Yates Dianne: Voting — Correction; General Debates 
Yates Dianne: Voting — Correction; General Debates 
[Volume:608;Page:5710] 
DIANNE YATES (NZ Labour—Hamilton East) 
: 
 It is amazing is it not that that party whose member has just finished speaking says that it is going to fix it! That party was actually in coalition with the National Party and it was going to fix an awful lot of things a few years ago. All it did was fix up Mrs Shipley and give us Bill English. That is a great bonus for the country is it not? We have a completely divided Opposition—a nit-picking Opposition. 
When people have nothing to say in a debate they attack personalities. We have seen in this House over the last couple of weeks attacks on personalities not attacks on issues or on policies. We have an Opposition that is totally devoid of policy. It knows we have one of the most popular Prime Ministers ever—a Prime Minister who has integrity and who says what she thinks. All we can see from the supposedly brilliant Bill English is personal attack after personal attack—which will not wash. 
We have just had an attack from Judith Collins on the issue of the Supreme Court. I say to the National Party that it should grow up and let New Zealand grow up. New Zealand has an opportunity through the Supreme Court Bill to grow up as a nation. I thank John Tamihere for talking about our nationhood and about New Zealand being a nation. I say to the Opposition that it has a chance through the Supreme Court Bill to add to the nationhood of New Zealand. So let us see the Opposition’s mettle and let us see its support. 
I do not want to be negative but I ask where National’s policy is. We have spent a good deal of time as the Government in undoing that party’s mistakes—13000 State houses were sold off and we have to retrieve those. We have health and education systems that were bitten with the bug of privatisation. What was that doing? It was just paying out to National’s cronies. 
But when we come to Maori and Pacific Island people—yes we have the treaty settlements but what is more important we have the unemployment rate of Maori and Pacific people going down. People are getting jobs and are able to earn a living. People are becoming full New Zealanders because they can have those jobs and get decent earnings. 
I thank the Minister for Economic Development and the Prime Minister for growth in New Zealand. I also thank Minister Maharey for the Modern Apprenticeships scheme. I want to talk as the Minister I mean the member for Hamilton East—I would not mind being the Minister for Hamilton East—to say that the partnership going on between local government central government and some of the trusts in our city is absolutely marvellous. The Prime Minister turned the sod a week ago on the Innovation Park in Hamilton and during the “smart growth day” last Friday I visited a wonderful firm in Hamilton called Biozone.This company was started by a man called Richard Allan and employs eight people who because of grants from this Government have been able to attend trade fairs in the United States. 
They are also able to do market research and develop an e-commerce strategy. They are people who are now selling education resources in the United States in the UK and in Australia. They are looking for contracts in India—and I ask why. It is because they got assistance from the Labour-Progressive Government to do that and those grants have been invaluable particularly in terms of their graphic technology. This is a good-news story and it is happening in the electorate of Hamilton East. Not only Biozone but 11 other firms have received assistance to help them grow from being small businesses to larger businesses to export and to increase New Zealand’s wealth. It is a good-news story and once again I thank the Minister for Economic Development for that. 
There have been at least 93 awards in the last week worth $1.2 million. I give members information about other firms: A.R. Jacobsen which is developing frost protection systems; a Polynesian firm which is developing a golf tee tool; a firm developing anaesthesia care medical hardware which is being worked on increasingly in New Zealand at the moment; Grasshopper Ltd which is producing a digital imaging software product and Health Concepts which got a grant to help with business planning. These are but examples. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.