Kaye NikkiHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central): I'm very pleased to be able to talk to this motion. I want to raise a couple of points. The first is: for those members or those people that are sitting in their homes right now it's really important for them to understand what it takes to actually get legislation back through the House. So it's not only the fact that Parliament has to open the submissions process; the submissions then have to be prepared by members of the public. They then have to come back to the committee. We've then got to see a departmental report. Then you've got to see a committee report and then it's got to come back to the House. For members opposite to say that that is reasonable by 20 February on a piece of legislation that involves real estate agents conveyancers lawyers—massive implications in terms of land law—is totally outrageous. I was very pleased to hear the Green Party make it down to the House and I do want to acknowledge Eugenie Sage; you know it's important that you came down. But coming back to the point of issue it does matter that that is a party that we have been lectured by for many years about the need for good process in terms of select committees and to have them come down and argue a day before the Parliament rises that it is reasonable to have a select committee process ending on 20 February is outrageous.If we actually look at the fact that there are statutory holidays what this bill should actually be called is the Cutting of Holidays Bill for Real Estate Agents Conveyancers and Lawyers"—the people who care deeply about these issues. The reality is they will have a mere couple of weeks to get submissions in back to committee on very complex issues. Look we're not the only ones that are saying this. In fact I understand in the regulatory impact statement (RIS) actually these issues were raised and I think one of the greatest issues that was raised in the RIS was that if this legislation is rushed there are serious risks as a result of that. So we're not the only ones in the Opposition raising that.As my colleague the Hon Todd McClay raised we then get to the substantive issue: is there a strong argument by the Government to actually be pushing this through on unreasonable deadlines? And as we've already mentioned—I'm not going to try and say the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (CPTPPA)—the Government members have claimed that this is the actual reason why we are here debating an unreasonable deadline for this legislation. And as my honoured colleague the Hon Todd McClay mentioned there's no date to sign there's no date for the parties to actually meet to discuss some of the issues so it is absolutely again unreasonable to be arguing that the sole reason we are here with this legislation with this unreasonable deadline is because of this issue. The reality is as many of my learned colleagues have already mentioned—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): I apologise for interrupting the member but the time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.Hon NIKKI KAYE: Look as I was saying before the dinner break this is outrageous in terms of process. We have a situation here where this bill is being rammed through by 20 February. Now if we actually look at the time taken to consider this bill and you take into account all of the statutory holidays—from Boxing Day to Christmas Day to New Year's Day to the day after New Year's Day potentially Auckland Anniversary Day to Waitangi Day—we actually have a situation here where with one day left of Parliament we're likely to have submissions called for and effectively a couple of weeks really of time for people to be able to get back their submissions. We're going to have a departmental report a committee report consideration by committee—so several weeks is what this Government thinks is urgent to be able to push and ram through this bill.As we've already heard from many of my colleagues the reason given by the Hon David Parker who I should add made many comments when he was previously in Opposition about points of process and the importance of having a decent select committee process is the CPTPPA. And as we heard from the Hon Todd McClay the reality is this is a sham reason being put forward and we submit on this side of the House that there are very clear reasons why it is a sham. The first reason is there's no actual date to sign the agreement. The second reason is there are actually issues with the agreement and there's not even a date for those parties to meet and resolve the issues.And then the third reason which we put on this side of the House—and the Hon Todd McClay has already touched on it—is that even if the Hon David Parker was some kind of international powerhouse and managed to power through all of these issues in January even if it was signed the reality is often with these types of agreements it takes months sometimes years for countries to ratify. So the real reason that we have a situation where many New Zealanders from real estate agents to lawyers to people who have an interest in land are being required to come back in January cut their holiday short not be at the beach but actually be preparing submissions on this bill is because the other side can't hold it together.We've already seen the waka-jumping legislation. What this bill is about—and many other things we're seeing from this side of the House—is that the other side can't hold the Government together so they need to push things through really quickly and really fast. It's sort of the waka speed legislation. That's what we're dealing with here. They've got to create rules around waka jumping to stop people from jumping out of the waka and now they've got to push some stuff through coming back to this motion and this amendment which is: "Why is this bill being rammed through quickly?" They've got to push it through because they've got the Green Party pulling on one side and then New Zealand First pulling on the other side. It's very clear it's a sham in terms of CPTPPA. We know that and we know that there's no date for it to be signed. We know that there are issues with the agreement and we know that there's not even a date to sign that agreement.So the Government believe that it's OK to leave a couple of weeks in January and we on this side of the House want to remind the members opposite of some of the lectures that they have previously given. I want to do a shout-out to the Parliamentary Library—a happy Christmas to the Parliamentary Library. Thank you for your incredible work in the last 40 minutes to bring to the House some previous statements by members around issues of process. I want to read this statement in terms of issues of process made by an honourable member "This is an appalling piece of legislation … grandiose in intent and flawed in its detail and it really should go in the trash can." That was a statement made by the Hon David Parker on issues of process. So what we know is that they are lions in Opposition but little mice in Government.I can say to the member that there are a range of other statements that I have pulled up with the help of the wonderful team at the Parliamentary Library—I just want to do another shout-out to the Parliamentary Library. Whether it's on the marine coastal bill whether it's on passport laws under urgency again you've got the Hon David Parker previously being a bastion of process and we are here talking about whether it's reasonable to enable this legislation to have to come back to the House by 20 February. On this side of the House we're saying there isn't a decent reason. The reality is this is about political convenience and the fact that the Government has to hold it together and if they do have time then it might be that New Zealand First or the Green Party end up pulling from one thread of the Government and things fall apart.And the reality is that during this period what we know is that there are many statutory holidays. The other point that I would make is that what the member has done in terms of bringing this bill to the House—and it's happening today—means effectively there's 24 hours likely for the select committee to have to convene to have to determine the dates around the submissions to have to say to New Zealanders "You've effectively got only a few weeks in January." So assuming that we get through this debate I'm assuming that the chair of the committee is going to have to go back to their office call this meeting a meeting will have to happen tomorrow—Hon Members: Ha ha!Hon NIKKI KAYE: I know that members opposite are laughing but actually this is really serious. It's not just about members of Parliament; it's about the real estate agents the conveyancers the lawyers in New Zealand the people that are impacted by this and we haven't been given a decent reason. We've been given a sham reason and members on this side of the House contend that it is also totally at odds with lectures that we've had from members like the Hon David Parker who have opposed measures like this in the past."