Dean Jacqui; Rurawhe AdrianHon JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): Thank you Mr Speaker. National does support this Venture Capital Fund Bill at its second reading but as a number of members have pointed out before we do have some comments to make about the bill and I do have some comments to make about one particular change that was brought in at the select committee process. I'm not a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee; I do however take a close interest in small business in New Zealand as no doubt many of us have.I speak to a number of small businesses throughout New Zealand and in the term of this business access to capital particularly for early stage ventures has been raised as an issue for me which is why I do support this Venture Capital Bill. But I would also say that the Labour-led Government are ignoring what is effectively the elephant in the room with regards to the changes that they have made to labour laws to the sudden rise in the minimum wage and other uncertainties that they have engineered into the small business environment which has led to a sustained loss of confidence across the small business sector. And that loss of confidence is based mainly on Government policy. So I speak to small businesses from Northland to the South Island and all points in between and there are some very common threads coming through. Yes there is an access to capital that is being addressed in a number of ways. There are a number of sources of capital now ranging from banks other lenders private institutions and now we have this Venture Capital Fund proposed—and that is a positive thing for small business and start-ups. But on the negative side of the ledger there is a real impact of the sudden rise of the minimum wage particularly I have observed in the services industries including hospitality but also retail which is also experiencing a number of other pressures and competitions particularly with regards to online trading. And of course in the hospitality business Uber Eats is making a fundamental and disruptive change to that industry. That is what business is all about; it is about change. But it behoves a Government not to add to those uncertainties in the way that this Government is.So I speak to people in hospitality who have extremely busy cafes and restaurants but they're no longer taking a drawing or a wage themselves because that portion of their net profit has now been eaten up in other costs which have been brought in by this Government. So we're now finding business owners not even taking drawings for themselves and covering shifts which means it is having a negative impact on their private and personal and family lives and I and my colleagues see this around New Zealand. There has been no recognition by the Government of these factors.However the availability of venture capital funding is a positive. When I say However" I want to draw the House's attention to the change that was made in the select committee process whereby the Minister can now direct the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation to give regard to the Government's commitment to an inclusive economy.Dr Duncan Webb: That's a great idea.Hon JACQUI DEAN: Now it seems to me that contrary to members on the other side of the House not as well connected into the business community who think this is a wonderful idea I differ in that view. I think that there is something a little dangerous there is something a little concerning around ministerial intervention in a capital fund particularly when it is a capital fund for people's superannuation. So I think anything that impinges on this fund's independence is something that should not happen. I would urge in the committee stage the Minister in the chair to listen—listen—to members' views as we go through the committee of the whole House stage.Yes sure a venture fund is a good thing to have but what New Zealand really needs is certainty. It needs labour laws which make sense labour laws which don't impose restrictions on the employment relationship between the worker and the employer and which has taken us back 40 or 50 years in terms of labour relations. A regime in small business—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! The member's time has expired."