Gerry Brownlee MP
National Party Deputy Leader

19 October 2005

Labour’s lack of new talent laid bare in reshuffle

National Party Deputy Leader Gerry Brownlee has attacked Helen Clark’s reshuffled Cabinet as a “rearrangement of the deck chairs”.

“Far from a refreshed or rejuvenated line-up - this recycled Cabinet promises more of the same old ideas, from the same tired old Ministers sitting in different chairs.

“Helen Clark has shown her complete disregard for the infrastructural crisis facing New Zealand by allocating the critical energy and transport portfolios to rejected Otago MP and Cabinet newcomer David Parker.

“New Zealanders expect transport and energy to be taken far more seriously. Meanwhile the rural community will almost certainly question the appointment of Jim Anderton as Agriculture Minister.

“Helen Clark’s Cabinet will not satisfy those who voted for real change at the election. The Prime Minister’s line-up signals she is expecting more of the same blind loyalty from her devotees.

“Labour’s lack of talent has been laid bare.

“Senior members of this Cabinet start this Parliamentary term badly wounded.

“Helen Clark, Trevor Mallard and Michael Cullen all misled the public about the true cost of the student loan bribe. Lianne Dalziel has supposedly been rehabilitated after lying, while former Pacific Island Affairs Minister Taito Phillip Field has been quietly axed.

“This Clark/Peters Government was founded on deception and it will continue to deceive,” says Mr Brownlee.

Ends

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