Coddington Deborah: Border Security Bill — In Committee 
Coddington Deborah: Border Security Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:618;Page:13744] 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON (ACT) 
: 
 It is interesting to hear Peter Brown say that New Zealand First will not vote for something that in principle is totally wrong because that does not reflect that party’s track record to date. Like the National Party ACT agrees that there is an increased need for border security but this Government has inserted in this legislation—as it does increasingly with legislation that comes before this House—a new provision that is just another way for it to raise taxes from people. 
The bad principle in this legislation that Peter Brown talks about—and he is absolutely right—is that it gives private industry the role of protecting citizens. That is the State’s role. It is the core function of Government to protect its citizens from harm—from each other or from people in other countries. That is one of the reasons why this legislation needs to be supported. We need to protect people in this country whether it be from terrorism from outside from war from attack or from other threats like larvae that could cause diseases or plant materials that could affect everybody’s quality of life if they got out of control. Gorse is a classic example of one such plant that we have now. And that is why Governments collect taxes. They collect taxes from people so that people can be protected. 
But what this Government is doing with this legislation with clauses like new clause 7B which inserts new section 34A “Fees and charges relating to granting certificate of clearance” is just introduce another way to raise taxes. The initial figure that Treasury came up with was $19.7 million and the Government was told that it was an arbitrary figure. It was just plucked out of nowhere. Now it has come down to $16 million but increasingly this Government is making private industry in this country pay twice for something. In this case it is paying for a public good. Border security is a public good and it should be funded out of the consolidated account. 
This Government would get nowhere if it introduced a bill that levied private citizens every time they called the police to their properties to protect them from people who were stealing their goods or about to harm them. No Government would get anywhere trying to pass legislation like that or to insert clauses into bills that forced that sort of tax on to people because protection is the role of the State. The ACT party does not oppose user-pays where it is a private good. But as I said protection is a public good and the Government is totally abandoning the true functions of the State in passing this legislation with clause 7B which enables the Governor-General to make regulations setting fees and charges. 
What will we see done with that money when it is collected? What we will see done with it is exactly what we have just finished debating. We will see that money being used to bribe voters for future elections. That is what it will be used for. 
It is not prudent fiscal policy that has given this Government a $7 billion surplus; it is the overtaxing of the people of this country. We have seen so many new taxes come in. We will see more new taxes and levies come in very soon that will sock another area of private industry in this country—the private tertiary institutions that educate international students. Again we will see the majority taxed to protect the few. This is what we are increasingly seeing. We saw a tax come in with the motor vehicle dealers’ bill. What did one of my colleagues from National say before? Fifty-nine new taxes have come in. 
Shane Ardern 
: 23. 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: It is 23. I should not say that too loudly; it will be 59 by lunchtime! There have been 23 new taxes just since the last election. That is a disgraceful record. It is such a pity that the Government could not resist bringing that clause into this bill to gather up more taxes. If it had not done that the bill would have received the wholehearted support of all members.