Cunliffe David: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Cunliffe David: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12533. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) 
: 
 It is a mark of a failed Government when nearly 2 years in its members are still talking about its predecessor. How about talking about something they have done? How about talking about a plan that they have? How about talking about the way to make New Zealanders’ lives better? They cannot because they have no plan. Gerry Brownlee is the man who will for ever—[ 
Interruption 
] There he goes; off again. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member knows that he cannot do that. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: He will for ever be known for Brownlee’s “Law of Holes”: when in one stop digging. The corollary to Brownlee’s “Law of Holes” is that when one has stopped digging one should have a plan B. The funniest thing about this week is that it is now obvious to all that there was no plan B because there never was a strategy. There is no analysis of what is fundamentally wrong with this economy and how to turn it round. 
For the last 18 months we have seen a series of glib one-liners manufactured pragmatism and slip backs. It is now obvious to all New Zealanders that the emperor has no clothes. There is no strategy as John Key promised. There is no aggressive growth in 2010. The Government promised New Zealanders a step change. Its members said they would do it by digging up national parks. Any idiot would have known that New Zealanders would take to the streets in their tens of thousands to defend the wilderness areas that make this country unique and that we all love. But that did not occur to those members. Now they have had to bury the idea. It should never have been dug up. 
What about the other plans? The Job Summit was a nice-sounding idea. It led to a cycleway to nowhere which created a few jobs and took taxpayers on a great ride—a great ride to spend millions to protect John Key’s reputation. 
Craig Foss 
: Which cycleway are you going to rip up? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: The cycleway to nowhere. Craig Foss is embarrassed about the cost of it. The Government cancelled a 9-day fortnight in the middle of a recession. It produced a Budget that rightly said that the economy was imbalanced but did nothing to solve the imbalances nothing to restore savings nothing to help New Zealand companies gain capital and nothing to lift exports. In fact those members are still saying that we have the best monetary policy in the world but the rest of the world has moved on. The rest of the world has moved on leaving them isolated and alone dreaming of yesteryear and making up names about the previous Government. 
There is no plan to transform our economy into a high-value high-wage economy. There is no sense of urgency about getting us on a sustainable fiscal path. There is no sense of urgency about our No. 1 long-term problem which is paying for superannuation. Those members have just kicked out pre-funding for 10 years and failed to honour their promise to restore pre-funding when the books were in surplus. 
How long will it take before New Zealanders realise they have been told a massive lie which claims that we can have a 65-year-old qualification with no pre-funding? The numbers do not add up and ordinary Kiwis know that. It is time the Government told the truth about that massive issue that is coming down the pipe. 
The Government is saying that young New Zealanders Generation X and Generation Y will be able to foot the bill. We know that when young Kiwis figure out how big the bill will be the Bill opposite will be on his way out. Bill English will be on his way out John Key with him and also Gerry Brownlee the “King of Holes.” Brownlee’s “Law of Holes” is that when we are in one we should stop digging. But there should be an alternative plan and that is the problem. There never was a plan an analysis or a strategy. It was a rolling maul of sound bites which has fallen flat because there was never anything behind it except marketing spin. This is a Government whose marketing department rules the roost and it forgot about ideas.