Yule LawrenceLAWRENCE YULE (National—Tukituki): Madam Deputy Speaker thank you for the opportunity to speak in this House. The Government has given the reason for this particular time frame as part of their 100-day plan. Well I'm actually also in my first 100 days and I'd like to make some reflections on what I'm observing.First of all there's been a lot of confusion in this House today as to what the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA) actually is called—whether it is the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement—Hon David Parker: Yes.LAWRENCE YULE: I've got it right the Hon David Parker; that's good. But there's been a lot of confusion. That in itself speaks volumes not only for the people in this House but for the population of New Zealand. Some modifications were made to the National Party TPP agreement when you went overseas and the name was one of them but also some of the foreign-buying regimes—[Interruption] Madam Deputy Speaker I'm coming to the time frame because that is very relevant. In this very House before dinner the Minister advised that this—TPPA—this new one is unlikely to be signed or could be signed in about two years. So I put it to you: what is the rush? We have a select committee process. We have Speakers' rulings that have been quoted by many of my colleagues. Speaker's ruling 102/7 talks about how you should truncate select committees for a very good reason. I struggle to find a very good reason other than the 100-day plan.We also had earlier in the day a member on the other side saying it doesn't matter what happens at the select committee or in any other process because the Government is just going to do this anyway. Well I think that is a gross abuse of our democratic power and the regime in which this House should operate. But more importantly I want to refer to this document which is a Treasury document that says when it looked at the range of options considered This analysis has been constrained by the Government's commitment to implement this specific policy. As such no other housing policy measures—for example policies that would support the broader objective of increasing the supply of residential property or wider overseas investment regime issues—have been analysed or evaluated." and then further goes on to say "There has been no consultation with the private sector organisations or the public."That's the point I wish to get to because the Hon Gerry Brownlee put up an amendment that actually effectively added another two months and I think that is a reasonable response to the situation we find ourselves in. The new piece of information I wish to bring to this House relates to what I did in my previous role. It would be unheard of in local government for a council to put out a significant piece of consultation one day before Christmas and expect to have submissions at 20 February. In fact I've had hundreds of letters in my national and local role over the years from people objecting to it yet it seems OK on the Tuesday before Christmas to rush through a time-framed piece of work and then go out basically on Christmas Eve and tell people that there will be an opportunity to participate in something and submissions will close well before 20 February.We all know that in New Zealand everybody likes to take most of January off so I think for the significance of this bill and for the issues involved we are doing both this House and all the people that would like to submit to this process a disservice whether they are real estate agents rest home operators—and we heard today actually it's going to be OK for a foreign investor to set up a rest home. Imagine what the other the rest home operators will think of that.So I believe that nobody will actually focus on this issue between now and about the end of January professionals or individuals alike—and imagine what is going to occur tomorrow. Are all these institutions that represent real estate agents lawyers accountants and rest homes going to send out something about what this bill says when the bill was only made public at 1 o'clock today?In this short call all I really wish to say is that it is my first 100 days but I look at this as a sham. I look forward to it going to the Finance and Expenditure Committee which I happen to be on. There are lots of parts of this bill that need intense scrutiny and the public needs to have a say. I don't think it's fair on us or the public that this new truncated time frame is put together that means we're going to hear it on 20 February. Thank you."