Copeland Gordon: Standing Orders 
Copeland Gordon: Standing Orders 
[Volume:627;Page:22363] 
GORDON COPELAND (United Future) 
: 
 I signal United Future’s support for the motion. We also support the issue of members’ pecuniary interests being dealt with via an amendment to the Standing Orders rather than by way of legislation. That follows the United Kingdom model and ensures that the question of MPs’ pecuniary interests is a proceeding of Parliament and therefore an obligation on members of Parliament. They are then accountable to Parliament instead of to the courts and that as Dr Michael Cullen mentioned is entirely appropriate. United Future is pleased with the amendments that are to be made and especially that debts owed by family members do not have to be disclosed. That was a point raised by United Future the family party. It was not in the earlier drafts of the bill; it was introduced at our suggestion. That measure is very important because compulsory disclosure of loans made by MPs to spouses partners parents a child a stepchild a foster child or a grandchild would be an embarrassment not to the MP but to the family member concerned. 
I was grateful to be part of the Standing Orders Committee which very patiently and painstakingly worked its way through the issues. I was privileged once again to represent United Future in those deliberations. I am disappointed however that New Zealand First and ACT opposed the notion of a register of members’ pecuniary interests. They gave two reasons for that. The first was that there was no evidence yet of any real or perceived corruption amongst parliamentarians so they asked why the Members of Parliament (Pecuniary Interests) Bill had been introduced. But I ask why we should wait until we do have an instance of corruption involving MPs before we move. We would be wise to do so in advance and to learn from other Parliaments around the world that have introduced registers of members’ pecuniary interests in various forms. Registers have been adopted for example by Westminster and by other Parliaments. They have not in fact stopped well-qualified people from coming into Parliament. In Britain everybody knows that William Hague for example a former leader of the Conservative Party now makes several million pounds a year as an after-dinner speaker while remaining an MP. He has to declare all that income. People actually think that is not a bad career path so it has had the perverse effect of making the career of a member of Parliament seem more attractive to many people. 
The second objection is the one I have mentioned: that it would stop well-qualified people from coming into Parliament. I thought a bit about that and asked myself this: what is meant by a “well-qualified person”? By “good people” do we mean “rich people”? Rich people are not necessarily good people. I know some good people who are also rich and I also know some rich people who are rogues. The same applies by the way to poor people—some are good and some are bad. Nor are well-qualified people necessarily those with a string of degrees. So what kind of people do we want to have in Parliament? My answer is that they need to be people who love this beautiful country of Aotearoa New Zealand of which we are blessed to be citizens and who wish to serve it as members of Parliament. Such people may want to see New Zealand prosper as I do. They may want as members of Parliament to protect the environment as I do. But most important I believe they should be people who want to ensure that relationships in this country between men and women including those within marriage between parents and children and also between peoples of different races languages and religions—and believe you me everyone has a belief system whether or not he or she calls it a religion—are marked by charity and goodwill. Those are the kinds of people whom I think we want to see in this Parliament. So I have pleasure in supporting the Standing Orders that will give effect to that. 
This will be my last speech in this Parliament. I hope to see most members back here again shortly.