<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>13:00 look let's face up to it the public relations campaign for the prime minister has failed did you see the last desperate attempt in this morning's herald there he was like some kind of downmarket rock and roll star signing some poor kids er cast giving his autograph to some poor kid on their cast look all the trumpet playing in the world all the doublebreasted dark suits as worn by the member for tauranga none of these things are going to save the prime minister and i have to say that even the member for mangere wouldn't have resorted to this sort of tragically pretentious and artificial image making i have to say that the government if they're sensible will realise the dilemma a they're in they'll drop their captain and they'll look to salvation to the member for <&>14:00 christchurch north now this poll and i'm sorry but i must <.>re record the figures in the house for the first time i think since the labour party was outflanked by social credit in the early nineteen eighties the labour party's in third place now i know most new zealanders think it's hard to believe there's a public opinion poll that has the government the labour party in third place but it's true national party is forty six percent the undecided are twenty six and labour's twenty one and do you know this is the first time i'm assured in the history of the western world that a government has been overtaken by the undecided vote <,> and of course if we look at this poll and look at the seats opposite and say well who's going to come back and be the official opposition who will her majesty's loyal opposition be after the next election do you know who it is no <&>15:00 it's the four maori members of parliament the member for mangere and the member for auckland central <&>shouts of dissent <.>y is <.>it they're going to have some interesting caucuses because of course the member for <.>au auckland central's already accused the member of for mangere of being er mentally deranged so you can image the unanimity in that caucus mister speaker most government benches these days are empty they're back in their electorates doorknocking trying to save their skins the government is running scared i think it was a sad sight to watch the otago southland regional conference and i say of course just in passing what a fabulous advertisement for the new law and order policy of the labour party their last regional conference in auckland you know the one where they take swings at one another and then had a go at the television cameras is that a party that the people of new zealand are going to trust in implementing a policy of law and order <&>26:00 of course it isn't and of course <.>i well i don't want to <.>o <.>o voc i might be naive but i'm probably one of the few new zealanders left who believes that it's actually possible to stand outside a pacific islands church and sign up seven hundred new members of the labour party all in one day even though they can't speak english now i'm sure there's an innocent explanation for that and that this labour party really is a party that stands for the principles of law and order we hope so but i've got to say mister speaker did you see that otago southland regional conference what's the population down there three hundred thousand people i'd say around three hundred thousand people thirty five members present at the conference one in every ten thousand new zealanders bothered to go to the otago southland regional conference you know the waikato bay of plenty regional conference was just as sad about i'd <&>17:00 say four hundred thousand people in that part of the world and less than forty people bothering to show up to their regional conference look the party's all but disintegrated and we've got to ask in this chamber what's happened to a once proud party what's happened to the legacy of holland savage fraser and kirk i'll tell you what's happened this labour party has deserted its roots it's turns its back on its traditional support it's taken up with the ray smith's of the world let me give just one example we had a labour minister of finance flying to auckland to launch that wellknown company goldcorp for his close mate ray smith launching it <,> launching it in a sea of champagne and a mountain of caviar this is while new zealanders are lined up at the social welfare department with their <&>18:00 hand out and there's a hundred and fifty thousand unemployed our minister of finance commandeers an aeroplane and flies to auckland and opens one of his mates companies at the height of the sharemarket activity and tens of thousands of new zealanders have lost their life savings do we hear an apology for the labour party for the support that it gave their new found friends and is it any wonder that only thirty or thirty five people bother to show up to these regional conferences mister speaker i have to say that this government is in a desperate situation and this government must look very seriously at its leadership we don't want a labour party that is all but destroyed democracy demands that the people have real options at election time and it is <&>19:00 not too late for this government to rethink its strategy i have to say that i know that all members of this house are worried and concerned about the political future of the labour party it's left the national party to represent the depressed <{1><[1>the unemployed the workers we will carry that <{2><[2>burden that we expect <{3><[3>the labour party <{4><[4>word <[1>bill dillon <[2>order <[3>mister speaker <[4>ORDER as following <{1><[1>the member for rotorua <,> the member who spent last weekend issuing his press releases to set up a new policy on law and order that member who the day before he started work on his press releases was in fact regarded by some in this area as a BURglar <&>20:00 <,> the member for rotorua was on the <{2><[2><.>r was on the golf <{3><[3>word <[1>bill dillon <[2>hey <[3>point of order point of order order order point of order order order order he'd better explain himself yeah all right <.>mi er mister dillon the member the member who found himself partnered by the member for hamilton east and was able to do battle with the former minister of defence and the <.>minist the high commissioner for australia but was able to very successfully win the money <,> but of course that is in the nature of the game that those who are able to play well under their <&>21:00 handicap are referred to as burglars mister speaker during the weekend the <.>minis the member for rotorua was very busy but what was he putting out i suggest he was putting out the copy cat <.>pro the copy cat policies er to follow the present policies engaged in by this government there were the shortterm strategies mister speaker the one of sufficient resources for the police now mister speaker the fact of the matter is that the government has given the police more resources over these last six years they now get three times the funding given by the previous government funding has risen from less than one hundred and ninety million to more than five hundred and twenty SEven million since nineteen <&>22:00 eighty four labour has boosted the force by more than three hundred sworn officers and more than two hundred civilians during the previous time this doubles the increases in the previous five years under national now those are figures mister speaker and the numbers can be <.>c confirmed if the member for whangarei wishes to <,> check those wishes to challenge those figures let him let him call the figures the figures themselves the figures themselves are shown in a form where there were five thousand seven hundred and ninety seven and they now are at a <,> an all time record of six thousand two hundred and ninety seven mister speaker <&>23:00 these are the figures these are the figures let let <.>th let the member for whangarei say otherwise those are figures which are the official figures from the police department so there the second the second part of the member for rotorua's shortterm strategy was a call for punishment to fit the crime but mister speaker this is something that has been a general rule of the common law for many many years and it has been boosted under labour with at least a DOzen new laws the third was the suggestion of a reform of the prisons this was a suggestion that raised some mirth in this house when it was brought to the attention of the house asking whether or not the reading recovery <&>24:00 er remedial reading available to prisoners in the in the prisons were going to be TESTed by those same prisoners being asked if they could read the contracts that the member for rotorua was proposing for them to consider and sign as part of his package of a new policy here we have prisoner prisoners with difficulty in reading they are given remedial reading the member for rotorua suggests that they should be given contracts to sign as to whether or not they should be given time off from prison and released into the community the question of new BAIL laws is also an interesting issue that the er that the national opposition have raised once more <,> this must be something <&>25:00 which includes consideration of victims <,> and we have already introduced a labour's victims of offences act a review of the bail law is on this year's legislative agenda and victims are in fact considered when dealt with when the offenders are dealt with by the court the longterm strategies proposed by the member for rotorua include parental responsibility and the question that must be asked mister speaker are who's to judge the parent's neglected responsibility <&>25:32 <&>tape cuts out