Utikere TangiTANGI UTIKERE (Labour—Palmerston North): So observant Madam Speaker—can I thank you and send a kia orana your way. It's a pleasure to rise and speak in support of the Accident Compensation (Interest on Instalment Plans) Amendment Bill. Listening to colleagues all around the House as this bill has progressed through the Parliament and the suggestion that the way in which ACC conducts its business and its functionality needs to enjoy a by all" or multipartisan level of support—it's on that basis that we will be supporting it but there are some caveats that I do want to just very briefly cover off this morning.I think my colleague the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan has just summarised a few key points there that relate to the key differences between essentially the two main Government entities or organisations ACC and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and the point of difference that they've had in terms of interpreting what the current practice is—not just the current practice but the practice that seems to have been adopted over a period of more than 20 years. As my colleague has indicated there is a legislative risk from that. It's always really important I think for the House to spend some time seeking to address legislative risk where possible but on this occasion it really needs to I think be weighed up whether yes there are time sensitivities in needing to progress this but whether the use of the House's time in urgency is a good one for that. Members and people listening and watching—albeit in the morning—will no doubt draw their own conclusions from that.I do want to acknowledge the work that my colleague the Hon Peeni Henare has done on a lot of the groundwork in bringing this legislative change to where it is at the moment. The real question I think is around—and these words have been used in the House already—what is "fair and reasonable" when we're talking about an instalment plan that's been put in place for businesses for small businesses for entities and where they engage in a contractual arrangement around interest rates that would be due on that. What this bill seeks to do is set anything less than six months at an interest rate of zero and then as Dr Xu-Nan has said that the 2.73 percent over the 10-month instalment period is what is effectively the current rate.The fact that we are progressing this legislation through urgency means that it has not been subject to a select committee process and I'm sure we would have heard from those submitters around what it would mean for them. We would have heard from small business entities. We would have heard perhaps from those who have had their own experiences. The deficiency in the process of course at the moment is that we haven't had that opportunity. So to my mind what's really important is when the Minister for ACC is exercising what will be their right under regulation to set what those interest rates for instalment plans will be that they really do consider and actively go about consulting. I do encourage Ministers in the future to reflect on the fact that this is a piece of legislation that has moved through urgency and I think that means that it provides a higher threshold for Ministers to ensure that when they are exercising their regulatory powers and functions they consider the views of the community and others in reaching determinations before they do that.I also think that there is a real need for a degree of incentivisation. My colleague Rachel Boyack touched on this. I absolutely think that is needed because the reality is this: when we look out as to what some of the options are for businesses and others who are finding some financial hardship it's very easy to see a lot of the communications that are out and about and people get locked into particular arrangements where the interest rates are actually quite exorbitant and quite high. So if this is going to be an opportunity that's offered by ACC that's at a fair and reasonable rate that is effectively set by regulation after adequate and appropriate consultation has been met I do think there is a real need and a responsibility on ACC to ensure that the communication with small businesses and entities is such so that they know that this is an absolute opportunity for them and that the rates that are set and are on offer as a result of instalment plans are fair and reasonable.So just in summary I think when we approach matters that concern the Accident Compensation Corporation it is important to ensure a wide range of support by the House but that has to be supplemented and supported by good process. We haven't had the opportunity to engage with the community but I do hope that the Ministers in the future in exercising these regulatory powers consider to consult and do so actively. I commend this bill to the House."