Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Look I'd like to speak in support of this excellent motion from my colleague Amy Adams which is very much focused on the simple question of allowing this Parliament to have more time to consider the proposed extension by this Government of the brightline test from two to five years. One of the advantages we have as a small developed nation is that because of our compact nature and the closeness of our democracy we have the opportunity to actually engage effectively with the industries which we regulate through Parliament.Over the years New Zealand has developed one of the world's most highly respected tax development processes whereby Governments come up with proposals the industry—the tax industry—engages in a detailed way and the officials and the Government actually listen to what the experts have to say on the potential consequences of the tax changes. Now in many big countries and huge economies around the rest of the world it's very difficult to achieve this given the immense scale of those countries and the widespread nature whereas New Zealand—it is one of the few real advantages we have as a small compact society where we can actually engage sufficiently.So that's the normal process and so when tax changes come up—and anybody who has tried to engage with tax legislation knows how complex it is and how easy it is to have unintended consequences as a result of tax changes. That is the process that's developed and what we find such an affront in this instance is a significant tax change is being made through the back door and slipped into a bill that was halfway through the parliamentary process already has been through the select committee process. So this significant change will not—there will not be the opportunity for either Parliament or the general public and indeed those tax experts and those who have full understanding and engagement of the industries that we're dealing with here to have their say. That inevitably will lead to a poorer outcome and significantly increases the risk of mistakes being made.I'm not going to get into the policy details of the changes but going from two to five years is not a simple mathematical change; it is a significant move. A lot can happen in five years and that will have—Hon Stuart Nash: Three years.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Yes in two years you have a constrained period of time where speculation can be shown. When you're looking at five years all sorts of events in life can intervene and so there is a real prospect that much more than what was originally intended could be captured by this change. So it behoves us as a Parliament to take the time to consider those potential consequences particularly given the intensity of the issue in terms of housing affordability particularly in our big cities in Auckland. We want to ensure that we have continued investment in the housing stock and we need to be very careful that any changes that we make in the tax situation don't make that problem worse.That is why I firmly believe that if this Government was sensible and listened to the broader sector who are concerned about this they will take that extra month and give the opportunity for the Finance and Expenditure Committee to get some advice from officials. Most of the advice that we have in the regulatory impact statements from officials at the moment say Basically there wasn't time to investigate and we don't really know—there was only one option and we don't really have a clear understanding of the potential costs of this." because they haven't had a chance to deal with it properly. That is not satisfactory and there is no reason why we should be exposing ourselves as a country to this risk when if we took the time gave the opportunity for officials to brief the select committee and gave the opportunity for the industries directly affected by this legislative change to have a say and point out to the Government what some of those consequences would be I think we'd end up with a better result. So I support this motion."