GEORGINA BEYER (NZ Labour--Wairarapa): The piety and compassion I have heard emanating from the Leader of the Opposition in the past few days are pretty rich and a bit of a crock, I would have thought.

Who can recall "Ruthanasia"---the 1991 Budget? I certainly can. I was the recipient of a benefit at the time. Who was the Minister of Social Welfare of the day? It was Jenny Shipley. Where was her compassion when the people in the area where I lived suffered at the hands of the dreadful benefit cuts at that time, which had profound effects on that community?

Let us move forward a bit. It did not take much for her to roll her former leader, Mr Bolger. There did not seem to be much compassion for him at the time.

Now we move forward to recent days. We hear she wants to have a conversation with the public about family values. "Go out and multiply!" was generally the theme of a speech she made recently. I wonder whether she thought at the time she said that---perhaps it was a glib remark---of those who are actually unable to do that. What an insult! What about the point that such an unwise choice of statement does not support our reducing our incredibly high teenage pregnancy rate, not to mention sexually transmitted diseases? What kind of message is Mrs Shipley sending to the country when she makes those kinds of statements?

I will move on to something I did not get to say yesterday, regarding the Hero Parade. Over the past couple of years we have enjoyed the presence of Mrs Shipley at the Hero Parade. Obviously, that was when she was Prime Minister. Perhaps it is an event that one attends when one is Prime Minister, but when one is Leader of the Opposition one does not bother showing up. A couple of minor members of her party were sent along, and also, I noted, one or two members of the Wellington City Council who seem to have an affiliation with the National Party---even the Deputy Mayor of Wellington, who may well be a potential National candidate in the Ohariu-Belmont seat. Mr Dunne might want to be reminded of that. [Interruption] She was there---I can assure Mrs Tolley of that.

We are moving forward in so many positive ways that it is really quite concerning that it has taken the Opposition a year even to start to get going. We have the unholy alliance of Tweedledum and Tweedledee---it sounds a little rude, but that is how I refer to them. Mrs Shipley and Mr Prebble and their respective parties are cosying up together. Seemingly, that unholy alliance may come to pass. I take heed of the words that our Minister of Police, Mr Hawkins, was saying before---that we need to watch this space, to see what will happen. But I will not bother too much, because I do not think it will be a successful, altogether welcome alliance that will come to pass in the future.

I will comment on the "People's Bank", as it has been called. Where is the patriotism about Kiwis in this country who have definitely spoken out about wanting to have a banking service back in their local communities? I was very proud to see featured on the television news last night two towns from my electorate that would welcome it. Indeed, the Mayor of South Wairarapa had positive comments to make about the prospect of a New Zealand bank returning to our local communities, particularly Greytown and Featherston. They lost their banking services a while ago. They were replaced by machines.

Members should think of many people, but they should think particularly of the pensioners. When banking facilities were closed down the pensioners came to me as the Mayor of Carterton and said they did not know how to deal with the machinery of today. They did not want to deal with telebanking. They said they became terribly confused and disorganised. They said: "What happened to the days when we could go to our local postbank, or postshop with banking facilities, and could actually engage with a human being across the counter?". These days banks do not want people coming to their banks more than is absolutely necessary.

I believe that this bank will be successful. It will please many New Zealanders in rural and provincial areas to know that they can face a human being across a counter with whom they are familiar, with whom they can engage, and with whom they can happily do their banking business.