Brown Peter: Motor Vehicle Sales Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Brown Peter: Motor Vehicle Sales Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:607;Page:4771] 
PETER BROWN (Senior Whip—NZ First) 
: 
 I do not intend to take a long call on this issue. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Good. 
PETER BROWN 
: I am glad that I please some members over there on the Government benches. I want to touch on clause 13 “Tampering with odometers prohibited”. 
Simon Power 
: Or what? 
PETER BROWN 
: That is exactly the issue. Right now if an importer brings a car into this country from Japan or somewhere else and the odometer is tampered with he or she loses that car and it is sold by the Customs Department. The department has to put a notice on the motorcar stating that the odometer has been tampered with and the first buyer—and I think Deborah Coddington has touched on this already—knows full well what has happened. There is some doubt as to whether that extends to the second or any subsequent buyers. 
If a car is brought into this country and a person tampers with the odometer I want to know what happens if that person puts in the details of the vehicle that are required under clause 14 that he or she has tampered with the odometer which is the thing that measures the distance. I think there is a clause in there from Mr Clayton Cosgrove—[ 
Interruption 
] Clearly the member over there on the Government benches has not read the bill which is a bit of a worry. [ 
Interruption 
] Mr Power is exactly right. He has summed that up far better than I could have. Nothing seems to happen to anybody who does tamper with an odometer. I cannot find any reference to that. 
Simon Power 
: I looked. 
PETER BROWN 
: Mr Power who is a lawyer has looked and he cannot find anything. Nothing seems to happen to those people. If those people put in the notice that they have to display that the odometer has been tampered with will that be good enough? If it is good enough why is that not good enough for an importer who brings in a car from Japan and has it taken from him and sold by the Customs Department? 
Simon Power 
: Good question. 
PETER BROWN 
: It is a good question and the Minister should answer it. Why is it not good enough for a person to tamper with the odometer and to put that on the notice that must be displayed? Why is that not good enough? 
This bill is flawed. We have said so. The only thing that the Government has got right about the bill is the title. That is the only correct thing in this bill. The sentiments behind the bill are admirable but the bill itself is flawed and that surprises me. Our colleagues in the National Party have recognised that this bill is not up to standard— 
Simon Power 
: Constructive criticism. 
PETER BROWN 
: And I am really surprised that the National Party is voting for it. 
Simon Power 
: We were surprised that you voted for the title. 
PETER BROWN 
: I will answer that question. We felt a little benevolent. We realised a lot of work had gone into this bill and we did not want the Government to feel totally downhearted at producing legislation like this bill and Supplementary Order Paper 30. We thought that we had to find something positive about the bill and the title was all that we could find. 
I come back to the odometer issue which is quite a serious question. Nothing seems to happen to a person who tampers with an odometer. Mr Duynhoven would like something to happen and I would like something to happen. But I ask Mr Duynhoven to tell us where in the bill it states that something will happen. All that it will do is to make the car look as though it has been used less than it actually has. If the person puts a statement on the notice in the window that the odometer has been tampered with he or she is complying with the regulation and is selling a car that looks newer than it actually is. But the extent of that tampering we do not know and that person does not seem to be breaking the law. 
Steve Chadwick who is on the Commerce Committee is taking a keen interest in this issue. Would she please explain whether such a person is outside the law under this legislation and if he or she is would she tell us which clauses put that person outside the law? 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Read the bill. 
PETER BROWN 
: Clayton Cosgrove is making a lot of noise back there. Maybe he will take a call and tell us exactly where that is in the bill. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Read the bill. 
PETER BROWN 
: I have read the bill inside out and Supplementary Order Paper 30. If Mr Cosgrove knows the answer to that question he should stand up and explain that to this House. I do not think he does know; I am certain he does not know. 
This is a serious question. Could we have people tampering with odometers to make cars look to all intents and purposes as though they have had less use than they actually have putting that on the notice that is displayed and making those cars more attractive to a buyer without disclosing how much the odometers have been wound back? I invite the Minister or indeed anybody else to say whether that is ethical. I invite the Minister or anybody else to say that is against the law.