Copeland Gordon: Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Copeland Gordon: Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:632;Page:4230] 
GORDON COPELAND (United Future) 
: 
 I rise to take a call on behalf of United Future on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill which is an omnibus bill. 
Tariana Turia 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I just want to point out to you that I rose to speak in place of the Greens whose members have not yet spoken. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I thank the member but I am aware of that. 
GORDON COPELAND 
: The bill seeks to amend the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 and the Racing Act 2003. I will confine my remarks simply to the part of the bill that refers to the Reserve Bank. I begin by saying that United Future as a party is open to the possibility of a currency union with Australia. I was part of a Finance and Expenditure Committee delegation that went to Canberra in 2004. In our discussions with our opposite numbers in the Australian Federal Parliament we talked quite freely and openly about the different ways in which a currency union between our two nations could be advanced. 
We said that the real political problem we have with the idea of a currency union is the thought of New Zealanders using Australian currency—of our having kangaroos emus and the like on our notes in New Zealand instead of tuatara and kiwi. The response was that we did not have to take that route. It is possible to have a currency union whereby we preserve a distinctive currency for New Zealand—namely New Zealand dollar notes and coins as we now have them—and Australia also retains its series of notes and coins as it now has them but notwithstanding that we would have a currency union. 
We came back from the visit to Canberra and the next time the Governor of the Reserve Bank came to see us I asked him whether such a thing would be feasible. He said straightaway that it is perfectly feasible. He pointed out for example that England has different banknotes from Scotland yet they are part of one single currency union. 
I felt that that was quite an important piece of the jigsaw. I agree with New Zealanders that because I am a proud kiwi I do not want to go around with a whole wallet full of Australian banknotes but I do think we should continue to look positively at what might be the advantages to New Zealand of having a currency union that is based on our retaining our currency and the Australians retaining theirs. 
That may have implications for many many aspects of for example monetary policy. We should carefully work through the pros and cons of that against the criteria of what is in the best interests of New Zealand. If there is conclusive proof that such a currency union including the possibility of having a joint monetary policy would benefit the New Zealand economy then I believe we should be open to it. We should look at it objectively and not run away straightaway and say that that means we cannot have an All Black team. 
A number of New Zealanders have asked why do we not become just another state of Australia but many many more have said to me that we are not going there because it would mean the demise of the All Blacks. I am in the latter camp. I think that for the foreseeable future we want to retain ourselves as a separate sovereign independent nation with our own rugby team our own cricket team and our own teams at the Olympics. But that does not mean to say we cannot look at ways of constructively working together. 
One has only to look for example at the European Union. The French still have their identity. As we saw in the soccer world cup France played another European nation Italy in the final. So none of that need change. But what we can do is explore positively having a closer relationship with Australia to the extent that it benefits our economy here. 
Tariana Turia made some remarks about her recurring temptation to live in Australia which she has successfully resisted. I do not think it is at all likely. She is as committed to this nation as I am. I will not be going to live in Australia either. But we should be aware that it is a deliberate policy of the Australian Federal Government to solve its demographic problem which is worse than ours by encouraging New Zealand families to shift to Australia. That is one of the realities of the world we live in and we have to have a policy response to it. 
However having said all that and coming back to the Reserve Bank specifically whatever the future may be of a currency union or a joint monetary policy approach I am absolutely determined that we will always have a separate Reserve Bank in this nation. We need to have a separate Reserve Bank because one of its functions is also the prudential supervision of banking operations in New Zealand—of registered banks in New Zealand. As we know our banking market is dominated by large Australian-owned banks. Only a very very small part of our banking is in the hands of Kiwis—Taranaki savings bank and now Kiwibank. So for all time we will have a very very important function for our Reserve Bank to undertake in terms of to put it bluntly keeping the big Aussie banks honest—honest in terms of the security they provide to New Zealand depositors in those banks. 
One of the reasons that the Westpac legislation will go through this Parliament shortly is that it changes that bank’s status from being a branch of a large Australian bank in New Zealand to being a separate subsidiary in New Zealand and we need to protect New Zealand depositors in the event God forbid of the parent company in Australia coming under stress or worse. We need to be conscious that we as New Zealand parliamentarians have an obligation to make sure that New Zealand depositors are protected in that situation. There is some doubt under Australian law as to whether depositors in Australian banks here would rank pari passu—that is equally—with Australian depositors in the same banks because Australian law gives preference to its own citizens. That is very very important and we should not be naive in dealing with the hardnosed Australians; we should ensure we keep those safeguards in place. 
With those few remarks I signal that United Future will be voting for this bill to go to the select committee so that we can look at the issues and hear submissions from the public.