Tizard Judith: New Zealand Guardian Trust Company Amendment Bill — Second Reading Third Reading 
Tizard Judith: New Zealand Guardian Trust Company Amendment Bill — Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:675;Page:14411] 
Hon JUDITH TIZARD (Labour—Auckland Central) 
: 
 I move  
That the New Zealand Guardian Trust Company Amendment Bill be now read a second and a third time 
. This is a private bill and it has been promoted by the New Zealand Guardian Trust Co. Ltd for Parliament’s consideration. It is the third time in 7 years that we have had legislation of this sort before the House and I want to thank the House for its patience in dealing with it. I also thank the members of the Finance and Expenditure Committee for their work in reviewing this bill and for their recommendation that the bill be passed without amendment. I have since requested that the Business Committee agree to omit the Committee of the whole House stage of this bill and proceed to its third reading as permitted under Standing Order 76(b). This has been accepted and I look forward to moving ahead with this bill. 
This bill substitutes the name of the Guardian Trust parent company from the Promina Group Ltd to Suncorp-Metway Ltd in order to enable the company to transact business with its parent company. Over time Parliament has decided that this privilege—and I emphasise the fact that this is a privilege that Parliament is giving Guardian Trust—is to be given with a great deal of careful consideration and with suitable warning to the public. New Zealanders put their trust literally in the trustee companies and in Guardian Trust and they are entitled to know what business arrangements are being entered into and to know that their interests are being protected. I note that it has been said in the House before that there are some business commercial laws—for example in Australia—that give preference to Australians over New Zealanders and we have to be very careful in this House about how we give this sort of privilege. 
I further say that Guardian Trust is one of New Zealand’s oldest and most respected companies. It was established in 1852 and has been operating as a trustee company in New Zealand since 1883 when the Guardian Trust and Executors Company Act was passed. In 1982 the Guardian Trust merged with the trust department of the New Zealand Insurance Co. Ltd necessitating the passing of the New Zealand Guardian Trust Company Act in that year. The trust has 14 branches and acts on trusts and estates for many thousands of New Zealanders and their families. 
The Guardian Trust is a trustee company authorised under the New Zealand Guardian Trust Company Act 1982 to carry on business as an executor a trustee a trustee company and in other fiduciary capacities. This Act currently allows the trust to transact business with its parent company which is named and any subsidiary or company associated with its parent company. The Act also allows it to attain the financial benefit from such transactions that would otherwise be precluded under trust law. The ability to transact business in these circumstances is necessary given the size of the corporate group with which Guardian Trust is associated and the many opportunities that could be lost if the ability to transact business with such companies were not available. Similar concessions exist for all other trustee companies. 
The Act currently defines the parent company to mean the Promina Group Ltd. In March 2007 the businesses of Promina and Suncorp-Metway were merged by way of a scheme of arrangement. Under this scheme Suncorp-Metway acquired all shares in Promina. Accordingly Suncorp-Metway is not the ultimate parent company of the New Zealand Guardian Trust any more thus rendering the name of the parent Act now inaccurate. 
I recognise that a number of select committees and indeed this House have wrestled with the issue of whether generic legislation could adequately protect people who have dealings with the New Zealand Guardian Trust Co. and other trustee companies. However in respect of the second and third readings of the New Zealand Guardian Trust Company Amendment Bill we can deal only with the Guardian Trust. Each select committee has recommended that generic legislation be introduced to deal with the need of various trust companies to bring legislation of this sort before the House. I hope that the work the Finance and Expenditure Committee has done on this bill will be taken up by the Ministry of Justice because I think that we have to balance the trust relationship and the ability for trustee companies to operate in the best commercial interests of their beneficiaries along with the protection of those beneficiaries. This legislation which the Finance and Expenditure Committee has said should proceed unamended will allow the legislation to go forward so that any changes in the parent company of the Guardian Trust Co. can be notified by way of Order in Council. 
This is the third time in 7 years that the Guardian Trust has been required to promote a private bill to maintain this authorisation and I think it is a good use of the House’s time to consider the broader issues rather than the individual issues each time they come up and to retain the need to notify beneficiaries and New Zealanders more generally very carefully that these changes have taken place. I again thank the Finance and Expenditure Committee for the work it has done on this bill and I commend the bill to the House for its second and third readings.