Tabuteau FletcherFLETCHER TABUTEAU (Deputy Leader—NZ First): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. It is a genuine pleasure to rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak in support of this bill. Firstly I'd like to congratulate Mr Smith on his efforts and acknowledge that his work has been genuine and has reflected his commitment to our friendly societies' industries and congratulate him again on what he has done on their behalf.It actually feels like quite a long time since we spoke to this originally because this was actually drawn in the last parliamentary term towards the end. This is not a reflection of Mr Smith but it was actually quite a fluke that it was drawn because it was a member's bill and it had come out of some omnibus legislation where the previous Government decided to use that mechanism to pass it through the House. So they were getting there. It was curious that it then became a member's bill rather than a piece of Government legislation but that is why I've started with congratulations on Mr Smith's effort—because he did pick it up and it was incredibly timely.I not only congratulate him but it's been said by just about every person who's risen in support of this legislation that the Finance and Expenditure Committee—actually I served on the select committee in the previous term and had the privilege to do so in this term so I have seen it progress through the select committee process in its entirety. I do want to say it was a coming together of different political minds but we were in agreeance before we went into the room and so we genuinely wanted to see this legislation succeed and come out the other side in such a way that those who submitted to us—all of those parties—could see their position their belief and their passion reflected in this legislation. It was mentioned before and I'll come to it specifically soon—we talked about the mutuality issue and the substantive submissions by those who were concerned at the changes this legislation represented to what they fundamentally thought their operation and their life commitment to their friendly societies meant to them. So credit to the way those particular members came together to work on a solution.Look this was an issue well before it came to the select committee and I had the privilege of working with the industry quite closely in trying to understand what the issues were. But first I want to acknowledge as have others just what it is our friendly societies and credit unions do. They are different to the big banks. They do provide a more personalised a more customised service for their customers because it is members working with and for members. That fundamental approach to money makes their offering so distinctly different to what we would consider to be the traditional banks—where they provide their services and to whom they provide their services set them apart and they are to be celebrated on that. In fact the conversations we had in select committee about financial literacy and the provision of real financial education to its members was a wonderful wonderful thing to hear about.So I do want to acknowledge those who submitted to the committee because as I have intimated they are a passionate group. They believe wholeheartedly in what they are doing and so it was genuinely a privilege to hear from our members of society who so passionately care about what they do. They care because they represent more than 190000 people from our communities. They have been trying to work within legislation that was originally written in 1982 so a—brief calculation—36-year-old piece of legislation. To be fair to them—and when you look at what they brought to the table originally—they were modernising their systems. They were trying to provide services that meet the needs of the modern clientele. But let's be clear we are here today because they were restrained in the way that they could move forward. So this legislation means that what this House in this reading is enabling is essentially Kiwi money working for Kiwis which is to be celebrated. It's for New Zealand First—and actually hearing the contributions from members on this side and actually I acknowledge I should say all members of the House this is something that we should celebrate.The submissions—I'll quickly touch on those with the time I have left. There were some issues but what was celebrated was the ability to lend directly to small to medium sized enterprises. So previously the credit unions were restrained in the way they could lend out moneys to small business. So essentially they had to lend it to the members themselves. Those members then had to come up with ways to then lend it to their business entities; and actually we were told how that created tax liabilities. It created complexity in the process and so now we have a piece of legislation that has enabled that direct investment and because of this it means we can more readily meet and adapt to the needs of our customers and be more competitive. On another point in terms of the modernisation of the legislation we were told that it was critically important to modernise the legal structure and operation of credit unions and associations of credit unions in New Zealand in order to better provide the technical services.I'll probably finish there. On the note of mutuality—I know members opposite are anxious to stand up and give their contributions and I will try and bring this to a close quickly but speaking to mutuality it was important to submitters. It was a contentious issue and the solution—although the legislation in itself didn't actually set us down a path of removing mutuality I think it was a creative solution in the end just to simply have it written expressly in the legislation A credit union is to operate on the basis of this Act for the mutual benefit and assistance of its members." For those credit unions who submitted to us on that area and their fear of—some described it as a slippery slope—thank you for your submissions and so addressed in this legislation.Congratulations to the committee again. Congratulations—I'm going to keep going if you keep doing that Mr Bayly. Ha ha! No—thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. It's a genuine pleasure to support this legislation through the House."