Street Maryan: Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeStreet Maryan: Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 18 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16052. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour): I rise yet again to speak to the Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill. It has been such a long time between speeches that I have had to haul out myHansards to know what I have said before so that I do not repeat myself. But following on from my colleague the Hon Phil Goff it really is very testing for those of us on this side of the Chamber who support the bill and who have wanted it to go through in a timely way to now find ourselves again at the fag end as T. S. Eliot would say of the evening trying to get this thing through.We are dealing with Part 2 “Miscellaneous matters”. I would like to raise a couple of miscellaneous matters of my own. We dealt with just a few moments ago the Minister of Commerce’s Supplementary Order Paper 409 which amends a number of the existing clauses. I would just like to draw to the Committee’s attention that those of us who never throw anything away can also lay our hands on a Supplementary Order Paper in the name of the Hon John Banks that was dated Thursday 29 March 2012—Thursday 29 March 2012—Supplementary Order Paper 17. It is No. 17 so that is the 17th Supplementary Order Paper in the term of the Parliament post the 2011 election. We dealt with the one I have in front of me currently the Supplementary Order Paper inthe name of the Minister sitting in the chair at the moment the Minister of Commerce which is dated Wednesday 29 January 2014. Its number is No. 409. So somewhere between No. 17 put up by John Banks and No. 409 put up by the Hon Craig Foss the original Minister in charge of the bill forgot to promote this piece of legislation.At the end of the bill as it is before us—Part 2 is barely 2 pages long—right at the end there is a little codicil about the legislative history of the bill. As the Hon Phil Goff said a moment ago this bill was ready to go on 9 September 2008. It was introduced to the House on 9 September 2008. A month or two after that there was a general election which saw the National Party assume the Treasury benches. The point of assuming the Treasury benches—one of the points—is to pick up the legislation that has been left over previously particularly if it is legislation on which there is no disagreement or for which there is at least majority support in the House between Labour and National and to just pump it through. There is no reason why we should be debating Part 2 “Miscellaneous matters” on 18 February 2014. John Banks as I said did have some amendments put up on 29 March 2012 but even then one has to ask oneself why it took from 9 September 2008 to 29 March 2012 for the Minister to realise that there might be some finessing of the bill that needed to happen by way of a Supplementary Order Paper.The other point that is made in the legislative history codicil on page 23 the last page of this bill under Part 2 is that the first reading and the referral of this bill to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee happened on 11 March 2009. So the first reading got off the mark fairly promptly given that there was an election in between and the referral to the select committee got off to a reasonable rip and a tear but thereafter the bill began to disappear into the recesses of John Banks’ mind which is a place I would not wish to go to very often for fear of being forgotten and never being able to find my way out.The “Miscellaneous matters” at the end simply refer to the abolition of the temporary safeguard authority and that there is no compensation for those people that there are transitional provisions that there are consequential amendments to the Customs and Excise Act and that there are consequential amendments to the Official Information Act and the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act. These things are miscellaneous provisions. They are the tidy-up bits that happen in a piece of legislation that is impacted by and in turn impacts on other pieces of legislation. So these are the things that are the mop-up.But I could not let this moment go without referring to the last bit on the last page of the bill which itemises for everybody to see the fact that this Government has dragged its heels since 11 March 2009 when the bill was introduced since 29 March 2012—so 3 years later John Banks decided to put up some amendments by way of Supplementary Order Paper 17—and then we have gone on after that to 29 January 2014 when the current Minister in charge put up additional amendments in Supplementary Order Paper 409. So that would lead me to believe that even the amendments put up by John Banks in 2012—so 2 years ago—were not sufficient and needed tidying up by the Minister. That goes to the competence of the member who was in charge of this bill. It goes to whether or not he is able to remember anything. I am not even going to bother talking about the unmistakable German entrepreneur or the lavish place he lives in or even the helicopter ride.The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): No that is irrelevant.Hon MARYAN STREET: But it does make one wonder what it was that caused the member to lose 2 years in the process. I do not know what he did with those 2 years.In the meantime New Zealand has languished behind the World Trade Organization (WTO) requirements. It has languished behind in terms of having the necessarysafeguards and a modern kind of approach to our trade measures and our trade agreements so that they are in fact consistent with WTO practice as that has moved and changed. So in the 5 years that this Government has had to deal with this piece of legislation the world has moved on. One might apply that particular observation to a number of things that this Government does but I know that the Chairman will bring me to order because I am meant to be talking about Part 2 of this bill.The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): That is right—Part 2.Hon MARYAN STREET: So can I just say that the tardiness of this Government in its approach to this bill has probably left us still behind the requirements of the WTO in terms of the streamlining of the congruence between our legislation and WTO measures. I presume that the Hon Craig Foss has made sure that the amendments that we have just passed which the Minister introduced on 29 January this year—at least it was this year so one must be grateful for small mercies—do in fact cause us to align adequately with WTO conventions and practice.This has been a chapter of errors. This should have been simple. It should have been swift. It should have been a no-brainer. This Government has dragged it out for 5 years—5 long years—for no good purpose. Thank you.