Bennett David: Westpac New Zealand Bill — Third Reading 
Bennett David: Westpac New Zealand Bill — Third Reading 
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DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 I will take just a short call with regard to the Westpac New Zealand Bill a bill that many of us have spoken about a number of times in this House. I congratulate Craig Foss—the Hon Craig Foss now—who shepherded this bill through the House. His position as chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee has been ably taken over by Amy Adams. 
When we look at this bill we see that there is a fairly simple reason and explanation behind why it came before this House. Basically it is to enable Westpac to meet its obligations with regard to its capital requirements under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act. The changes proposed in the bill enable Westpac to meet its obligations and are in the best interests of Westpac itself. It is in the best interests of the New Zealand Government and the New Zealand economy to have Westpac operating under the rules and regulations of the country. It is also in the best interests of the many people who invest whether by putting their savings into Westpac or by drawing funds from Westpac as borrowers in the sense that they have a bank that is stable large and part of the economic framework of New Zealand. 
However the Labour Party and the Green Party have tended to use this bill as bank-bashing legislation for their purposes. They try their rhetoric around the devil they see in the Australian banks and the New Zealand economy they perpetuate a lot of myths that create a lot of distraction in our economic environment and they create a perception that is simply not the case. The Labour Party says that we can have banks only if we have large savings and the Greens talk about banks that have invested in the wrong things. Well they cannot blame the Australian banks for those situations. That is the typical Labour and Green guilt and jealousy trip that they put everybody under. The reality is that banks deal with the issues that an economy grants them. 
The real problem in New Zealand has been the economic framework that the previous Government set up with regard to property investment which led to the issues that have been resolved by this Government in our tax changes. This bill is very important in the sense that it is not about Australian banks being dominant in our market or anything like that. It is about providing the economic framework so that these banks can perform their functions. 
I think we need to pay tribute and thank those big banks that have provided stability in the New Zealand economy which most other economies in the Western World have not had. If we look at places like America and Britain they would have given their teeth to have had stability in their banking sector over the last 4 or 5 years—stability that New Zealand has through having the big Australian banks in this country. 
In essence this bill is partly procedural in the sense of enabling Westpac to meet its requirements but also it is very important for our economy in the sense that we need to have a strong Westpac bank that is able to perform its functions as it desires as a big bank in this country and as part of the Australian banking network as well through its parent company. We look forward to this bill passing through the House.