided a forum for people to talk about new ideas. They kept everybody in the know about the latest economic news and they offered advice for those who were experiencing difficulties. Who laughs at that? It is the members on that side over there. They laugh at the companies and workers going through hard times. In a nutshell those summits were about protecting keeping and even creating jobs for joblessness threatens the very fabric of our society. I tell members that they can take it from somebody who knows about what it does to a community—a community that bears the brunt of a very very big downturn and a 23 percent rate of unemployment. Those members should see what that does to a community. So I take my hat off to the Minister in charge of the Ministry of Social Development who organised our job summits. 
But I want to take a bit of time too to show special gratitude to a group of people—people who have been maligned up hill and down dale in this country— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: The Labour Party. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: —and that is the immigrant community. No you see we do not make jokes about unemployment I tell the senior Labour whip. We do not make jokes about unemployment but I tell members that as the recession gets harder some—[ 
Interruption 
] You see not one of those people has ever been on the scrap heap—not one of them. But they purport to speak on behalf of the downtrodden. Well what a load of rubbish! I say tell them to give their salaries to the food banks and then I will start listening to them. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Does the member? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh! The member asks whether I give my wages to anybody. I ask him how many people there are in my family that I look after. At least I have a family to look after. If he wants to go down that track away we go. 
Hon Member 
: So that’s the National Party standard is it? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I say to that member to calm himself down. 
Grant Robertson 
: You’re the one! Stop the personal attacks Tau. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Calm down. I want to pay special attention to the immigrant community. [ 
Interruption 
] Oh! Members do not want to talk about the immigrant community—OK then. They arrive here with nothing and with a promise of nothing but they get down and dirty. They take all jobs— 
Hon Member 
: Like the member. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Absolutely. If I could be like one of those immigrants I tell members I would be a better man than I am now. I believe it is about time—[ 
Interruption 
] Well we know you are a bigot. We know that you do not like the immigrants. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I hope the Speaker is not a bigot. [ 
Interruption 
] No I have already pulled the member up on it. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am surprised at your slowness on this matter. The member looked directly at another member of the House and called that member a word that is highly unparliamentary. Even for the former deputy leader of the New Zealand First Party in the 1996 election campaign that is a bit much. He should withdraw and apologise. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I called the member to order anyhow. I did not want to interrupt because it was not such a huge offence but if offence has been taken I ask the member to withdraw and apologise for that. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I withdraw and apologise. I suppose as Corporal Jones said in  
Dad’s Army 
 “They don’t like it up ’em.” Do members know why? It is because when we start talking about the supposed groups that the Opposition is supporting it all comes home to roost. What I am saying about the immigrant community is that members opposite might shout and cry but we should take a leaf out of the book of the immigrant community—the hard and staunch work that the people of that community put in. They had nothing when they arrived in this country.