Seymour DavidDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): I rise on behalf of ACT on this happy occasion to say that we too support the Foreign Affairs (Consular Loans) Amendment Bill.I wanted to take the opportunity to recount actually seeking help from our embassy in Washington DC. One day I actually needed to get something signed by a New Zealander and being in Washington not knowing any other New Zealanders having just arrived I went to the embassy. It was a very interesting experience because first of all there were all these Kiwis who only talked to each other. I actually had forgotten how bad we sound having been in the States for a while. So we heard all of these flat vowels.They also had a fountain and lots of ferns so it was almost like entering the New Zealand bush—this wee oasis in the middle of a city of madness: Washington DC. I needed to get something signed and they did it. This woman who worked at the embassy said that she was certain that she was supposed to charge me a fee for the service but she couldn't find the piece of paper that said how much the fee was—so she said she'd just do it as a freebie.I think that's probably a good summary of how New Zealand consular staff and embassies around the world have sought to help Kiwis far from home for a long time and we should be very grateful for the work that our diplomatic corps do—with the possible exception of the recent arrival in Dublin. However for the most part they've done a wonderful job and made New Zealanders proud and welcome around the world.But of course while it's nice to be friendly as Stuart Nash has recently discovered it's also very important to follow the rules—even when you're trying to help people. That's something that this bill helps to put back in place in the sense of consular loans. If an embassy overseas is to give some money to a stranded Kiwi the thing is that money spent from the taxpayer can only be spent if there's a proper appropriation made by this Parliament. It's an old principle: no taxation without representation.So it's important that if that money is going to be taken from taxpayers and applied to a purpose then there's actually a proper procedure under the Public Finance Act to allow that to be done. I've got to commend the Government for making sure that these few hundreds or thousands—maybe a few tens of thousands—of dollars of small and formal consular loans are done by the book.But what about the $55 billion allocated to COVID? As I read in the Herald earlier this week the Treasury can now say that of the estimated $55 billion allocated to COVIDspecific appropriations $36 billion had been spent. They actually don't know what a large portion of that $55 billion was spent on. In fact this Government has a terrible history of taking money that Parliament appropriates for one purpose and then spending it on something completely different.A good example would be the $30 million that was used to buy the land at Ihumātao. Totally outside appropriation as the Auditor-General found. So while it's extremely important—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The member is speaking totally outside of this particular bill. So if you can come back to this please.DAVID SEYMOUR: Well Madam Speaker it's a theme isn't it? While it's very important that we are for a few tens of thousands of dollars doing the right thing what would be good to see is if this Government—from Labour—could actually come to the House and start being a bit more fastidious about the way that they spend taxpayers' money more generally.But that doesn't take anything away from this particular bill which is a very good start. And long may no taxation without representation" be honoured by Governments of New Zealand—starting with this one who have a bit of retrospective work to do. Thank you Madam Speaker.Motion agreed to.Bill read a second time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The Foreign Affairs (Consular Loans) Amendment Bill is set down for committee stage immediately. I declare the House in committee for consideration of the Foreign Affairs (Consular Loans) Amendment Bill."