Tirikatene Rino: Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 20 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3525. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. I am pleased to make a short contribution in this debate. Although I am not a member of the Justice and Electoral Committee which has considered this bill—Ian McKelvie: Law and order.RINO TIRIKATENE: —oh sorry the Law and Order Committee—I have found the debate very interesting. It is good to be actually supporting legislation to strengthen the way we can combat organised crime and corruption. We support this bill. It has been a long time in the making. It is quite ironic that it was introduced by the Hon Judith Collins about 3 years ago but it has finally made its way here to its second reading. It is good that it brings New Zealand in line with various international conventions across a range of measures. I understand that it is amending roughly about a dozen pieces of legislation which will all be implemented as a result of the passage of this bill. So it is a commendable piece of legislation. I just want to pick up on the—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! Sorry I have reflected on what the member said in his recent comments and I think they were unparliamentary. I will ask him to withdraw his comments in relation to another member.RINO TIRIKATENE: I withdraw. So returning to the bill—I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Could I seek some clarification with you on that—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Well the problem that I have is that if I do clarify with the member what the inappropriate comments were I will in fact repeat and compound his offence. I think if the member reflects carefully on what he said he will understand what his offence was.RINO TIRIKATENE: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Well it certainly was not taken as offensive by the members of the opposite backbenches there.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! The member will take a seat. When I make a ruling it is not the role of the member to reflect on that ruling. It is final and it is finished.RINO TIRIKATENE: Thank you for that ruling. I would like to talk about facilitation payments. I have experienced international trade in other countries. It is a big wide world out there. New Zealand is an exporting nation. We rely on selling our goods and services to customers around the world so it is very important that we break into overseas markets. I have been working on behalf of the New Zealand Government assisting New Zealand companies and I have worked with New Zealand companies themselves to break into certain countries to expand our exports and grow our foreign exchange earnings. It is difficult. It is a difficult business. I guess New Zealand businesses have to appreciate the cultural differences that do apply. In certain countries that I have been attempting to do business with on behalf of New Zealand companies the culture is very much of facilitation payments the greasing of the wheels—baksheesh as they call it. Whether it is just trying to park your car or whether it is trying to get to an appointment or whatever level of decision making needs to be done in certain cultures it is endemic. I guess it is a business decision that ultimately New Zealand companies have to make.What I do find is that countries that are at the lower end of Transparency International’s spectrum are the countries that we tend to avoid because doing business in those countries is too tough. But in terms of this legislation there is an ambiguity. It does not state when facilitation payment ends and bribery begins and by perpetuating that ambiguity it does not really help our own international reputation as being one of the least corrupt countries in the world. I would have hoped that the Government could take on board Mr Clendon’s Supplementary Order Paper 76. It has some very sound recommendations. If it is good enough for the United Kingdom and it is good enough for Australia to outlaw facilitation payments then surely it should be good enough for Aotearoa New Zealand.It is good that we can set the example because New Zealanders know how to do business. We are exporting all around the world and we will put our efforts into countries and into overseas markets where we can form good relationships—but on a sound business footing. We are not perpetually trying to feed people who are trying to extract demands bribes facilitation payments and the like. That is one aspect that we would hope could be improved in this bill but otherwise there are some very positive measures that we do support.