Peachey Allan: Appropriation (Continuation of Interim Meaning of Funding for Parliamentary Purposes) Bill — In Committee 
Peachey Allan: Appropriation (Continuation of Interim Meaning of Funding for Parliamentary Purposes) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:643;Page:13122] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 I appreciate the opportunity to speak on the commencement date of the Appropriation (Continuation of Interim Meaning of Funding for Parliamentary Purposes) Bill which is 1 January 2008. Let the Government on the other side of the Chamber understand one thing about that date and about this commencement clause: the people of New Zealand will respect the effort being put up by this side of the Chamber to expose that date and this legislation for exactly what it is. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: What is it? 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: It is a disgrace. It is a further insidious socialist attack on the way of democracy of this country. That is what it is. The commencement date in this bill is necessary only because that Government over there—that party over there—acted against the rules that existed at the time. The Labour members will not accept that. They will not front up to that. They would rather play around with our system of democracy. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: In denial. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: They are in total denial. 
On the commencement date of this bill New Zealand will not be the New Zealand of the strong bipartisan sense of democratic tradition that has served this country so well for so long. On that day—the first day of the new year and the commencement date of this bill—newspapers around the country will be able to repeat the headline of this Monday’s  
New Zealand Herald 
: “Democracy under threat” because that is what the commencement date of this legislation will mean to New Zealanders. 
New Zealanders are following this debate very very closely. They understand that 1 January 2008 is actually not very far away and they ask: “Why the rush?”. Why is the Parliament of New Zealand with all the issues that New Zealand is facing spending tonight debating the commencement date of this legislation which is necessary only because the Government broke the rules? That is why this commencement date is necessary and I suggest that New Zealand First members really think very very carefully about their position. 
The speech on the commencement date made by Peter Brown was not a good speech. Goodness knows what he was on about. He had better go away over Christmas and think about 1 January the commencement date and think about what ordinary New Zealanders are saying about this bill. He should have no doubt at all that ordinary New Zealanders will make their view very very clear. Throughout New Zealand there is a very strong sense of unease at the action that this Government and its coalition supporters are taking. 
On 1 January 2008 the commencement date of this bill New Zealanders will realise just what sort of Government they have. New Zealanders will think about the things that have been said in this Chamber during the debate on the commencement date and they will reflect on the comments of the Hon Tony Ryall the Hon Bill English my fine colleague Kate Wilkinson Chris Auchinvole and Christopher Finlayson. They will reflect and they will be grateful and respectful because at least there was one party in this House that stood up in the defence of New Zealand’s democratic way of life. 
We the members of this House are elected to represent the people in our constituencies and in the country. They expect this party on this side of the House to speak out against this legislation against the commencement date in it and against the fact that if it is passed on 1 January 2008—it is not long away—democracy will not be the same.