Cosgrove Clayton: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Cosgrove Clayton: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:623;Page:18289] 
CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the Prime Minister’s statement and open by saying that I have observed politics for some years before I came to this place. I have to say—and I think many commentators would agree with me—that this has been a titanic week in politics in this country. It is apt that all this has happened around the time the Prime Minister presented her platform and the record of this Government’s achievements to Parliament. It is rather helpful that the National Party has melted down because over the last couple of days in this Parliament we have been able to present to the people of New Zealand a stark contrast between the political parties. 
Here is the deal: one party the National Party has spent the last week and a half haemorrhaging all over the place. Its members are so bitter now that one can see the bitterness on their faces. In the cafeteria and around the corridors one can see that for some of them that bitterness is even tinged—I hesitate to say—with a little taint of hatred between factions. After today Brian Connell makes Maurice Williamson look loyal to Bill English. Maurice Williamson has been there; he knows that. Compared with Brian Connell he now looks like a good guy. National Party members are out there knifing each other all over the show. The smell of wet blood and dry blood is everywhere. 
That is one option for the New Zealand people. Their other option of course is this Government and the platform policies and achievements over the last 5 years that were aptly articulated by the Prime Minister in her statement. In the next couple of months as we lead up to the election the people of New Zealand will be presented with that contrast—that is a Government that is stable that has a Prime Minister who provides leadership that has kept its promises and that has achieved—and we will talk about that in a moment—or the rabble we see opposite. If National cannot convince its own team that its own policy platform has integrity then how on earth does it think it will convince the New Zealand people? If in some bizarre way in their little minds they think they can convince the people then they are fooling themselves. The one thing I know from my time in Parliament as a politician and a constituent member is that people out there are smart and we cannot fool them. They can smell blood and a few other things over on the other side. They know what they will get if ever that crew makes the Treasury benches. 
I shall talk for a moment on the achievements of this Government. Dr Brash portrays himself as being some sort of eminent economist yet all he has done since he has been National’s leader is to go around New Zealand trying again to fool the people by trying to convince them that this country is going down the toilet economically. But if we look at the facts—and people do: they buy their groceries they can budget they can work out the difference between the money they are getting in and the money they are paying out and they know how much the Government is contributing to that and looking after their families; they are smart—and at our achievements we will see there has been 4.6 percent solid growth. That is equal to the United States in the OECD and second only to Korea. That is a solid achievement. That is not political spin; it is an independent OECD fact. Can members hear the silence over there? Is it not deafening? That is a fact. 
The second fact has to do with unemployment. Over the last 5 years since 1999 250000 jobs have been created. Unemployment is down to its lowest level for almost 20 years. The sum of $1.1 billion has been put aside to help working families. Dr Brash made a speech that was supposedly sticking up for working families and giving a policy position that said National would make tax cuts. That will not help the working families we are targeting. We then had the position of this Government which has targeted monetary resources directly to hard-working—and I emphasise “working”—families and that is an achievement. That is a fact and it is solid. 
Then there is crime. Despite what some people may want to portray in this place the truth is that crime is down to its lowest level in 21 years. Next are the increases in funding for education and health—39 percent for education and 40 percent for health over 5 years. This is not spin; this is a fact. That is what we will go to the country on together with our vision of building on that platform and of providing further solid leadership and stable Government. We will go to the people in this country on that at election time and then the people will have a choice. That is our record. I am proud to stand up in Waimakariri any time anywhere with any candidate or with any lost wandering National Party MP soul like Nick Smith who might wander in there to see his folks occasionally. I am proud and ready and willing to stand up and defend that record because the only legacy that those members over there can present to the New Zealand people is the economic vandalism of the 1990s and the total mismanagement of their own crew and party for the last 5 years. 
Let us look at it. In the last term of Parliament National has had two leaders. There has been Bill English and Don Brash. I think that Bill English will be New Zealand’s version of the comeback kid but he will come back only as far as the Opposition bench. He will be the comeback kid of New Zealand politics. Those members have no policies. They have some hidden policies like slashing the pension and doing a whole lot of other things to our elderly folk. What is their vision? Well we had Orewa I as my colleague Mr Hughes said and what was the only result of that? Apart from trying to divide the country and slash it in two the result of Orewa I was that Georgina te Heuheu has gone. Lynda Scott was so demoralised and so marginalised that she threw in the towel. Nick Smith was even gone by morning tea. Then as the year progressed there was the defence spokesperson who would go anywhere lift up the sabre and go where our allies go without question. Into the valley of death rode the 600 led by Simon Power— 
Darren Hughes 
: The scholar. 
CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: —who has his speeches written by a guy with a PhD at Victoria University. What happened to him? He is gone—dumped and demoted—but he has kept his front-bench seat. 
Then it was Orewa II which we have just had and Katherine Rich was dumped. Brian Connell who as I said makes Maurice Williamson look loyal is putting the knife in. Shane Ardern who I would have said was a pretty moderate member of the National Party put the boot in today. He told the truth. He said it was not on. Even Lynda Scott who does not have much to lose these days I suppose was telling the truth again. The truth has come to her as she leaves this place. She said that the decision was silly and unwise. Do we know who the big winner in the National Party is? I have said this once before when Simon Power was dumped. It is John Key. He is just rolling down that runway. He has not offended anybody and he has not brassed off any of his colleagues. He just wades through the blood the bodies and the corpses. John Key is the guy we will have to watch. 
Dave Hereora 
: He’s in the wrong party. 
CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: He may well be. My colleague may be right. Now I will turn briefly to the National Party’s so-called coalition partner the 1.6 percent party—the ACT party. It is so desperate and so much in the mire that it is now “Bring back ‘Banksie’!”. I know that Maurice Williamson is relishing the opportunity to go up against that “popular” former Auckland local body politician John Banks whose campaign manager was caught out telling porkies. Who is his campaign manager again? He is the campaign manager for the ACT party. But telling porkies—well some people do and some people do not. 
Then we have the leader of the ACT party Rodney Hide who is a bit like one of those Australian skinks that change colour when put on a piece of cloth. On a blue cloth it changes to blue and on a green cloth it changes to green. Then when we put it on a piece of tartan it really does not know what to do. We have had Rodney Hide going from being the macho man to being the new statesman. Do members remember that programme  
The New Statesman 
? He is the Alan B’stard of New Zealand politics. He tried that out but it did not work so he went back to form—to being the thug of Parliament. And where has that got him? His party is on 1.6 percent. 
I will take heart from three things at the next election. The first is that we will return the Prime Minister and the Government to our rightful place in Government. It is a privilege to be here. Secondly we will render the National Party terminal if it is not terminal already. Thirdly it is bye-bye to Rodney Hide and to the ACT boys. They will have to go back to selling Rolexes out of suitcases on Lambton Quay.