Tremain Chris: Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tremain Chris: Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 23 September 2008. Volume:650;Page:19045. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier) 
: 
 I rise to continue where I left off previously which is on clause 6 “Application of Act”. I made the point when debating the Financial Advisers Bill about non-profit organisations and their exclusion now from the Act. New Zealanders will be interested to know that initially non-profit organisations’ budget services were part of a dragnet inclusion in the Financial Advisers Bill and there was a debate about whether they would be included in this Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Bill as well. Now we have reached the point where we have excluded them specifically which is good.  
That is a point that New Zealanders need to be careful of and it comes very much to the fore in terms of where National is at with its wider economic policy. Our five principal policies cover ongoing reduction in personal taxation a real focus on education looking at the line-by-line item of Government expenditure making sure there is value for money in everything that is delivered through the Government and investment in infrastructure to try to promote growth in our economy so that we can actually deliver additional services to the people of New Zealand on an ongoing basis. But a real driver for us is that fifth point around that sort of creeping bureaucracy that we see and that we so often are questioned about by people in New Zealand who say we talk about bureaucracy and its impact on New Zealanders but ask what we are actually talking about. What we are talking about is reflected in new paragraph (cd) of clause 6(2) which excludes from the Act non-profit organisations that provide free financial services. Initially they were included in the Financial Advisers Bill and were potentially part of this financial service providers bill. That meant that voluntary organisations providing free financial services around the country were going to be potentially included and would certainly be included in the Financial Advisers Bill with the raft of additional regulation that was going to be wrapped around them. That meant their members would have to become accredited registered and have ongoing professional development. There were all sorts of varying costs around doing that.  
We are not talking about people who are advising mums and dads who have earned $300000 and are looking to invest their life-savings for their retirement. We are talking about volunteers in our communities who are looking after those who have fallen on tough times and who maybe are on a benefit and have only a couple of hundred dollars a week to go on. Some of those people whom Mr Harawira was talking about earlier struggle with their budgets big time. They need some help. They need to know that $50 is going on clothing that $120 is going towards their rent or whatever and they need budget advice. The problem with this creeping regulation in clause 6(2)(cd) is that it has the potential to exclude many of those people and for them to walk away from providing those voluntary services. Quite frankly that is just crazy. We need those people in our community.  
Those members of the community who put their hand up day after day and who put in their own time do not expect one cent from the help they give. Sure they might not be qualified accountants they might not be qualified budget advisers but by heck do they deliver a service to our community! Every day they go out there; they have people come to them and those people value the service they receive. We cannot afford to let the legislation that we draft down here in Wellington bog down and capture these people in a dragnet wrap bureaucracy around them and wrap compliance costs around them to keep them out. It is very good that we have reached this point now. So non-profit organisations will be exempt from this legislation; they will not be wrapped up in it and that is good.  
I move on to Part 2 in terms of registration and the purpose of Part 2. It is to “establish a compulsory public register of financial service providers …”. A compulsory register will be developed. It will be an online register which is documented in Subpart 4 where it talks specifically about the register of service providers. Clauses 23 and 24 in particular deal with that. It will be an online service similar to the service run by the Companies Office and it will be run by the Ministry of Economic Development I understand. I am hoping that this service will be as straightforward as the online service provided for the registration of companies around the country. That service is world leading; I stand here and acknowledge that. The Companies Office online service for the provision of registration for companies is world leading and acknowledged as such. One can log on to that service very easily one can register one’s company directors and start-up capital and one can very quickly walk away with a company. It looks as though the Inland Revenue Department will now provide the department’s tax numbers together with that information as well.  
I just hope that the service for the online registration of financial service providers in this bill will be as efficient as the service provided by the Inland Revenue Department and that it can facilitate the easy provision of registration to make sure that we capture the necessary information.  
That is all I would say at this point in time Mr Chairman; thank you very much for this opportunity. 
The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 254 in the name of the Hon Lianne Dalziel and the following amendment in her name to clause 66 be agreed to: 
to omit from subclause (4) “subsection (3)(c)” and substitute “subsection (3A)(c)”. 
Amendments agreed to. 
Clauses 1 to 75 and schedules 1 and 2 as amended agreed to. 
Bill reported with amendment. 
Report adopted.