Sharples Pita: Urgent Debates — Tranz Rail Shares—Insider Trading 
Sharples Pita: Urgent Debates — Tranz Rail Shares—Insider Trading 
[Volume:640;Page:9960] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Kia ora Madam Assistant Speaker. The Maori Party welcomes the initiative of Mr Peters in bringing this issue of insider trading to Parliament. We see it within the greater context of justice fairness and transparency—values we would expect to see right across the Government sector. Alongside the Minister of Commerce’s praise for the Securities Commission I believe it is important that this House also acknowledge the leadership that Mr Peters has demonstrated and also record our commendation to Bruce Sheppard of the Shareholders Association for his action in driving this case forward. 
We will support any moves that combat corruption and that ensure that standards of accountability and transparency apply. We are interested in the comments of the Shareholders Association which were inevitably very positive describing the final settlement in the Tranz Rail insider-trading case as a good result for the shareholders in the sharemarket. The Shareholders Association went further to note that the settlement shows regulations will be rigorously policed in larger cases. In this respect we in the Maori Party believe that the issue of accountability of following due process and indeed of ensuring that the process that is followed is an honourable one is timely in the context of the recent damning reports from the Waitangi Tribunal about the flaws and unprofessional conduct of officials in the context of the Treaty settlement process. 
This whole issue is about the devaluing of shares; an event that the Securities Commission has condemned in the way in which it suggested that the directors executives and the major shareholders of Tranz Rail had knowingly entered into a project that quickly headed into trouble. The millions of dollars that the investors have agreed to pay as compensation to shareholders brings justice for the shareholders who have lost money in this deal. We were interested in the comments of the Securities Commission chairperson Jane Diplock who noted that it is important that the sharemarket is transparent and fair especially when thousands of New Zealanders will be investing in it through KiwiSaver. She also said that it shows to the world that insider trading is being policed in this country. 
It reminds us of another investment venture that this Government has pioneered in terms of the context of superannuation funding. A couple of months ago in March this year the Auckland University Students for Justice in Palestine organised a march down Queen Street in Auckland to protest against the Government’s alleged unethical investment in companies producing nuclear weapons and cluster bombs. Demonstrators explained their action against the New Zealand Superannuation Fund because it funds investments in corporations that produce weapons like cluster bombs which have been used in Lebanon. But this protest also served to remind us all how absolutely hypocritical a Government would be to promote a non-nuclear policy yet at the same time invest in companies that produced nuclear weapons. 
The values behind this debate therefore of transparency accountability and justice must be the values that are applied to every sector of our Government. They must be applied in the operations of Government investments such as superannuation. They must be applied in the case of policies such as KiwiSaver and Working for Families which we know that New Zealanders do not benefit from in a consistent or fair way. It is a question of wealth and of how it can corrupt democracies. We must forever be alert to the possibilities and to those people who in the interests of accumulating more will use their economic influence to ensure a gain for themselves. 
The Maori Party acknowledges the advice of the Securities Commission that investors can be assured the sharemarket is a level playing field following the final settlement. We would only hope that that same fair level playing field is the concept across Aotearoa that we would hope to have meaning for for all citizens of this land. 
The Waitangi Tribunal has shown us this past week that the concept of a fair level playing field is not being played out between the Crown as controller and iwi. There is no regulator in the context of Treaty settlements. There is no Securities Commission that can bring a prosecution against an entity that unfairly disadvantages its own citizens—in this instance the Maori citizens of Aotearoa. The Maori Party looks therefore to the precedent of this case as another example that we can learn from in establishing an independent settlement authority or commission to truly achieve justice and perhaps even have the powers to prosecute. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker.