McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): In the short time that the House heard that last speaker in the debate—Naisi Chen—they would be so very disappointed. It was all of 30 seconds on a bill that the Government has said is important and that they want to rush through but it actually isn't. The National Party will be opposing this not because we don't believe the intention is correct—in fact if you look at the work that we did when we were in Government there was a huge amount here—but it's because it actually won't achieve anything at all and as with many things that this Government does it's big on announcements and very very light on actual achievement. I say to the members opposite that instead of taking 30 seconds on their call when they have all that time left available to them why don't they get into the detail of what the bill actually won't be doing when they've said that they want to achieve so very very much? Actually much of what this bill is trying to do is already covered in law. There are some real challenges when it comes to trading and what can and can't be done but actually this doesn't do this. You see one of the provisions of the legislation says that if you don't want somebody to come to sell something to you then you have the ability to tell them not to come to your property. Actually you already have that under the law so I don't know how it is that somebody is safer when it comes to any unfair trade practice as a result of this. Anybody at home that has fallen foul when it comes to this type of selling actually gets no greater protection from this legislation on the day after it has passed and enters into law than on the day before because vulnerable consumers are already covered by it. When we were on the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee we had submissions on this from many different organisations and individuals who said that there is an issue here that needs to be dealt with. Many of them recognised the work that was done under the National Government when we made reforms and we focused on these issues and they said that those had helped and in some cases had helped significantly. But the feeling that was left in the committee at least to those of us on the Opposition side was one of disappointment because the legislation was not achieving the things that the Government said it will and at the same time it doesn't achieve the things that those submitters said. Consumer New Zealand said that they supported it but recommended tighter drafting. Well Consumer New Zealand would have to say that because actually if there was anything that would protect the consumer they'd be in favour of it. But when they say that they want tighter drafting so that the provisions of the bill on entering into law will mean that the people the Government say they want to help actually will get that protection and when the Government doesn't do that in effect what that means is it is a missed opportunity. We've heard a lot over the last four years of this Government about intention and there would be nobody in the country that would say that they are not well-meaning in their intention. But this bill is a little bit like KiwiBuild. It's really really hard for a hard-working Kiwi family to live in a KiwiBuild house that the Government has announced with a press release that will never be built. A vulnerable consumer that needs protection actually won't be protected just because a Government says they've done so when a Government doesn't do its work properly and this piece of legislation doesn't do the Government's job properly. We spent a lot of time in committee trying to convince Government members to make the changes that were needed. We were willing participants. Even though we voted against it we said that we'd like to fix it and we'd like to make it better. We actually want businesses to thrive and strive in New Zealand and we want consumers to be protected and I've got to say that although our meetings are closed to the public when we negotiate these things I sense that those members of our committee who are in the Government—the Labour Party MPs—wanted to make the changes that consumers had asked them to make but they were not able to because of some disconnect. I don't know on what floor of the Beehive the Minister sits but it feels a long way away from the consumers that were so concerned that they wouldn't get the protection that they deserved from this legislation. I've got to say that I feel for those Government members of the committee wanting to make change and not being able to. I remember when we were in Government and I was on a committee and Ministers wouldn't listen and then I remember when I became a Minister and I was not able to listen always but the point was that the door was always open. What we always tried to do was make sure that our legislation achieved the lofty goals that the Prime Minister's press release would promise New Zealanders and that's why I feel for these Government members of our committee. They are genuine people good people and hard-working and today they are letting their constituents who are consumers down. I think there are other speakers in the debate after me. I would love a Government member to explain to us exactly why they think that consumers are better off. Not what the notes say not what they've been given by their research unit—not the things that they read out all of the time. I think that the consumer sitting at home at the moment—Kieran McAnulty: He's reading his notes now. Hon TODD McCLAY: —no there's really nothing on this page; believe me—that hopes that with the Government putting this legislation through they will be safer tomorrow than they are today they deserve a member from the Government to take more than 30 seconds to talk about what it is that they think this bill will do so that they can be held to account in the future when we look back and say Look in this debate actually they promised large but delivered so very very small." I will say it again: when in Government we're very proud of the changes we made to support consumers to make sure that they got the things that they needed but this Fair Trading Amendment Bill brought forward by this Government doesn't achieve those sorts of things. It is quite quite disappointing and members opposite should hang their heads in shame."