Eckhoff Gerrard: Taxation (Annual Rates Maori Organisations Taxpayer Compliance and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Eckhoff Gerrard: Taxation (Annual Rates Maori Organisations Taxpayer Compliance and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:606;Page:4097] 
GERRARD ECKHOFF (ACT NZ) 
: 
 Many would ask whether the commencement date of a bill is important and worth the bother of debating. I think it is. Commencement dates are very important for a very obvious reason. If we ask people what the significant dates are in their lives they will often say—[ 
Interruption 
] If that member over there would stop squawking she might actually learn something. If we ask people what the important dates in their lives are one that they will say is important is Christmas Day 25 December. Everybody reels that off. Others say that Anzac Day is a hugely important date. They also say that Waitangi Day is important although in increasingly fewer numbers. Nevertheless 6 February is an important day. Those are the dates when the commencement of a special celebration took place. So commencement dates are very important. I suspect that the commencement dates in this bill will also rank alongside some would say infamy because they are the dates we will introduce in legislation that give a special tax rate to Maori. That is why the commencement of this process is so terribly important. 
At this time in this Parliament a select committee is sitting on a question of fairness amongst other things in the scampi inquiry—essentially it is on a question of fairness. I ask the Committee this question: is the commencement date in this legislation fair? The answer—and I always get a good answer when I ask myself a sensible question like this—is “Absolutely not.” It is not fair to commence legislation that gives one section of our society a special dispensation. It would be marvellous if the commencement date for a 19.5 percent tax rate were next week or on the particular date that this legislation will be enacted. That would be something that would be welcomed by any sensible thinking person in this country. Every member on this side of the Chamber I suspect including members of the United Future party would say that the commencement of a fair and reasonable tax rate for everybody in this country is appropriate. 
If we are to have this factionalism this sectionalism then I would stand and say that I think it is appropriate we should have a commencement date for special tax rates for high-country farmers. Now that would be a hugely popular measure amongst 350 of us but I suspect that the rest of our community would say that a commencement date for special treatment for a small grouping of people like that would be inappropriate—and I guess that in a quiet moment I would have to agree with that—because I do not agree and I am sure the majority of people in this Chamber would not agree that we should at any time or any stage of our deliberations on this bill look at commencing legislation that is going to give separate special treatment. 
What is the word for that separate development? It used to be a South African word. I am sure it will spring to mind shortly. I think we all know what that word is. But that is the problem that will occur if we have a commencement of special treatment for a special group. Maori are a special group—I give them that. There is no question about that just as I say that high-country farmers are a special group just as people who live in Tauranga for example might be a special group. But we cannot isolate them and we cannot say that those people deserve special treatment and should have an enactment that gives them an advantage over the rest of our society. So that is why the commencement of this legislation should be held over and I support Mr Tony Ryall’s contention that when the next election occurs—and I am sure it will be a centre-right Government by then—we can revisit this question of a 19.5 percent tax rate for everybody.