10. Consumer Credit—Vulnerable ConsumersJO LUXTON (Labour) to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer AffairsConsumer Credit—Vulnerable Consumers10. JO LUXTON (Labour) to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs: What is the Government doing to provide safe and appropriate lending options for vulnerable consumers?Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): Last week along with the Hon Carmel Sepuloni I attended the Financial Inclusion Industry Forum in Ōtara which saw 150 people from across the public private and Government sectors come together to improve people's financial capability and create safe lending alternatives. For the first time we had business leaders community agencies and the Government sector in the room working together to improve people's financial situations. On behalf of consumers and this coalition Government which intends to make New Zealand an inclusive society where everyone can thrive I sincerely want to thank all the organisations who took part. I look forward to our ongoing work to ensure all New Zealanders are protected from the misery of debt spirals and the predatory lenders creating horrible financial stress.Jo Luxton: Which organisations and community groups has this Government been working with to provide safe and appropriate lending for vulnerable consumers?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: Attendees came from across the public and private sectors. All our major banks and lenders were represented as were Government agencies and community agencies. We had lenders and finance providers sit alongside the community groups who support the people who may have had issues with their products. Sadly we had more people express an interest than we were able to accommodate and I sat in on some of the working group sessions and heard firsthand a lot of the issues that need to be addressed and I'm discussing these with my colleagues and officials. I am proud of the work that this Government has done in the short amount of time to get to the point where all of these people can come together to be part of a solution.Jo Luxton: What are the next steps to support safe and affordable finance and to stop the predatory lenders?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: Projects agreed for action at the forum included improved access to simpler safer financing for vulnerable people and progressing an emergency savings safety net for New Zealanders. Three key concepts for vulnerable consumers to access safe reliable and affordable vehicles include an affordable ownership model a social leasing model and a community ride-sharing model which the Financial Services Federation will now champion to develop. The Hon Carmel Sepuloni and I will receive a progress report in October but in the meantime I'm progressing changes to the CCCFA to get regulation in place to stop predatory lending which has gone on for far too long. I thank Fleur Howard of the Good Shepherd New Zealand Trust who summed things up well at the end of the forum when she said that the debt spiral is a real issue driving people into poverty and if we're going to help people get out of poverty then we've got to make some of these schemes work. Doing nothing is not an option which happened under the previous Government.