Swarbrick ChlöeCHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green): I am very happy to rise and speak to this bill and to speak to what the member Chris Bishop said earlier. It's not very exciting but it is important. Frankly this bill is massive. It will have far-reaching implications. As was mentioned by the Hon Chris Finlayson it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to completely review a massive body of law.I speak to this bill as a graduate law student who I will be the first to admit it wasn't very good at equity and didn't very much enjoy the law of trusts. It was as I've just said massive. It was multifaceted and it was all over the place—found in case law most commonly. So this bill here and this contribution to the debate is for all of the law students out there reading Hansard. For all of those who will read and have to attempt to understand and analyse trust law—this is for you.This bill is about bringing legislation into line with practice. Its purpose in an overarching manner is to enact the vision for a participatory democracy to reduce barriers to participation to reduce technocratic waffle and to enable accessibility. It will reduce costs and burdens for those who are families who participate in the realm of trusts and reduce the barriers for the average person who is seeking to participate in the legal process. Less court time will be bound up and resources as well in that respect. It will have an incredible consequence—which is often what I expect is the intention of legislation that we pass through this House—which is that more people will be likely to follow the law because they are more likely to know what it actually is. It also predominantly and perhaps most excitingly for those law students out there simplifies the language in the legislation surrounding trust law.So just how many people are affected? Well it is a difficult one to get into because trusts are largely private. The Law Commission in 2013 issued a report that estimated that there are between 300000 and half a million trusts in Aotearoa. At the very least that's one trust for every 12 people in this country. In the 2013 census 215000 households reported that their home was owned by a trust. But this again is the very tip of the iceberg as those are only the people who are self-reporting. Around a quarter of a million income tax returns were filed for trusts or estates in the last tax year but again none of this captures those who do not submit tax returns.I did some light reading over the break and delved into the Register of Pecuniary and Other Specified Interests of Members of Parliament: Summary of annual returns as at 31 January 2017—the final such report of the 51st Parliament. So it is an estimation of how many MPs were affected in the previous Parliament and thus may be assumed to be a relatively valid estimation for those affected in this Parliament. Of the 116 MPs listed in this register 75 of those past and present are either trustees or beneficiaries of trusts or both. There are 132 trustee interests and 111 beneficiary interests. So it might be said that this bill this piece of legislation is very much in the interests of those in this House as well.There has been some debate in the past as to whether New Zealand should have a trust register for all citizens in the same way that we have a trust register for members of this Parliament. The Law Commission said that this was unnecessary in its review because it would fundamentally change the nature of trusts and deviate from international and historical norms. On that point I would submit that the context that we have found ourselves in in 2017 deviates from those international and historical norms.It has come to light numerous times over the past several years—most recently in the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers—that New Zealand is perceived by some as a bit of a tax haven for offshore foreign trusts. On this point I note that many have stated that this realm is the role of tax law not trust law. But I would suggest that this is something to be considered at the select committee stage. As the opportunity presents itself for a massive overhaul that select committee stage is going to be integral to ensuring that we get the best form of legislation for all New Zealanders. On that point we commend this bill to the House.