White HelenHELEN WHITE (Labour): It's a pleasure to take a call in this rather exciting debate where we really are unravelling the difference between our parties tonight because what I read is quite different from what Mr Bayly reads. Mr Bayly seems to think that there is some sort of conscription in this. In fact what this actually does is it says that a director may when they're taking the best interests of their company into account—their company—they can look at things—Andrew Bayly: They can do that now. HELEN WHITE: —like good employment they can look at the interests of their communities and—yes Mr Bayly you are quite right—they can do that now. But as you would have heard from the ACT Party there are some people who believe that they can't and I want to tell you a real story about this. I want to take a moment of solemnity because when Pike River happened what I actually got told by a relative—and let's face it we've all got relatives like this—was that it was OK that that happened because it had maximised the profits for that company and that company was working in the best interests of its shareholders. Now that is the classic mistake that's made which is that they had disregarded the safety of those workers for the profit motive. In fact none of us—none of us—in this House believe that that is right because actually a company has many obligations and these obligations are not inconsistent with best interests. What Dr Duncan Webb is doing is making it very clear that people have a right to run their business in a modern way and that modern governance theory has been around for a while but we have some people in this House who seem to be stuck back in perhaps the 1970s rather than even the 1980s. Actually it is time to grow up because the consequences of that kind of thinking were so terrible in this society. We had people employing people at really low wages which was unsustainable. Now we have the living wage and that's the difference between our parties. For those who are listening we had employers employing people at the bare bones and destroying communities. We had things like Pike River happen because people weren't inspecting the mines. People disregarded the rules to maximise profits. That sort of thing is totally unacceptable in my book and it is not Brand New Zealand". It is not going to make our economy better and stronger in the future. This bill will. This bill will make something really simple happen: we will all actually realise that these companies are a device we use to limit liability. But the people who use them are actually still very much human beings with many many needs and interests and they will produce businesses that meet the needs of their communities that address the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi that are actually concerned with employing on a fair and equitable basis and none of us will be worse off for it. I have left the best for last: they will need to address environmental concerns. That is our absolute premium need particularly this week when we have COP27 going on in Egypt and we are behind in our needs in this area. So it is extremely important that every business in New Zealand knows that if it wants to prioritise—and I wish it would—the environment at the top of its list over and above profit in fact if necessary then it can do so. This bill reinforces a culture that has grown and has been a damned good culture in New Zealand a growing culture I am proud of and that is absolutely wedded to the values of the Labour Party because that's what we stand for. We stand for modern good businesses that do a good job for everybody in this society not just a few who will cream the profit off the top. That is why I thank Dr Duncan Webb for his wonderful bill and I can see the point of reinforcing that when there is such a grey area in so many people's minds about it. We now are crystal clear that this is the modern way. We're going to do this better. Companies and directors will be able to actually address the best interests as they see them and Dr Webb you encourage them to do that in this bill. I commend this bill to the House."