Curran Clare: Securities Trustees and Statutory Supervisors Bill — In Committee 
Curran Clare: Securities Trustees and Statutory Supervisors Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:671;Page:17723] 
CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South) 
: 
 I will address Part 3 of the Securities Trustees and Statutory Supervisors Bill which contains clauses 43B to 50. The bill gives the Securities Commission the power to require a trustee statutory supervisor or unit trustee to attest to the commission as to whether the trustee or supervisor is satisfied that an issuer has not breached an issuer obligation in a material aspect. If the trustee statutory supervisor or unit trustee is unable to do so the trustee or supervisor must report details of the issuer’s breach or possible breach to the commission. A duty is imposed on a trustee statutory supervisor or unit trustee who believes that an issuer has breached may have breached or is likely to breach an issuer obligation to report the breach to the commission and advise the commission of any steps the trustee or supervisor intends to take. 
I will go back to the important points we have made about the bill its complexity and the fact that it is coming at the wrong time. The bill is premature and does not address some very important underlying issues. Although Labour supports the bill as members have heard we want to know—and we would like the Minister the Hon Simon Power to address some of the wider issues that the bill has raised and that have been talked about by a number of my colleagues—why it could not have waited to be wrapped up with the Securities Act reforms and follow the establishment of the Financial Markets Authority. 
I will refer back to some of the principles that should underline the legislation on the role of trustees and statutory supervisors. I will refer to a speech my colleague the Hon Lianne Dalziel gave on 30 August last year where she referenced five key objectives that should underpin a financial services authority’s legislative framework. The principles are important core principles that relate to the bill and that have reference to every part of the bill including Part 3. The principles essentially were about market confidence and maintaining confidence in the financial system. 
Another principle was public awareness. We have talked about public awareness with regard to financial literacy and promoting public understanding of the financial system which is of critical importance and is not being addressed in the bill. I am interested to know the Minister’s views on how that will be addressed. 
Other principles were about financial stability contributing to the protection and enhancement of our financial system; consumer protection securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and—going back to one of the key reasons for the legislation and the other legislation it is associated with the Financial Markets (Regulators and KiwiSaver) Bill—a reduction in financial crime reducing the extent to which it is possible for any business to be used with a purpose connected with financial crime. Those principles and objectives should underpin all reforms in this area. 
One of the things we have concerns about which we have expressed on a number of occasions today particularly and in previous discussions on the bill is that those wider principles are not addressed in the legislation. The legislation is back to front and it is being passed ahead of other decisions that will impact on the whole regulatory framework.