Auchinvole Chris: KiwiSaver Bill — In Committee 
Auchinvole Chris: KiwiSaver Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:633;Page:4948] 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National) 
: 
 Part 5 of the KiwiSaver Bill “General provisions” which runs from pages 156 to 174 is gripping reading. Like Part 4 it is more of what Labour likes lots of: regulations. Oh the rejoicing in the Labour ranks and hierarchies—more regulations a flagship bill. 
I have read a description from the  
National Business Review 
 that states that the scheme is “a soft version of compulsory individual accounts”. There is a view that the scheme is naught but a precursor to a compulsory savings scheme. Well well well! Compulsion is what this Government moves to if voluntary systems fail to get 100 percent adherence. 
It has always been the same. We have seen it recently with dog microchipping. During that debate it was even suggested that the salmon on salmon farms should be individually microchipped on a compulsory basis. Well that did not work out. We have seen it with farm access. A perfectly satisfactory voluntary system of providing access across private property is operating but is that OK for this Government? No it must be compulsory. The Government seems intent on delving into all aspects of private life and imposing what it thinks is necessary. When will it occur to the Government that all it is doing is hampering what could be achieved if it backed off from trying to run every aspect of life? 
Members should look at the recent economic forecast that came from the West Coast. Members have said I should mention the West Coast so I shall. This region is benefiting from the heavy private investment in farming mining and tourism but has been hobbled by the interference from the Labour-led Government without which the progress would have been so much better. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Will the member answer a question? 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE 
: When I have completed what I want to say the member will probably find that the question has already been answered. The West Coast is being hobbled by the extraordinary delays imposed on businesses by the Resource Management Act which needs changing. It is hobbled by extraordinary time delays in providing consents from the Department of Conservation for access to the Department of Conservation estate for Pike River and Oceania. It is hobbled by extraordinary reluctance to provide a hydroelectric power plant. It is hobbled by dithering indecision in settling the Stockton snail preservation question. It is hobbled in fact by a Labour-led Government that has done little for this fine region other than to provide an element of spin. When will the Government learn that piling regulation upon regulation does not encourage prosperity? 
In terms of the KiwiSaver scheme there is more hobbling. The public did not have a great deal of input into the debate about the sort of retirement savings scheme it wanted. We heard from Mr Woolerton who claims his Presbyterian Scottish origins preclude his being involved in gambling. One could then ask what he is doing as a New Zealand First member. One could remind him off the expression “Many a mickle makes a muckle.” Maybe if the debate had started on the basis of a true reflection of what New Zealanders wanted from such a scheme— 
R Doug Woolerton 
: Say that again. 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE 
: Many a mickle makes a muckle. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: How do you spell it? 
CHRIS AUCHINVOLE 
: With ease with ease. 
Tax deductibility mortgage diversion and other aspects have been wheeled in—perhaps as sweeteners to default providers. What will the costs be to the smaller schemes that will now find it practically compulsory to be KiwiSaver - compliant? Who knows? Does anyone on the other side of the House care or are Labour members simply determined to ram through the legislation for the sake of their own political immortality? The reality is that at the present rate their immortality will be based on missing the point of public perception. Dismissing public perception is being limited to the political belt. Well from what I hear from the public the political belt is what this Labour Government is about to feel a sting from. 
As I journeyed up to Parliament from the West Coast in my little blue truck I was approached by people in the café where I stopped for lunch. A series of people expressed their indignation about the present antics of this Government. At filling stations airports car parks on the plane and in taxis—all the way—there was evidence from people who feel that their Government ignores them and is arrogant. What do they mention? They mention their indignation at the denial of the Government towards a perceived reality of the Taito Phillip Field affair—a denial that is increasingly casting a shadow.