Young Jonathan: Illegal Contracts (Unlawful Limitation on Regulators’ Powers) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Young Jonathan: Illegal Contracts (Unlawful Limitation on Regulators’ Powers) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 25 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:3933. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 I am very happy to stand and speak on this member’s bill the Illegal Contracts (Unlawful Limitation on Regulators’ Powers) Amendment Bill presented by the Hon Lianne Dalziel who was chair of the Commerce Committee in the last parliamentary term. It was a very good committee which was able to work very well together. But before I come to what I want to say I would like to say this. Tena koe e te Mana Whakawa. Tena tatou e te Whare. Whakanuitia Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori. 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Speaker. Greetings to us the House. Celebrate Maori Language Week. 
] 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No that’s wrong. 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: It is very good to celebrate Maori Language Week. The honourable member across the way obviously feels that he is incredibly fluent and knows everything. I cannot wait to hear—I cannot wait to hear—him stand and greet us in Te Reo. 
This bill was introduced by Lianne Dalziel in April 2010 perhaps at a time when there was a need for it but perhaps there is not the need now as she has commented on because of the Financial Markets Authority Act 2011 which has come into place and which established the Financial Markets Authority on 1 May 2011. The authority has been in operation for just over a year and by all accounts from what I hear in the sector it is achieving very good results and has certainly been in this first year a well-respected authority and able to bring through the regulation—and enforcement of those regulations of course—that is necessary. National does not support this bill because the Financial Markets Authority is doing a very good job of covering the aspects that the member has raised. The current law is sufficient to deal with the legitimacy or otherwise of legal settlements and there is no need for legislative change. 
 The instance that the honourable member Hon Lianne Dalziel raised regarding the ING situation of course did take some considerable time and attention of the Commerce Committee. I believe that back in that time there was very genuine concern about the matters that the member raised. We were very pleased to be reported to by the Commerce Commission on the satisfactory resolution to the claims of people who had invested with ING. Indeed the Commerce Commission acknowledged the cooperation of ANZ National Bank and ING throughout its investigation of that situation and the settlement discussions. The Commerce Commission was able in its capacity to bring through a resolution that it said was the biggest resolution the most successful resolution it has undertaken in its history. That does go to show that it was effective and brought quite a degree of satisfaction to those members of the ING Frozen Fund Group Trust. 
The purpose for which the Illegal Contracts (Unlawful Limitation on Regulators’ Powers) Amendment Bill was drafted—and back in that time we acknowledge that there was genuine purpose—related to concerns over the compensation received by ING investors and they have been resolved. We now have a situation where through the Financial Markets Authority we have a very good regulator which is able to step into situations and bring some direction and some resolution. We also know that the corporate trustees that act as watchdogs in these issuer funds have progressed in terms of the Securities Trustees and Statutory Supervisors Act which came into force on 1 October 2011 whereby back at that time all current corporate trustees had to apply for a licence within 1 month of that enactment in order to receive a 1-year temporary licence. 
So the supervision of the supervisors—the licence that they have to apply for to the Financial Markets Authority—brings in a regulatory system that we believe is more than adequate to meet the needs and the challenges and concerns that the member has raised. To the extent that the bill was drafted as a response to a problem the action taken by regulators demonstrates that there was no such issue that required resolution nor do we believe that this is a widespread issue that requires further legislation. We believe that matters legislation and regulation and the enforcers of those regulations are working very satisfactorily. 
We also know that for example yesterday in this House two further commerce bills to strengthen our finance sector passed their first readings. These are coming to the Commerce Committee tomorrow. What one of them does of course is ensure that there is no opportunity for overseas people to set up New Zealand companies and use those for nefarious and criminal activities. That bill the Companies and Limited Partnerships Amendment Bill is strengthening our robustness and ensuring that our reputation as a country stands up. Of course the first reading of the Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill was also passed so that we could ensure that there is integrity in terms of competition in this country. 
Over these last few years the National-led Government has been working very strongly under the initial leadership of the Hon Simon Power and now the leadership of the Hon Craig Foss to bring some real robustness to our financial markets. Establishing that one-stop shop the Financial Markets Authority is the real kingpin that will bring a sharper focus on enforcing the law. Bringing that tighter oversight is absolutely necessary and essential so that investors in this country can have confidence. With the financial companies’ collapses which is what this bill is essentially looking at in terms of some aspects of that—the contracting-out component particularly—one of the things that that did in terms of people losing their life-savings is erode confidence. Look we know that confidence is absolutely essential in order for investment to come into this country so that business can have capital that would continue to see resources come to business and the market place. 
So our considered opinion is that we already have in place legislation we already have in place entities and we already have in place changes to our legislative regulatory framework that are going to address all the issues that the honourable member’s bill is proposing. At this point in time I would commend the member for what she has done and just say that she was a very good chair of that committee and obviously has a lot of experience but we are not supporting this bill.