Nash StuartSTUART NASH (Labour—Napier): Before I talk about this bill I would just like to comment on a couple of the comments that previous speakers have made—nothing about Mr Scott he did not really say anything. Actually I thought for a minute there that he was saying that Kiwibank should remain in Government ownership. He said Let's consider it still does." and I lost him there. Mr Seymour is an interesting political character. He hawks a standard ACT line that the private sector is always better than the public sector—an ideological burp from the last century. It is amazing that ACT actually stands for the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers. I am just wondering when Mr Seymour is actually going to stand up for consumers and taxpayers. Unbelievable. Anyway his political relevance is represented in the polls where he is at about 1 percent at the moment. Mr Bayly made an interesting speech. Like all Nats he is more concerned about finance than families and that is a shame. It is a shame that the most passionate I have ever heard Mr Bayly is when it comes to banking—not about homes not about houses not about jobs not about economic development but about banking.Kris Faafoi: Governance structures.STUART NASH: Oh governance structures—governance structures in banking. That is Mr Bayly's passion. Unbelievable. That man really is out of touch with the issues that affect middle New Zealand. I just wish Mr Bayly would channel that passion—which none of us knew he had actually until he stood up there and shouted the House down. But I wish he would channel that passion into something worthwhile. I doubt it but it would be good to see. And then Mr Bishop stood up here and said that this is an embarrassing bill. I actually thought Mr Bishop was a little bit more in touch with New Zealanders than this but this just showed again how out of touch Mr Bishop is.I remember a referendum that occurred 3 or 4 years ago. It was a citizens' initiated referendum and it was about the sale of State assets. And 67.3 percent of New Zealanders—over a million New Zealanders—voted no to selling State assets. And Mr Bishop stands up here and says that we should sell Kiwibank. There is a man who is out of touch with middle New Zealand. There is a man who is out of touch with the 67.3 percent of Kiwis who do not want our assets sold. But Mr Bishop let me enlighten you a little bit as to the impact that Kiwibank has had on the market. I think it was in 2008 or 2009 that there was a banking inquiry set up. The chief executive officer of Kiwibank addressed this inquiry and he said that he believed that the impact of Kiwibank on the New Zealand banking sector in its first 5 years saved New Zealanders about a billion dollars in interest—about a billion dollars in interest—due to increased competition.Hon David Parker: And fees.STUART NASH: And fees yes—and fees. Kiwibank has played an incredibly important role in the New Zealand financial sector. But let us say that this $1 billion that Kiwibank has saved New Zealand consumers and taxpayers has a multiplier effect of about $10 billion. That is $10 billion into the New Zealand economy in terms of growth in terms of jobs in terms of retail spending in terms of homeownership that would not have occurred if Kiwibank had not existed. Kiwibank was the right thing to do at the time. Kiwibank is still the right thing to do and why would we give this up? Why would we give this up? The way the world works at the moment in large corporate organisations—actually the financial sector is dominated by these large corporates. If a competitor comes in and it gets a little bit too smart a little bit too successful or a little bit too aggressive what happens is that it is bought. It is just bought by one of the behemoths that dominate the industry. We have seen it time and time again and it is why all New Zealand banks except Kiwibank are owned by Australians or eventually offshore organisations—Hon David Parker: Or bigger ones.STUART NASH: Or bigger ones—much bigger ones. They have been bought because they got in the way of profits. We have a bank in New Zealand that is owned by New Zealanders. We have only one bank in New Zealand that is predominantly owned by New Zealanders and it is called Kiwibank. Why would we sell this? Have we not learnt from the debacle of BNZ? David Seymour: New Zealand First's over there.STUART NASH: Have we not learnt from the mistakes of Mr Seymour's predecessors? It seems not. But thank goodness Mr Parker is standing up for those one million Kiwis who do not want to sell our assets. Thank goodness Mr Parker is standing up for that $1 billion that we have saved New Zealanders in interest and fees. That is the reason why I back this bill that is the reason why I believe Kiwibank absolutely needs to remain in New Zealand ownership and that is why I hope that Kiwibank will be part of the New Zealand financial sector for generations to come because Kiwibank works for Kiwis and I think that is incredibly important. Thank you very much."