Don Brash gave his valedictory speech today, and in it he admitted to a few regrets about his time in Parliament. Sadly, crawling into bed with the Exclusive Brethren or systematically lying to the new Zealand public were not among them. Instead, he's sad that
"I never made it into government. I didn't change a single law."
Brash may regret that, but I for one don't. And I'm very glad to see the back of him. Hopefully with his departure National will finally admit that the New Zealand public do not want to restart the Revolution, and move on from the 90's.
Because he's gone, his regrets will probably not be given much media coverage. But they should be.
ReplyDeleteBrash:
"I made some mistakes ... like confusing friend and foe alike by voting for the first reading of the Civil Union legislation and against the second reading, on the grounds that such a major change in our social institutions should require ratification in a referendum - while making it clear that I'd vote for such a referendum."
He should be interrogated for that one. It's carefully worded. What exactly is his regret? And for Brash, read Key. Do they now support Civil Unions, or not? (Will anybody bother to ask?)
Another 'mistake':
"... remaining silent when the National Party caucus decided, under previous leadership, that, had National been in Government, we would've supported Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in the invasion of Iraq, even though I had serious misgivings about the wisdom of that course of action."
So did English support the invasion, and Brash just went along with him? That's a pretty big claim there, on a pretty big issue. (And again ... will anybody bother to ask?)
Simon G
But is JK neccessarily any better? Here's an interesting article in the UK Independent about David Cameron, his Brit equivalent:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.johannhari.com/archive/article?php?id=1027
Craig Y.