Cosgrove Clayton: Regulatory Reform Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Cosgrove Clayton: Regulatory Reform Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Sitting date: 22 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4677. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour) 
: 
 I know—sadly Mr Chairperson there is no one else but me. I have got to say that that was a stunning speech. That was a stunning speech because poor old Sam Lotu-Iiga was brought out as the sacrificial lamb tonight to say that this Regulatory Reform Bill is a stunning bill because do you know what it does? It saves 50000 bucks a year! That is spread over however many small to medium sized enterprises there are. That is a lot of money to the average Kiwi I accept that and it is spread over the thousands of small to medium sized enterprises in this country. Poor old Sam Lotu-Iiga was reeled out. He drew the short straw in the caucus tonight. He is on the ginger ale. He has been told “Come down and try to justify this.” A bill from a Minister for Small Business who— 
Hon Member 
: By Banksy. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: —in the name of his predecessor “The Ghost Who Walks”—Rodney Hide—who came in like Rodney Hide and said that he would slash through compliance costs. As I said some weeks ago Mr Banks must have been affected mortally by his officials who told him to come down. This was the big hit for John Banks because within this legislation we have 31 Acts that are going to be repealed which are spent Acts and which effectively do not exist. I think it takes a certain amount of intelligence and class to come up with a policy where you come down to the nation’s Parliament to expunge from the books 31 pieces of legislation that have no effect on anybody have no compliance costs and have no effect on any business—that takes a special type of person in my humble view. Then Sam Lotu-Iiga says: “The Government works on the things that matter.” Well by God can I ask the member what contribution is made by expunging from the books 31 Acts that effectively do not exist? Can I ask the member what contribution to small business is being made by saving a paltry $50000 per year—a paltry $50000 per year? 
But I want to turn to a very interesting section: new section 44A(b) in clause 11 and I did allude to this previously in the evening— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Order! That is in Part 3. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: No I think if you check with your predecessor Lindsay Tisch he ruled—and I made a speech on this—that this is part of Part 1. So with respect until you have taken advice I will keep going. 
What we have got is section 44A(b) and what that states is that new Part 3A “establishes a procedure for the recognition of persons or classes of persons who are to carry out specified functions and activities for the purposes of this Act;”. Effectively what that means is you have got to have a damn good memory to recognise persons who have specific functions to carry out the Act. The difficulty we have is there is a lot of not only anecdotal evidence but quasi-judicial evidence I would wager to say about the Minister in charge of this bill. This is not the Minister in the chair Simon Bridges whose great policy that he brought to the select committee was based on clamping. I have said he is a great clamper this man—an absolutely great clamper. Wheel clamping was his great policy so I do not direct my comments at that member. I direct them to John Banks the Minister who owns this bill. 
The Minister who is accountable for this bill has to have a damn good memory in order to recognise agencies persons and classes of persons. The difficulty we have with this is that the Minister for Small Business John Banks cannot remember his own name. He cannot remember his own reflection who he is whether it was a sack or a brown envelope how big the bodyguard was whether it was a helicopter a Learjet or a MiG-16 what house he was in how big it was or how big the bodyguard was. So if the Minister who is accountable for implementing the provisions of section 44A(b) cannot remember his own name then I have a question for the Minister in the chair. I know he will have done some work on this. He will have consulted the Ministry of Health in respect of what one does in respect of amnesia. He will have consulted those officials those officials in high office and he will have an explanation for us. 
So I ask the Minister: can he give us a guarantee that the Minister administering this bill will recognise agencies persons and classes of persons under section 44A(b) who have specified functions and activities for the purposes of this Act? That is what worries the people of New Zealand. You cannot get $250000 a year the BMW the warrant the flash house and all the baubles of office if you cannot remember your own name. You are actually running a country here. This is serious. I say to Mr Banks and to the Minister in the chair that we would like an assurance around this. But I say in all seriousness that the Minister came in and said: “Well I am going to slash through compliance costs. I am going to make the big breakthrough. I am the impact player for the Parliament and this is lightweight lightweight content in a heavyweight process.” The heavyweight process was actually initiated by the last Government. 
I am sure Mr Banks will make a contribution tonight. I am sure he will be itching to given that he has had his clearances given that his memory has returned and given that he knows where he is who he is what he is and how much he took. I am sure he will wish to take a call now. I say to Simon Bridges to not be afraid Minister to vacate the chair for Mr Banks. Do not be afraid to do that because I know that this Parliament will want to hear from him. This Parliament will want assurances from him. But actually this Parliament will want to know why it is that he brings this sort of technical bill—after how many months in office—as the big hitter for ACT who was going to deregulate and to slash through red tape. This is the best he can do. 
I will acknowledge that there are a few pages in this bill. It probably weighs—I do not know—a quarter of a kilogram. It is 144 pages plus Supplementary Order Papers. There has been a bit of work in this a bit of ink and a bit of paper. But what does it actually do? Well the best we have heard is from Sam Lotu-Iiga and I will say that I feel sorry for Sam Lotu-Iiga. I really feel sorry for him. We have all been in his place where the whips have told us “Come down. It’s your turn. You’re out on the pole. They’re going to have a peck at you. They are going to have a go at you. But it’s your turn to take the hit for the Government and try to justify this.” We have all been there. Fair enough. And I like Sam. He is not a bad bloke. But I say this: the best he could do was say this bill will save $50000 per year. Well how many small to medium sized enterprises do we have in this country? Hundreds thousands of small to medium sized enterprises. Well if you spread 50 grand over all of them it is not a big contribution. 
I just say to the Government that he talked about growth did my colleague across the aisle. He talked about growing the economy—all objectives that we across the Chamber want to achieve. But I have got to say is this it—is this the 121st point of the 120-point plan? Is this the new one? Is this the big hit? Is this the best the Government can do? I know that it has buried this legislation. It has buried section 44A. It has buried the whole thing. We know for instance because I talked to the Hollywood guys that this legislation has cost the film producers $50000 a week every week because the classification issues have not been dealt with. The Government sacrificed them because it did not want any legislation with John Banks’ fingerprints on it. It did not want a profile for him. So suddenly after he has got his alleged clearances it is back in the Chamber and I know that the Minister will be itching—itching himself probably—to take a call in this debate. He will want to take a call. He will want to actually justify what he has done to earn his pay because I have got to say as an ex - small business person myself that this is piffle. This does nothing to help small business. 
It will help the Hollywood guys. It will save them $50000 a week and that is fair enough. That is a good thing. But for every carpenter plumber sparkie and small business person out there this is nothing. The Government is prepared to stand up—and we will keep the speeches; we will keep Sam Lotu-Iiga’s speeches—and say: “This is the best we can do. This is the best we can do thanks to John Banks.” I know Sam is going to go out to all these small businesses and hand them a copy of this bill and say: “Don’t you feel good about the National Government? Don’t you feel good about us? You should thank us. You should go down on bended knee and thank the National Government because this is what we have delivered for you.” Well I have got to say to my colleague over there that I sympathise. I would be saying to the whips: “I want leave for a month after this. I have made the ultimate sacrifice defending the indefensible.” And you have got to ask why it is that the Minister John Banks in the last few hours has not taken a call. Even “Cue Ball” over there is willing to have a go but Mr Banks will not take a call. 
If you are so proud of your performance if this is the big hit for small businesses if you are going to be carried aloft in every province of the country by the chambers of commerce saying what a wonderful human being and what a great man you are then surely as a Minister you would come down and take a call. Well I call on Mr Banks to take us through in detail how much it is going to save small business how many when—all those things. Because at the moment there will be a few people in agriculture reasonably happy about this for the odd label but your average Joe your average Kiwi on Struggle Street in a small business knows what this is. I said in the last contribution I made that this is bull—high-quality bull but it is bull none the less. New Zealanders and small businesses can smell it they know it and they know when they are being conned. I say to the National Party for God’s sake have some sort of righteous indignation over this.