Jones Dail: Appropriation (2008/09 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Jones Dail: Appropriation (2008/09 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:649;Page:17792] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 Earlier today there was a great deal of mention of what happened in 1984 under the Muldoon Government. When I was listening to the previous speaker the Hon Bill English he reminded me so much of Roger Douglas—in the sense that Roger Douglas would speak for 20 minutes and one never understood a word he said. That really goes for Mr English who tends to confuse everything so dramatically that one is left totally floundering afterwards. There is one similarity perhaps as Mr English has already indicated: we all remember that Roger Douglas said before the 1984 election that he would not devalue and straight afterwards he did. It seems to me that there are many things that National Party members are saying they will not do but it is very clear that they will do. The main point of course is that they are now admitting before the election that they will break their promises even before the election has been held. 
However as far as New Zealand First is concerned I could refer to the many things that New Zealand First has done. I could refer to the tremendous amount of infrastructure especially in roading that has been brought about as a result of New Zealand First’s intervention—especially for example in John Key’s own electorate of Helensville. As a person who used to live in Helensville and who uses the Upper Harbour Highway I am very pleased that so much money has been spent to build a second Upper Harbour Bridge. 
I could talk about the increase in police numbers. I was very pleased to read today that Mr Broad the Commissioner of Police has stated that in so far as support for key operational parts of the police service are concerned it has reflected the growth in staff numbers rising “from 9874 three years ago to a projected 11800 by the end of the current financial year.” That is an increase of almost 2000 in police numbers. So if anyone says there will be a further increase of 1000 then that appears to have already been done although that figure is obviously for police and support staff. Thanks to New Zealand First’s intervention in working with the Labour Government police numbers have risen dramatically. 
I could talk about New Zealand First’s support for KiwiSaver Kiwibank and suchlike which we will want to keep and see expanded. There has been an increase in New Zealand superannuation to 66.2 percent of the net annual wage for married couples. I could also talk about what we want to see in the future by way of an increase in New Zealand superannuation to 68 percent. We want to see a decline in GST and in tax rates. 
However what I really want to talk about today might be a terribly boring subject for all of us in the House as we continue along with our comfortable salaries and comfortable way of life but tens of thousands of New Zealanders are in dire straits today because of the problem arising in the finance sector which this Parliament has failed to address. I am not aware of any other party that has been willing to discuss this issue but thousands of New Zealanders out there are in trouble—superannuitants students families— 
John Hayes 
: Give them a donation from your trust fund. 
DAIL JONES 
:—and all the National Party can say is “Give the superannuitants and the students who have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars a donation.” That is from the National Party. Mr Hayes from Masterton said: “Give them a donation.” He said that we should give all those people who have lost their money a donation. That is a cynical National Party interjection. 
I tell Mr Hayes from Masterton that these people cannot pay their medical bills they are struggling with their rent they cannot pay for groceries they are struggling to clothe their children and they are struggling to clothe themselves. Often they get no interest from finance companies to make a contribution to their grandchildren’s upbringing. They are having to pay for leaky homes with money that they thought they had put safely in a finance company and they are not getting that money back. Many of them are struggling to survive and the National Party says: “Give them a donation.” Gosh even Marie Antoinette would have been embarrassed with that type of statement. 
These finance companies and mortgage funds are getting away with daylight robbery in my view and all that Mr Hayes and the National Party can say is: “Give the people a donation.” What absolute rubbish! How uncaring can the National Party be? How can we describe the actions of people who are holding on to people’s funds as anything other than daylight robbery? 
The  
National Business Review 
 as far as I can see is the only magazine that has tried to look into this issue to any great extent. It stated quite clearly in the recent issue: “Panic is destroying the country’s financial structure. At last count 27 finance companies have ceased to function. The destruction of wealth is high—some $4.5 billion”—I say to Mr Hayes—“has been lost or frozen.” 
What are we doing about it in this Parliament? I have sat here from the beginning of this debate today and I have heard a couple of speeches that were confused totally by Mr English and Dr Cullen has quite clearly set out the Government’s position in so far as recent events are concerned. But I would ask members to think in this debate about those people out there including students and people across all age groups who thought they had a good nest egg but who cannot get their hands on their money. What will we do? 
New Zealand First has suggested—and the Rt Hon Winston Peters suggested this at the New Zealand First conference—that we should be setting up some sort of a Government fund. The  
National Business Review 
 makes the point that it is a question of liquidity. The country has been very liquid with all of the money that has been floating around. I say at the outset too that I congratulate the major trading banks on the way that they have been dealing with the situation. They are clearly sound. Of course all those people who put their money into these borderline activities must realise that they have to take some responsibility for trying to get just an extra 2 percent. But it is still a problem that this country this Government and this House must consider. After all we are talking about $4.5 billion. It is no wonder that the  
National Business Review 
 says it is a liquidity problem. It is no wonder that we are heading into recession. It is all very well for the National Party to say that we are heading into a recession but what will we in this Parliament do about it? 
A total sum of $4.5 billion is tied up. Probably $1.5 billion has been lost but $3 billion is tied up. Who are the people who have tied up this money? We know that some people have borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars from these companies and that millions of dollars even tens of millions of dollars have been taken by some of the directors and shareholders of these companies. So what is being done about it? What is being done visibly about it? 
I suspect that something might be done about it behind the scenes in terms of various legislation but this House should be doing more about it. We should be talking more about it and offering solutions. The obvious solution would be to set up a select committee urgently next week to consider what should be done to save people who are struggling to survive and to pay for their medical bills their children’s modest schooling charges and suchlike. But it seems that no other party in this House except New Zealand First is interested in this issue. It is a vital issue. 
As a student in the 1960s I saw crises when our company law was changed because of Australian problems. As a lawyer I saw problems in the 1970s and in the late 1980s. Fortunately the 1990s were not too bad but now we have probably one of the worst crises in the financial sector ever known to New Zealand. I ask what this Parliament is doing about it. [ 
Interruption 
] I am sure that Mr Hayes will get the chance to repeat to everyone that these people who are struggling should get a donation. We should be doing more about it instead of making some of the comments that have been made in the House tonight and the Rt Hon Winston Peters has already made a suggestion. 
Well I say to those companies that stand up blandly now and say—it seems to be an excuse today—that their company is in trouble that their fund is in trouble and that they will have a moratorium and all we seem to do is to stand around and clap that is pretty useless. Are those people business people? They all get well paid and they are using the money of poor struggling New Zealanders. Some of them are very well off and might have a lot of money but the country deserves better than that from these businessmen. 
Those businessmen should front up and at least pay the interest that is due to people from the mortgage funds—and we are talking about the second sector; not the finance sector but the mortgage fund sector—so that they can pay their medical bills and suchlike. If those business people will not do that then we have a responsibility in this Parliament to do something about it. Otherwise we are shirking our responsibility and New Zealand First says that something needs to be done. We should at least set up a select committee to look at the issue and try to come up with a solution. 
Of course people have to realise that if they go for extra percentages then they will always have a problem. In the old days we used to have solicitors’ mortgage funds and suchlike which never really failed unless a solicitor did a bunk with some money in which case all of us had to shell in and people were protected. That sort of protection does not exist today and we may have to see the establishment of a special fund where a certain amount of the money deposited in these accounts is put aside to at least cover interest for a certain amount of time. New Zealand First says to the members of the House: let us face up to this issue and let us do something about it.