Street Maryan: Ethical Investment (Crown Financial Institutions) Bill — First Reading 
Street Maryan: Ethical Investment (Crown Financial Institutions) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:665;Page:13006] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 It gives me great pleasure to rise and speak to the Ethical Investment (Crown Financial Institutions) Bill and I congratulate my colleague Grant Robertson on bringing it to the floor of the House once again through a member’s provision. 
This small bill requires something that is very simple and I ask Government members opposite to consider again the position that has just been outlined by the member who has taken his seat. The work is not yet done on ethical investment. The work is not yet done on socially responsible investment. We would have a much safer planet if it were. So the member who has just resumed his seat is quite wrong in every respect. 
Here is an opportunity for the five Crown financial institutions—the ones that Parliament and the Government can have some influence over—to make sure that their investments align with ethical standards which might include proper business methods proper consideration of natural resources the non-exploitation of labour and the prohibition on slave labour or forced labour. That is the stuff that this bill attends to. 
I am a little surprised I have to say to see in one of the media releases the co-leader of the Green Party Dr Russel Norman being somewhat surprised that this bill has come out of the Labour Party. That demonstrates how little time the man has spent in Parliament. This bill was in the ballot in the last Parliament’s term. 
This is a significant change. It is not just business as usual. I draw to the attention of members opposite that 2 or 3 years ago when I last looked at these figures $1 in every $8 of US investments was being invested in ethical investments or socially responsible investments. We are now in the era when fishing companies like Sealord in Nelson changes it practices because its customers like Waitrose will not take its hoki as it is damaging the seabed. 
We are in that era. Customers are saying that they will not buy products that they consider to be purchased manufactured garnered or sold at the expense of the planet. If the customer base has that mentality around it and one-eighth of US investment money was going into ethical investments a few years ago it is only a short step from there for a Government that has the courage—and in this case a Parliament that has the numbers and the courage—to ensure that Crown institutions that invest money on behalf of the New Zealand taxpayer do it in ways that do not bring New Zealand into disrepute. We should do it in ways that do not make us an irresponsible international citizen and in ways that uphold ethics. 
That is what ethical investment is about. It is about making sure that everything that this Parliament and this Government in particular has jurisdiction over is done in a way that is consistent with other Government policy. How can we invest in tobacco companies at the same time that we are having a no-smoking policy or an anti-smoking campaign? We cannot be inconsistent in that way. The same thing applies to cluster munitions. In case members opposite did not know the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee has just passed a cluster munitions treaty that those members opposite supported. The treaty prohibits investment by Crown financial institutions. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member but her time has expired.