Peachey Allan: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
Peachey Allan: Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
[Volume:638;Page:8239] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 I appreciate the opportunity to make possibly the final contribution to this debate and to speak to the title and commencement of the bill. For a little while I thought we would have a bit of fun with the title for 5 minutes but then the Labour speaker came in and raised a couple of interesting issues. I realise that I am a new member of this House and I understand that the Standing Orders do not allow me to refer to the absence of members from the Chamber. So somehow I need to say to the Labour member that had she participated in the debate earlier on she might well have had cause to reflect a little on some of the things she had to say. 
Let us look at the title for a moment. The bill is the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No 2). It is appropriately named for a couple of reasons. It amends a principal Act called the Student Loan Scheme Act 1992. It may just be wise to remind the Committee that in 1992 when that Act was passed New Zealand was in the middle of a major economic crisis. The country had been brought to its knees by the policy of a Labour Government in which the current Prime Minister was Deputy Prime Minister during the 1989-1990 period. So if the Labour member wishes to give the Committee history lessons I suggest she get her history right. Let us look at the title a little more closely. What does “No 2” tell us? It tells us that the Government got the No. 1 bill wrong. What does “No 1” tell us? It tells us the Government got the original legislation wrong. Let us not lose sight of that. 
Before I refer to the commencement I come back to two things that I have referred to already when I spoke tonight which obviously escaped the Labour member who spoke earlier. The first was the reminder that I gave to borrowers to respect the fact that the money comes from other New Zealanders. I remind the Labour member of the time that I spent with half a dozen mums and dads who between them share three and four jobs each all lowly paid just to feed their kids and get them to school and pay the rent. Their plea to me was that they should just be allowed to keep some more of their own money. Let us just talk about taxation and bribery for a moment. I repeat for the benefit of the socialists over there on the Government benches that to give people their own money back is not bribery. People cannot be bribed with their own money. It is difficult for me to hide the contempt I feel for politicians who do not understand the nature of representative government and government by consent. It would be a good idea if the Labour members opposite who are screaming and shouting would just pause to think a little about the nature of representative democracy and whom they are accountable to when they sit in this Chamber. 
In terms of the commencement dates I think clause 2 sums up the complexity of the bill. Again I come back to the great work done by the Education and Science Committee and the Inland Revenue Department officials in guiding us through all of that. The great bulk of the bill is due to come into force on 1 April 2007. I guess I could use up a bit of time by talking about April Fool’s Day and all the rest of it but that is kind of obvious because everybody knows what the Labour Government has done with regard to this bill. This is not good sound thought-out logical policy. It is a bribe to buy an election—nothing more. So maybe 1 April is appropriate. Other sections come into effect on 1 October 2007 and others on 1 April 2008. Gosh there is that date again—1 April! How many weeks will it be until Labour members lose office?