Bennett David: Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Bennett David: Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6056] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 The Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme Bill is a reflection of the economic circumstance that New Zealand has reached at this stage of the recession with the country coming out of the recession and many of our trading partners starting to see a glimmer of hope. Some of the requirements and Government approaches that were endorsed by this Parliament late last year now need to be revisited and looked at in the sense of taking into account the more updated economic situation that is arising at this point. 
Before we look into that a bit more I think it is time for a few home truths to be told to the New Zealand public through this House rather than have what the Labour Party has been espousing by its lines of the day. When we look at what has happened in New Zealand and we compare ourselves with some of our major trading partners we see that the single advantage we had over those trading partners is a stable banking system. We did not see the New Zealand Parliament having to pass legislation to buy back the banks. We saw our major trading partners—apart from Australia—having to do so. What saved us and what saved our bacon to a large extent was the four Australian banks being solid strong and able to look after the New Zealand economy. 
Those members on the other side of the House will never admit that because they hate to admit that those banks have been strong and stable. They will go out there and try to put to the public of New Zealand some perception that the Aussie banks ripped off the New Zealand economy but the reality is that we would not be coming out of this recession in the way we are if it were not for the four Aussie banks. I think that Labour members need to grow up smell the roses and work out that this is how the banking system works. 
If we want to have in a country at the bottom of the world small banks owned by a Government that thinks it will deliver the financial system our trading country needs then we are dreaming. We saw that in the late 1980s when the New Zealand banking system was not able to withstand international pressure. But this time when we had international pressure we were able to withstand it. That is a big lesson for Labour members which they have not learnt and will not admit to. That is a shame because those members in failing to admit that lesson are denying the truth of the financial markets that exist in New Zealand. 
That is not to say that we do not have a robust financial system with different tiers of debt in which other organisations can come in and take over different levels. But certainly the vast bulk of New Zealand’s banking system is dominated by the four big Australian banks which have provided the solidity for us to get through the recession. 
This retail deposit guarantee scheme is a reflection of the financial circumstance that we now find ourselves in where we do not need as much regulation and support as we previously had so we are giving banks the option of having less of that requirement or back-up. This is very much the same as has been happening in Australia as well and reflects the change in those economies in the last 6 months as we have seen some green light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you.