Peters Winston: Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Peters Winston: Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 17 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:5955. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 Of course what Dr Bollard said was that it was “a moot point”. So Nick Smith’s memory is not even accurate. This is the master of voodoo and snake oil. Back in 1990 he did not mind Winston Peters coming down to Richmond to pack the hall when he was a new candidate in the Tasman electorate because he could not fill a telephone booth. Oh no it was good policy then. “Oh yes Winston come down and help out”—just like Tony Ryall up there in Whakatane who could not get a telephone booth full. Oh no everything that Winston Peters was saying then was great stuff. So you can tell how much credibility they might have. 
You see Nick Smith cannot even get history right. Back in 1996 we changed the policy targets again when I became the Treasurer but then his future leader Brash totally ignored what we set out to do and that is why the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill is here today. 
You know they are saying that you can have only one target. It is like saying that it is either protein or carbohydrate. That is just ridiculous. It is stupid. It is not intellectual. It is voodoo. It is snake oil and that is what that man is a master of—although he should take more of it because it might help his appearance. It is certainly absurd to suggest that a country’s economic policy should rest on one single objective. That is nonsense. It should rest on a Reserve Bank Act geared to deliver jobs growth exports and price stability and a hope in the future and keep young people living in our own country. We are stuck in a 1980s time warp. All obsessions are dangerous and what you have heard from the far side of the House tonight has been that sort of déjà vu. 
I want to thank all those from the various parties—the Greens and the Labour Party—who have got up and supported this legislation. Anyone could have presented it but the fact is that the debate has arrived. This is a sea change day and they are going to find out very shortly—very shortly—what it means when they are back there out of the ministerial cars where they belong bumping up and down the streets in taxis. 
The Manufacturers and Exporters Association says the loss of $10 million from the last 3 years does not concern the National Party. There are 40000 jobs lost real human circumstances—that does not include the spouses it does not include grandad or the kids—and no the National Party could not give a darn. National gets up and puts up a straw man and then thinks it is intellectually honest in knocking it over. 
Here is the truth: what is not working is the current Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act. Everybody can see it. New Zealand companies are going to the wall. Others are on the brink of closing. Hundreds of jobs are being lost every week. Productive capacity is shrinking. Our international indebtedness deepens as our export growth is held back and up gets the Minister of Finance who I think has borrowed more money in his time than all the other finance Ministers in the past all together. That is what he has done. It is absolutely astonishing. He is heading for $78 billion of borrowings and he has got the arrogance to get up here as a paragon of economic virtue. Everything he has touched—it is the Midas touch in reverse—has turned to rubbish. And then he talks about interest rates. Well we have got New Zealanders out there paying three and four times what they pay in Europe. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Lowest rates in 40 years. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Did you see that? He cannot even see that it is a comparative measure. What is the comparison between us and the UK us and the USA us and Europe? Well it is three to four times. That is the difference. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: We’re in better shape. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Oh we are in better shape. Oh you are in better shape than Greece—just. Are you in better shape than Scandinavia? Oh a deafening silence. Are you in better shape than Singapore? No—a deafening silence. Are you in better shape than Taiwan? A deafening silence. Not a mutter not a murmur not a sensible syllable or sound. They compare themselves with the bottom league and say “Look how good we are doing” while we belong to a country that once dreamt to be at the top of the league. Twice in our great history we made it and soon with a new Government we are going to make it again. 
A party vote was called for on the question that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! Members you know that when there is a vote being taken it is to be heard in silence because any comment at all can be seen as intimidation and it can ultimately lead to a breach of privilege of the House.