Peters Winston: Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill — Second Reading 
Peters Winston: Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4440] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 New Zealand First has had a bill in respect of Easter trading in the members’ ballot system for years now and by some quirk of fate we have not had it selected. So this matter today is very serious for this party. I say that because the effect of our bill is to give local bodies—not central government—the power to make a decision alongside their ratepayers and their electors as to whether for example Sunday trading at Easter is what they want in the local area. In short the effect is to divest power from central government and to give it to local government which is best able to decide what is appropriate for that area. 
I am appalled to find that this legislation is before the House today not because I begrudge Rotorua obtaining this legislation but because Tauranga and Mount Maunganui are a far bigger area than Rotorua. The Tauranga and Mount Maunganui area is about three times the size of Tauranga and it will not be long before we are passing Hamilton. A liner goes there very frequently and 1800-plus come off the liner on a Sunday and cannot shop at Mount Maunganui. 
Rodney Hide 
: Is Margaret Wilson going to fix it? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Margaret Wilson promised the people there she would fix it. This is the Margaret Wilson of course who puts out reports under the headline “Margaret Wilson MP for Tauranga”. This is Margaret Wilson’s report and she calls herself the MP for Tauranga. It is totally false. For 4 years or longer she has promised the people of Tauranga she would do something about this. Here we are now— 
Hon Margaret Wilson 
: You can. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: No I cannot. It is a member’s bill. It has to be drawn from the ballot. The bill has to be drawn from the ballot. That member knows full well that I cannot amend Steve Chadwick’s bill. I cannot add Tauranga to it. 
Hon Margaret Wilson 
: You can do what she does. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: OK then here is what I move and Margaret Wilson can give me the answer. I seek to move by way of leave the following: That the report of the Commerce Committee on the Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill be supported in its entirety and the following provisions pertaining to Easter Sunday trading within the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act 1990 be added for the benefit of all New Zealand. All that says is that this matter will be decided by the local body. I seek to table that. Before I finish I will ask members whether they are prepared to support it so that the Tauranga District Council can in concert with its own people and its own businesses decide whether we will have shopping on Easter Sunday. If other local bodies wish to do the same it will be decided by those local bodies. 
Can there be any member in this House opposed to the fairness of that? I do not say that we have the say; I say give the local bodies the say. I have been challenged by Margaret Wilson to do something about it and I just have. Let us not see this Labour Party or any of its so-called allies—[ 
Interruption 
] Do not back off now! The Attorney-General—this “MP for Tauranga”—said I should do something. I have tried every which way. In fact just 2 years ago—[ 
Interruption 
]—the member should not get into a lather—Margaret Wilson came along with an amendment to the shop trading hours. Margaret Wilson came along to Parliament with a bill and said— 
David Benson-Pope 
: If it involves work Winston won’t do it. Too much like hard work. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Look solar dome keep quiet—the member might learn something. There is that arrogant whip over there. He beats his gums every day. He is a useless member for Dunedin. He is absolutely hopeless. He will never go further than he is now. He has no chance. It is just a sinecure for an old guy. 
Rodney Hide 
: He’s an old man in a hurry. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: He is an old man in a hurry. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Come back to the bill. You have had your interjection and reply. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: He can keep quiet when I am talking. I was saying that Margaret Wilson came to the House with a bill to extend Easter trading. Do members remember? What did she do? She gave it to garden centres or nurseries. We sought to amend that and she voted it down. That is a fact. It is in  
Hansard 
. It is no use the Minister shaking her head. The Minister and her colleagues voted that bill down. The Council of Trade Unions got to them. That is what happened. 
I am reading about this bill introduced by her colleague that the view of the committee dominated as it is by the Government was: “We do not consider it to be advantageous to contribute to an already muddled area by recommending to pass a bill that provides a limited exception”. Limited! It is just Rotorua and that is it. It is not fair and it is not right. How can anyone support Rotorua and not support Tauranga’s case? I do not argue for Tauranga and Mount Maunganui alone. I am saying let our local bodies decide. Let local government decide in consultation with its businesses and ratepayers. Who can be opposed to that? 
We will find out today just how sincere the Attorney-General is. She puts out a four-page report— 
Margaret Wilson MP Reports 
. “Promoting Tauranga” is the first heading. 
Steve Chadwick 
: A busy Minister. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: That is New Zealand’s best-kept secret. The report states “Growing the Economy” but apparently not for Tauranga or Mount Maunganui. Here is another heading: “Keeping our Word”. She promised to do something about it. [ 
Interruption 
] It is no use saying “Winston this” and “Winston that.” Winston won by 11000 votes. 
Steve Chadwick 
: That’s right. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I know it is right. We had a bit of a blip in 1999 but by Jeez it has changed already. Here is another heading: “Margaret Out and About”. She will be out and not about if she will not support this legislation. I seek to move by way of leave the following: That the report of the Commerce Committee on the Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill be supported in its entirety and the following provisions pertaining to Easter Sunday trading within the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal Act be added for the benefit of all New Zealand. All that my bill states is that we should let the decision in respect of trading at Easter be made by local government. 
We are going to support the MP for Rotorua’s bill. How can we oppose it? But I am asking that member how she can in all conscience expect this House to have any sense of credibility when her colleague did her utmost to stop Tauranga and Mount Maunganui— 
Steve Chadwick 
: I tried to get you in on it. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I know. I thank Steve Chadwick for that. But all I am asking is how she can be happy with her colleagues who are saying that in the case of Rotorua it is justified in the case of Rotorua we will ignore the Council of Trade Unions in the case of Rotorua we will ignore everything else but in the case of Tauranga and Mount Maunganui—one of New Zealand’s if not New Zealand’s fastest-growing provincial— 
Rodney Hide 
: A great place. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: It is a great place and it is going places except it is being hamstrung by this Parliament and by a list member who promised the heavens and has delivered nothing whatsoever. 
I seek leave to introduce the bill that I have referred to in this debate.