Tremain Chris: Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tremain Chris: Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 23 September 2008. Volume:650;Page:19050. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier) 
: 
 I rise to take a brief call to summarise where we have got to and to let the public know that National fully supports the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Bill. Firstly I acknowledge the Ministry of Economic Development and also the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the efforts they have gone to throughout the consideration of the raft of legislation that has been put before the House. I think sometimes the work that officials do goes unrecognised. If we look in particular at the Financial Advisers Bill which was totally changed from clause 1 onwards we see that a heck of a lot of work had to be done in a very short space of time and the officials should be complimented on that. It was well done I say to them.  
I want to talk about the importance of the financial investment sector. So often we hear in this House the financial sector being slandered. People say those involved in the sector are all loan sharks and they are all trying to make an easy dollar. But without the financial sector we would have very little investment. If investment occurred only through equity then we would have way less business in this country—way less. What the financial sector allows us to do is to invest other people’s capital at a cost. The aim then is to go out and invest that capital in order to get a better return on it. That leverages up the economy and allows us to grow the economy in a way that we would otherwise not be able to do if we did not have the financial investment sector. Members of the New Zealand public need to understand that the sector is critical to growth in our economy. It is very important that we get behind the financial investment sector and not just send a message all the time to those involved in the sector that it is comprised of loan sharks and that they are all a pack of cadgers whom we should pack up and send to Australia. We need to have this sector in New Zealand and we need to have a strong sector.  
This bill together with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill (No 3) and the Financial Advisers Bill puts in some tighter regulation around the sector to make sure that consumers are given a higher level of protection. But once again as I have said before we are never going to legislate against risk. The fact is that all investments whether they be with a savings bank or in property development carry different levels of risk. People generally understand that the higher the level of risk there is the higher the return will be and the greater the chance will be of losing one’s money. But the important thing is that people are made aware of that—that that information is disclosed to them up front so that they can make a decision based on material information and accurate information.  
We believe that the financial sector is critical to this economy. Getting in behind it and helping it to grow our economy our businesses and our property investment are what will drive economic growth and it is economic growth that allows our Treasurer whichever side of the House he or she sits on to take in a larger tax take to deliver additional services and to deliver the services that we want require and demand as a modern First World economy. It is a building block of our economy and something that we certainly support and we send a strong message to the industry that it is a very important part of this economy.  
In summary this legislation provides much tighter regulation around the financial investment sector and ensures that the disclosure of information is much better than it has been. I think all in all the three bills the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill (No 3) the Financial Advisers Bill and the bill that is before us tonight as a package help to do that. I think this bill will help to take us forward and to get us back on the horse and investing confidently in the economy in a way that can drive us out of the recession we are currently in. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. 
Bill read a third time.