McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I want to congratulate the last speaker the Hon Shane Jones on his appointment or election as deputy leader of the New Zealand First Party today. That's great news. I know it's something he's always wanted to do. But what surprises me is that we heard Shane Jones speak so eloquently about taxation. Tax and Shane are not words that go together so very very quickly or easily. But it must be because he deep down knows that the current Minister of Revenue is making a huge mistake here. Now Shane Jones is an honourable man. He believes the public has a right to have a say and I know that deep down he is willing to stand by any proposal that he would make as a Minister.On the other hand we have a new Minister of Revenue who to be fair has not had a great start in the first 100-odd days. At least he got to deliver his second reading speech because last time he was in the House to speak on a bill he didn't get to and that's a great shame because somewhere there was an official that did a lot of work to write that speech that he was going to read out but he didn't get to deliver it.Then we had his announcement about how he was going to make it fairer for small shopkeepers up and down the country by delivering a tax on online shopping. Instantly he was put back in his corner surrounded by officials to protect him because the finance Minister says No we're not going to do that. We're not going to raise any taxes at all until the Tax Working Group has had a chance to have its say."And now here we are: the new Minister of Revenue speaking broadly on a piece of legislation that—with the exception of a Supplementary Order Paper he snuck into this House only a day after the Finance and Expenditure Committee finished its consideration and consultation widely with the public—he's had nothing to do with because it was developed by the last Government. It was delivered to this House by Judith Collins who as revenue Minister said "Tax policy is important in New Zealand. We won't always get it right and we believe in the system that's been in place Government after Government Minister after Minister that says when you're going to make a change in tax policy you have general consultation on it before it goes to Parliament and then you allow the committee to go through it in detail so the tax community can make sure it will work."Now I was the Minister of Revenue when the brightline test was brought in some years ago. We sought advice and we looked carefully at exactly where that balance would be. As a Government of the time we said "Actually if you buy a property with the intention of making a capital gain on it you must pay tax on it—on that capital gain. In fact if you buy anything in New Zealand—shares property a car—with an intention of making a capital gain then you must pay tax upon that." But around property we did realise there could be some uncertainty and to clarify that we would make a brightline test of two years. The advice from Government agencies from Treasury and from IRD was to be very careful about that balance because you don't want to target mum and dad New Zealanders who own property who rent that out or it may be something that for them will be a nest egg.The thing about taxation is you need to go and talk to the experts and the wider industry because they will actually tell you whether it'll work or not and whether they agree with you. I found as Minister they would help you make sure that what you were doing would work. So we announced the brightline test before a Budget and we didn't rush it through Parliament we allowed the select committee to consult on it to work on it. There were people that came in support of it there were people who spoke against it and then this House had a full discussion on it.So I say to the current Minister of Revenue who hasn't had a great start as Minister of Revenue in this House that he's making a fundamental mistake here. He says he's about openness and transparency but the very first thing he actually really gets to do—it's not this piece of legislation because it's Judith Collins—is slam a very important change on the Table of this Parliament the day after the select committee finished its deliberation. And there is just no need for that at all. He owes it to New Zealanders to mums and dads and to the tax profession to allow even for a short period of time the select committee to go back and have a look at that.And I've got to say I'm not only surprised but quite appalled by the Green Party who when they were in Opposition were always wanting people to have a greater say. They wanted proper open processes through Government and there were many occasions where as a Government we might have wanted to shorten the period of time for a select committee and the Greens actually always would stand up against that and say New Zealanders deserved a say. For them to come to this House today and vote for this—there's one of two reasons: either the Labour Government told them they had to or already Winston's baubles of office are eroding the integrity that the Green Party have always shown and they'll have to take that up with the outside world and others.So it's disappointing that it's being rushed through. There is no need. Five years is something that the public deserve to talk about and have a say on. It is something the select committee could very easily open up on for a few weeks or a little longer and seek support and advice from the public. For Stuart Nash to come to this House—the first thing he did was not deliver a speech because he made a mistake; the second thing was announce a new tax to support small New Zealand businesses on overseas online shopping and then he was told to pull that back he wasn't allowed to do it; and now he's snuck this Supplementary Order Paper 13 into the House on the Table the day after the committee finished its deliberation. It does not suggest he's going to be a Minister of courage."