Davidson ReubenREUBEN DAVIDSON (Labour—Christchurch East): Thank you Mr Speaker. I think if we look at this bill the legislation that we're repealing could have been the Look Before You Leap Bill" it could be called the "Know Before You Go Bill" and it could be called the "Knowledge is Power Bill" and that would be good for small business. What this repeal could be called is the "Think Big Bill" or the "Love Big Bill" because this is really the "Save Big Business Money Bill"—that is what it is.I want to start by coming back to one of the pieces of text that I shared in my first speech on this bill just in case some members missed the message in it the first time because I think it's a really important message. It's a message direct from a small business and it's a reminder that our small businesses are all about people. So this is a message: "Running a business is hard. Being an employer is hard. Paying for kai staff rent and the rest; is hard; and spending my time asking to be paid over and over for mahi we've already done … that's … hard!" The message is pretty clear in that transcript from Sachiko who owns Kai Connoisseurs a pretty impressive small business that punches above its weight. It's based in Hampshire Street in the heart of Aranui and it provides not just amazing fry bread although I will go on once again to put it on record that I absolutely recommend that but also jobs—amazing jobs—for the local community and a really really good strong business in that community. The message is really simple: being a small business is hard and please prioritise paying your bills. Now I'd also like to pick up on something that another member said just now in one of their speeches. I'll start by going back to the policy statement on the repeal: "The Act was put in place to address long business-to-business payment times by requiring large entities to disclose their payment practices on a public register."—and this is the bit that I find insulting—"However the Government's view is that most small businesses will not have time to search for payment data on the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's Internet site and that even if they can find it"—even if they can find it—"and interpret it correctly it would be unlikely to impact their decisions about who to do business with." The implication here in my opinion is that we're suggesting—and one member reiterated this in their speech just now—that the people who own and run and are at the heart of our small businesses are somehow not smart enough or clever enough to be able to go online and look at a guide that tells them whether they're going to be paid and whether their business will survive. Now what are they supposed to do instead with that time that they apparently don't have to go online and find that information? They're expected instead to just spend that time waiting for payment—just waiting for payment. I think that's absolutely insulting and I think it really disrespects the tenacity the cleverness the smartness the intellect the passion the commitment and the drive that our small-business owners have. I find that really insulting—really insulting—to our small businesses.Now the other part here which it goes on to say is that "The repeal of the Act will remove compliance costs that would have applied to large entities." and that comes back to the "Love Big Bill". So it makes sure that big business doesn't have to pay any more money to be in business and all of the pressure goes on our small businesses to do whatever they can to survive and "Good luck to them." is the message this bill sends—"Good luck good luck."So coming back to a point that I made earlier and that other members on this side of the House have reiterated ultimately this repeal is of legislation that makes sure 3 percent of businesses provide information to make it easier to make it more viable and to make it sustainable for the 97 percent of small businesses to stay in business and that's in all of our interests. I don't think there'd be a member in this House who would be prepared to suggest it's a good idea for small businesses to fail. Now the Minister also spoke to there being seven other steps that are being taken to support small businesses. Well why not take eight steps? Why not keep this in place and add your seven? If you really believe in backing small business why limit yourself to seven steps? I say take eight. Now—Stuart Smith: What about nine? REUBEN DAVIDSON: The member has suggested nine. He's seen the eight and raised me nine—I'm not going to argue against that. I'd love to know what the suggestion for the ninth is—I would love to—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Gambling in the House! REUBEN DAVIDSON: —know what the suggestion for the ninth is. Now I'm going to read this one more time because I think this is a really really important message to have on record that supports the argument to not repeal this bill: "Running a business is hard. Being an employer is hard. Paying for kai staff rent and the rest; is hard;"—Hon Members: We know. REUBEN DAVIDSON: I'll pause because there are members on that side of the House who holler back and say "We know." They don't say "We know." in the all-inclusive "All members in this House know." They say "We know." in the exclusive "We are the only members of this House who've run or owned or had small businesses"—who've been employers. If there was a show of hands I think that we would see that there are small-business owners and employers in every part of this House and the argument constantly pushed from that side of the House that it's some exclusive little club that only members of those parties in Government have ever been a part of is absolutely a hollow argument. The fact that some of those members have been in small business and want to not do everything—to not take eight steps or nine steps but only seven steps—to support small businesses is I think pretty embarrassing. I would be embarrassed myself to be in this House and be pulling back on legislation like this that sets out to support the small businesses and to support the people because let's not forget that it's easy to talk about small business and it's easy to take the people out of small business but small business and small businesses are people and that's ultimately who we're here to represent and who we are here to support.Now I didn't finish the quote that I was re-reading so I'm going to go back to it. I'm going to pick up from the second line which says "spending my time asking to be paid"—Hon Andrew Bayly: It's going to be a long Friday isn't it? REUBEN DAVIDSON: —"over and over for mahi we've already done well that's … hard!" The fact that members don't even want to hear it—don't even want to hear it. Members just want to holler back rather than hearing the very real testimony of a small-business owner in this House. They want to repeal a bill that sets out to give small business better service and better protection and then they don't even want to hear what those small-business owners have to say. I think that's a concern. I would be a concerned if I was part of a Government that didn't want to hear from small and local businesses. I would be very concerned. With the last 45 seconds that I have—the last 45 seconds that I have—I would like to say that essentially what's happening here is in the David and Goliath battle between small business and big business this repeal takes the slingshot away from David. It says "Go out there and take on Goliath. We won't do anything to help you but good luck. Good luck—good luck." It's the "Good Luck Think Big Love Big Business Repeal Bill" and I think those members should think twice about what they're doing to serve and represent the people who are in small businesses in their community."