O'Connor GregGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): I'd just like to start by complimenting the courage of one of the previous speakers Tim van de Molen.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well you can't actually do that.GREG O'CONNOR: I can't compliment him?DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well you can't talk about people's courage.GREG O'CONNOR: Oh well that's—thank you Madam Deputy Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Personally. You can talk generally.GREG O'CONNOR: Well I'll leave an adjective out of it. I'll just say that Mr van de Molen mentioned that he was part of a party that understood business—the inference that they are quite business savvy. I thought that's quite insightful to do that in a week when it's quite clear that his party paid out a billion dollars more than they needed to in relation to South Canterbury Finance because of some very poor business understanding and decisions. So for a Friday afternoon I thought it was quite an interesting observation to make. It brought some of the perhaps amusement that he was looking for with his crack around the Rt Hon Winston Peters—that had already been used. Perhaps that's why there wasn't quite the raucous laughter that you were expecting on that crack.DEPUTY SPEAKER: No but it would be great to come to the bill.GREG O'CONNOR: But I will get to the bill if I may. Just some things belie the opportunity to comment. If I may go to the bill. I was lucky enough to be a member of the Justice Committee that considered this bill. We bring life experience to our committees and I was actually quite pleased to have the opportunity and perhaps the understanding as to what we were trying to achieve with this bill; having once been appointed as a trustee to a foundation—rather a large foundation—which was shall we say not in great shape as a result of some of the very failings which this bill is attempting to fix. It was as a result of really a poor understanding by the main trustee at the time of just what his obligations were. The fact was that all the information that we required to get the trust back up and running was in a laptop for which we had no access to because the trustee had actually passed away unfortunately.So it was actually interesting to sit through this process and have a context against which to work and to understand. And I very much admit to being a layman. I sat in awe of much bigger brains than my own sitting between the ears of Dr Duncan Webb certainly the Hon Chris Finlayson and David Goddard QC. So I sat in awe as those learned gentlemen did actually put some common sense and endeavoured to make sure that the sort of deficiencies in the bill were fixed to avoid the situation I had previously found myself in.Even down to understanding what a trust is and who trustees are—I think that's something that's belying the large number of trusts that New Zealanders own. You've heard the figures given that New Zealanders proportionally are very large users beneficiaries or trustees of such trusts how little understanding there is of them and how much faith we have in the system. Again that just shows the understanding of why this bill does need to be updated—simply because they are part of our way of life and even just understanding what an express trust is. It means that—Alastair Scott: What is it?GREG O'CONNOR: I'm pleased you asked that the soon-to-be redundant member for Wairarapa. It's a fiduciary relationship i.e. a relationship involving trusts in which a trustee holds or deals with trust property for the benefit of the beneficiaries or for a permitted purpose. I hope Mr Scott that that satisfies your clear curiosity which has remained alive even late into this sitting week.You'll also be pleased to know the trustee is accountable for a way that the trustee carries out the duties imposed by the trustee by law. I hope Mr Scott—again having shown an interest in this—that I'm not going too fast and you're keeping up. I'm sure any questions you want to yell across the House with the indulgence of Madam Deputy Speaker I'll endeavour to answer as I go through this presentation.The trust is created by or under an enactment—still with me Mr Scott?—by a person the settler who clearly and with reasonable certainty and subject to any formalities prescribed by any enactment. I think you'll understand why it's important. But again all levity aside—and this is an important part—the settler who clearly and with reasonable certainty and subject to any formalities prescribed by any enactment indicates an intention to create a trust. I think that's important. It identifies the beneficiaries or the permitted purpose of the trust and importantly identifies the trust property. So I think again I hope I've been able to in the short time allocated to me satisfy you and others listening on the importance of this bill. But as I say it was a privilege to sit through the select committee—certainly to have the context I did in the need for good trust law so that those who are the beneficiaries can have some faith in the system. I have no hesitation in recommending this bill to the House. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker.Bill read a second time.