Collins Judith: Appropriation (Parliamentary Expenditure Validation) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Collins Judith: Appropriation (Parliamentary Expenditure Validation) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:634;Page:5827] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 We have just sat through 10 minutes of personal abuse from the Labour Party’s strategist Pete Hodgson. That is the man who went on television and said: “We will not pay it back.” Then he was overruled by Helen Clark who said he should not have said that and was not authorised to say that. I presume the 10 minutes of personal abuse that he threw at this side was authorised. Because in not one word did Pete Hodgson mention the bill we are supposed to be debating tonight. Not for one moment did he seem to think he should address the bill. 
But why would he want to? This bill is such a disgrace—just like that Minister opposite. The reason it is such a disgrace is that 1 year and 1 month after the election was stolen this Parliament is back here tonight under urgency rushing legislation through to make legal what is clearly illegal. Some wonder why people out there say the law is an ass. The reason the law is an ass is that people push through legislation that has no right to be legislation. 
Most people in this country try to be law abiding at least most of the time. Some people who are beneficiaries occasionally rip off the benefits system and we know that. Those people get prosecuted and can end up in jail. For $2000 they will be prosecuted and forever condemned as cheats thieves and dishonest people. But not the Labour Party! No no; it can take taxpayers’ money misuse it hide it know it is wrong be told it is wrong but it gets to pass a law to make it all better. 
Let us look at the example of those beneficiaries whom I sometimes deal with. Through no fault of their own they end up in debt to the Ministry of Social Development—the ministry that deals with beneficiaries. If beneficiaries try to come off the domestic purposes benefit or the unemployment benefit and get into work they can sometimes have their benefit paid for 2 3 or 4 weeks after it is supposed to have stopped. The mistake is made by the ministry but the beneficiary gets a note telling him or her to pay back the money. We are talking about people with very very little money who do not have savings accounts or credit cards they can use. These people have no option yet they get threatening letters from the ministry telling them to pay back the money that the ministry wrongly paid them. Do they get retrospective legislation making everything better? They certainly do not. They in fact get stood over and bullied and harassed by the very people who made the mistake in the first place by keeping on paying them. 
Some of us have dealt with estates and the situation when people have died and the old-age pension is being paid from New Zealand superannuation and is paid for another few weeks or whatever and the estate gets a nasty letter saying the money must be paid back. Someone is grieving for his or her partner and gets a letter saying there has been an overpayment and to pay back so many of the hundreds of dollars. That is the sort of way in which the most vulnerable people are treated. 
Yet the Labour Party the New Zealand First Party and United Future are all giving really not a huge commitment to paying it back. We hear Helen Clark say there is a target. Well we all know about targets under “Helen Clark’s land”. It is a “target” that at some stage they will pay back. Apparently it is within some financial year. Maybe it is this financial year or maybe another. We have heard bleeding heart stories from the back-bencher Dave Hereora that he might have to pay it by means of time payment. Tell that to the beneficiaries who have to pay by time payment. 
What about New Zealand First! It is the most disgraceful element in this matter. No wonder Winston Peters has been quiet throughout this entire debate! Not a peep have we heard from Winston Peters. Why is that? He of course is in a situation where he is in an unholy alliance with the Labour Party all for the baubles of office. That is a man who is the first to go around telling other people how they should live their lives and what they should be paying. We are talking about “Mr Wine Box” of course! Unfortunately it was $160000 was it not that he stole from the taxpayer? The poor old taxpayer! Who paid for those billboards—the “Oh I’ve got something on my shoe!” billboards—that he had up and down the country? The taxpayer paid for them. 
One of the most disgraceful things about this legislation is that as soon as it is passed—and it will be because those people are in this unholy alliance to do exactly that to cheat the people of New Zealand—there will be no legal obligation to pay. It is all right for the Prime Minister to say: “Oh well we’re going to pay in the Labour Party; we’re going to tithe them.” It is so sweet that Labour is going to tithe. Then what will happen in New Zealand First? It has said it will go to court. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: The “Dance of the Seven Lawyers”. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: Yes the “Dance of the Seven Lawyers”. As soon as Winston Peters gets into trouble he says: “We’ll charge off to court.” That is what he will do. But there will not be any point because at the end of the day this bill that I hold in my hand will make it all better anyway. It is like putting a little band-aid on. Winston Peters said: “We will pay what is lawfully owed.” but nothing will be “lawfully” owed. It will all be gratis. So anything he does pay—and it will be nothing—will be a bonus and he will be able to traipse around the three old-folks homes that will have him back and say to them: “I paid back more than I legally had to do.” He will be right because it will all be right. This is a clean slate bill for Winston Peters and Helen Clark. 
In fact in this country most of us as I said most of the time try to respect the law but occasionally people like the Chief Electoral Officer come along and say: “If you keep spending like this you will have broken the law.” That is what happened to my friend Bob Clarkson. He was spoken to and Bob listened to the Chief Electoral Officer who said that if he kept spending like that he would be outside the law. Bob listened because Bob respected the law and respected the Chief Electoral Officer. 
But what happened to the Labour Party? It heard as well but unlike Bob Clarkson it did not stop spending. Members in the Labour Party said: “Let’s not be like Bob Clarkson; let’s keep on spending and rark it up because we’ll get into Government and have our mate Winston in there. It won’t matter we’ll shove through any legislation and do whatever to remain in power.” That is what they did and that is exactly what they are doing now. 
Tell me again why do people think the law is an ass? It is because of this sort of legislation and because of the disrespect that those on the other side of the House have towards the taxpayers of New Zealand. They are so used to being at the receiving end of other people’s money time and time again. They do not care. 
These are the same people of course who with the unions went around the factories and told people lies upon lies took their union fees off them and paid them through to the Labour Party. Those poor people today now have to say that they agree with this nonsense where suddenly the Labour Party New Zealand First and United Future are wiping off their debt all for the baubles of power for their limousines for all the accoutrements they get—the taxpayer benefits. 
This bill will allow that pledge card to be legal—legally paid for by the taxpayer next time. This is in fact a declaration of war on the taxpayer. The poor old taxpayers might as well know that they have never approved State funding for parties they have never voted for it they have never been polled on it. What will they now have? State funding legalised through the back door! It is State funding in drag—State funding by another name. That is what this Parliament is about to go and vote on and it is an utter disgrace. The members over there should be looking glum because when they go back to their electorates they will be told exactly what the people of this country think. They know that this is nothing more than a whitewash. These people are dog-tucker and it is about time they went.