Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill 
First Reading 
Debate resumed from 25 June. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) 
: 
 I think when I was interrupted by the adjournment at the end of last week I was in fact responding to an interjection from the member for Tauranga. We were discussing at that stage the benefits of a variety of cars and from memory he was promoting a Mercury Cougar. I have looked at the— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: What does Christine think of this? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Well it was based heavily on discussions that the member has had privately and publicly about the things that are hot and the things that are not. In this particular case it has become clear that that member is cougar bait. He is bait for a cougar. I am very very surprised that when there was a discussion about his favourite cars he did not promote the Cougar in the way that he appears to promote it in its Wellington form as opposed to its United States form. 
I had forgotten about Mercury Cougars. I was never a great expert on cars but I spent a bit of time looking them up on the Internet. Do members know the problem with a Mercury Cougar? The problem as far as Simon Bridges is concerned is that it is a two-seater. It is a coupé. It is not particularly useful for the sort of activity the member was contemplating in his discussions with a number of people about things that are hot and things that are not. [ 
Interruption 
] Does the member want examples of cars that I have had? I have had a wide variety of cars none of them particularly flash. I am not sure anything other than the old Monaro— 
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Tell us about the red van you keep in the basement. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The red van I understand is one of two Volkswagen Caddies in the country. I have an absolute assurance from the licensed motor vehicle dealer who has since gone broke that this particular one was imported entirely by accident. He did not know. He knew he was getting a Volkswagen van but did not understand about Caddies. He brought it in from Singapore. It is actually useful because it can take three bikes in the back. I very rarely want to have more than three bikes in the back of my van. Because like the member’s Mercury Cougar there are only two seats in the front three bikes is generally around the limit. 
Does Mr Quinn have any other questions about the van? It is well marked up; it is well known around the Hutt. People think it is— 
Paul Quinn 
: You only bring it out once every 3 years. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: That is not true. I drive it back and forth to work every day. 
Chris Hipkins 
: The member never spends any time in the Hutt! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: If the member went to the Hutt Valley occasionally and observed cars out there he would see that— 
Paul Quinn 
: I didn’t see you; I was there yesterday. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Were you out there today? 
Paul Quinn 
: Yesterday. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The member was out there yesterday. Well I was out there all day yesterday mainly in Petone and Naenae. I did not see him but then no one notices Paul Quinn. Well that is not entirely true. They notice him but if he is around a corner they disappear pretty quickly because they hear him coming. They hear him coming and they take off. I heard that the member has an office. But when is his office ever open? I have been sending everyone who says to me that I cannot help them but asks whether the Government could help them— 
Paul Quinn 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am not quite sure what the last 10 minutes have had to do with the bill. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I think the member makes a fair point. The member speaking has been subjected to some interjections and has responded to them. But I think we should come back to the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill which is before the House. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I am not going to dispute your ruling Mr Assistant Speaker but I think a discussion around the relative merits of Mercury Cougars and Volkswagen Caddies is quite relevant to the bill especially when one goes to the fact that some licensed motor vehicle dealers—in fact a lot of them in Wellington—have gone broke and when this legislation passes into law some people who should not be in business will not be in business. 
It is a good bit of legislation—most of it. The amendment to the Act means that it will become more obvious that crooks—the people who should be banned—are banned under this legislation. There is also a further requirement to put the consumer information notices or CIN notices—something that Mr Bridges might know about as well—in the windows of the cars or at least to attach them to the vehicles. That will also be useful. The bill gives additional powers to the registrar. In fact it gives powers that I am quite surprised the registrar did not have already. None of it is illogical; it will help get the industry into line. But if there is one thing that I will remember this debate for it was the timely interjection of Mr Bridges last week. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Kia ora tatou. It was a very good choice of yours to let me speak to the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill Mr Assistant Speaker if I may say so with no disrespect to Amy Adams who is also seeking the call. For the new members of the House I say that on a couple of occasions in the last few years or so I have mentioned that there is a very important link between car salespeople and politicians. I did some research on this and found that every year without fail car salespeople take up a lower ranking than politicians in the readers’ surveys on the most trusted professions. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: The  
Reader’s Digest 
. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: In the  
Reader’s Digest 
 survey—that is right—of the most trusted professions for 2009 car salesmen were rated 38 out of 40 professions. Only sex workers and telemarketers were rated lower. Politicians however scored a much more positive rating of not quite as low as 38 or 39 but 37. So we did all right. 
There is another important association between politicians and car traders. I am told that the very first cars in New Zealand arrived in 1898 when a member of Parliament by the name of William McLean who is well known in Maori circles and an engineer by the name of Edward Seager imported two Benz automobiles from France. Under the law at the time the cars had to be treated like traction engines travelling at a walking pace with men walking ahead and behind. But to overcome that problem William McLean sponsored a new Act of Parliament. It was called the McLean Motor-car Act 1898 if members did not know that. The new Act specified I say for the member’s information a speed limit of a massive 12 miles per hour. A century later here we are. We could be considering the “Heather Roy Motor-car Bill” of 2009. Instead this bill aims to promote and protect car buyers. 
Hone Harawira 
: And sex workers? 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: No not sex workers. It is an interesting aim one might say in the context of the perceptions of New Zealanders in respect of the levels of trust that one can expect from the profession. 
My understanding is that the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill would protect car buyers in a number of ways. The bill amends the process for motor vehicle traders to renew their annual registration making it quicker and simpler and thereby reducing compliance costs. It adds a new obligation on trading companies to notify the registrar if a new person becomes involved in the management of the company. 
Hone Harawira 
: The management of the company? 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: That is right. Many of the changes proposed in the bill are to improve the operations of the Motor Vehicle Sales Act 2003. That Act introduced a new registration regime for car traders and new disclosure requirements for used cars. It also established the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal to hear consumer complaints against traders. This new bill the Heather Roy bill in effect refines the processes introduced 6 years earlier and tries to improve upon them. The bill requires that car market operators take reasonable steps to ensure used-car traders display the consumer information notice and as other members have talked about the bill removes car market operators from the definition of motor vehicle traders if they provide only a car sales venue and do not sell cars themselves. All of these steps we hope will achieve much needed improvements to protect the safety of car buyers and increase the transparency of transactions between buyers and sellers. The Maori Party has two important points that we want to bring to the discussion. The first point is that overall the number of cars in New Zealand has dropped. New car sales have decreased in number and value both of which impact on the car sales industry. 
Hone Harawira 
: Five votes for. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: Not quite. There has been a 28.7 percent decrease in new-car sales in New Zealand between 2005 and 2008. On the profit side there has been a 17.4 percent decrease in car sales value over the last year. That means that the general age of cars used in New Zealand has declined dropping from an average of 11.28 years in 1999 to the highest yet average of 12.55 years in 2008. Those are all relevant statistics. The need for appropriate practices and transparencies in the interactions New Zealanders will have with used-car traders is therefore even more important as more and more older cars come on to the market. The consequences of the shift are obviously significant when we consider energy efficiency as discussed in the bill concerning climate change which was debated prior to this one. Newer cars are generally more efficient and emit fewer emissions due to engineering improvements. We believe therefore that additional consideration could be given to the introduction of a fuel efficiency emissions standards regime as part of the buying and selling of motor vehicles particularly given that the mean age of cars in New Zealand continues to rise. We support any intervention that will improve vehicle fuel efficiencies and reduce emissions. 
The policy issue that we hope officials give further thought to relates to cost-benefit arguments around new versus second-hand cars which Mr Harawira has quite a lot of. Older vehicles tend to have higher exhaust emissions of harmful pollutants—again the honourable member Mr Harawira is well aware of that—such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. This is partly due not only to the deterioration of the engine’s efficiency as we know but also to the older technology used in earlier engine designs. Older vehicles may also have poor efficiency and therefore create more greenhouse gas emissions for each kilometre travelled than similar new vehicles. All of this needs consideration. 
In closing I say that the second big issue for the Maori Party is the removal of the requirements for private sellers to display the consumer information notice. The Maori Party questions whether this move may raise concern with safety issues in the Heather Roy bill. We will be interested to learn the views of the Minister of Consumer Affairs about this particular amendment bill given that there is a pretty comprehensive review under way of the consumer information notice. Perhaps this amendment may be put on hold pending completion of the review. Despite the barracking from my colleague Hone Harawira tonight there are some important issues emerging from this “Heather Roy Motor-car Bill” of 2009. Such issues relate to transparency and the need to decrease oil dependency in the face of peak oil and efforts to reduce emissions. There are substantive issues requiring further work but despite all of that the Maori Party will certainly support this bill through the first reading in order for that further work to be done. Kia ora tatou. 
AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 I also rise to support the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill. As we have heard already in this debate this bill amends the Motor Vehicle Sales Act 2003 the principal Act. When that Act was brought into force it was designed to focus on consumers: to ensure that their interests were protected that they could operate with some confidence and that they could make informed choices. The principal Act recognised that often we are dealing with consumers who are naive and who are not experienced business people and that particular safeguards needed to be in place. 
The Minister of Consumer Affairs the Hon Heather Roy talked in her speech at the opening of this first reading debate about the necessity for proactive assessment of the relevance and effectiveness of legislation and that is where this amendment bill has come from. I certainly commend her for saying that because I agree with her that it is important that we review our compliance regimes on a regular basis and ensure that they continue to meet our needs. From the 2006 review of the principal Act we now have this amendment bill which does three things. Firstly it reduces compliance where the Act has been shown to be causing unnecessary time and cost to business; secondly it removes loopholes that were found to have put weakness into the consumer protection regime; and thirdly it enhances the power and jurisdiction of the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal ensuring that consumers have efficient and effective low-cost remedies available to them in the instances of disputes. In all three regards I think the bill is to be commended. It has shown up useful ways that we can improve the operation of the law and I commend the Minister for bringing it to the House. 
I just want to talk in a little detail about the reduction of compliance; this is something I have spoken about in the House on many occasions. [ 
Interruption 
] Thank you for that I say to my dear friend. The National-led Government is always focused on removing compliance. Where we can get the cost of doing business down without decreasing the protections for consumers we will support that. This bill has identified a number of key areas in which that can be done. It can be done through getting rid of some double-up in the annual certification and it can be done by getting rid of the consumer information notices in situations that they were never meant to apply to and that they have proved to be of no use in. This bill does those things and I commend it to the House. 
Bill read a first time.  
Bill referred to the Commerce Committee.