Beaumont Carol: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Beaumont Carol: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13626] 
CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour) 
: 
 It is a great pleasure to stand again and speak on the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill. I have thought about whether the title is a good title and I think it is a reasonably accurate reflection of what the bill contains. It is clearly a bill that is designed to amend the existing Motor Vehicle Sales Act and generally speaking the amendments although positive are not life-shattering or anything like that. They are all relatively small amendments so I do not think the bill warrants a grander title than the one it has—the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill. 
As I said the changes are positive and they follow what has been a reasonable process. The changes are primarily around the renewal of annual registration for motor vehicle traders. There is a very good amendment that closes a loophole that prevented the automatic banning of traders whose registration has lapsed. That is positive. It is not huge in the grand scheme of life but it is a very positive change. There is the requirement in terms of the consumer information notice which we have discussed and which my colleague Mr Hipkins outlined so well. 
The legislation removes car market operators from the definition of motor vehicle trader. There is the removal of the requirement to display the consumer information notice for transactions between traders or between traders and wreckers and of course the bill increases the jurisdiction of the Motor Vehicles Disputes Tribunal and there is the ability for the tribunal to publicise its decisions. So there are a number of good solid amendments to the Act; probably the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill as a title reflects pretty accurately what it is. 
There was a process around that bill which my colleague the Hon Lianne Dalziel outlined. Of course the Motor Vehicle Sales Act was good legislation brought in by the previous Labour Government. It put in place things like the disputes tribunal and it required good solid consumer information and registration of motor vehicle traders. It was good legislation with pretty chunky requirements. As others have said motor vehicles are very important in New Zealand life and for many the most significant purchase they are likely to make. 
In the legislative process there was an automatic requirement of a 2-year review there was a discussion process and 12 areas were identified and they carried through into this bill mainly. As my colleague the Hon Lianne Dalziel said the bill was considered by the Commerce Committee—a committee that she does an extremely good job of chairing; we are all very proud of the Hon Lianne Dalziel and the work that she does. She is extremely well qualified for that role with a very incisive mind and a good ability I think to deal with the issues. 
The process is reflective of what the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill is called. I thought about whether we could call it something else that would be better than that. Although it is a very accurate reflection of both the process and what is contained in it and its relative importance it occurred to me that we could call this bill the “Not the Most Important Issue Facing the Country Today Bill”. I think that is a very important point. As we are debating this bill under urgency—a nice solid bill as we have all identified—out there people are struggling. They are struggling to make ends meet. Unemployment is at a very high level. There is no approach to bring greater jobs or skills into our economy. So calling the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill the “Not the Most Important Issue Facing the Country Today Bill” would have been more accurate and reflective of what is going on in the wider community. As I say people are struggling to make ends meet. 
To link that issue to the motor vehicle area I noticed when my colleague Chris Hipkins a very fine member of Parliament gave his first reading speech he talked about the implications of the recession on the motor vehicle industry and the job losses in that particular industry. He noted that a survey carried out by the Motor Trade Association in January showed that over 200 people in the motor vehicle industry had lost their jobs.