Nash Stuart: Commerce Commission (International Co-operation and Fees) Bill — First Reading 
Nash Stuart: Commerce Commission (International Co-operation and Fees) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:663;Page:11277] 
STUART NASH (Labour) 
: 
 I find myself in the unusual position this sitting period of standing to support a Government bill—that is the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation and Fees) Bill. The reason I say this is that the tax legislation supporting the Budget was definitely one of those pieces of legislation for the few and not the many. The Budget delivered massive tax cuts to the most wealthy Kiwis whilst delivering practically nothing for ordinary New Zealand families and households. 
John Hayes 
: That’s dishonest. 
STUART NASH 
: No no it did deliver something; it delivered GST increases and it delivered huge inflation. But anyway— 
John Hayes 
: That’s dishonest. 
STUART NASH 
: Dishonest? Does that member want to know what dishonest is? The phrase “I will not increase GST” is dishonest. 
This bill is another one of those bills that was originally introduced by my colleague the Hon Lianne Dalziel in 2008 and is now in the name of the Hon Simon Power. In fact I wonder what Simon Power will do when the rest of Lianne Dalziel’s legislation gets passed because I think this bill is the second bill of Lianne Dalziel’s that I have spoken on in the last month. I ask Mr Power whether there are any more of her bills to come before the House or whether this is the last one of hers that he has adopted. I must admit I found it quite amusing when a couple of the National speakers stood up and said this bill was the centrepiece of the National policy of driving economic growth. Well it is a Labour bill for goodness’ sake! There is no doubt about it Lianne Dalziel was a very busy Minister and that is great. 
As already outlined the proposal in this bill is part of the work programme for supporting a memorandum of understanding on business law coordination with Australia. The current memorandum of understanding was signed by Lianne Dalziel and Australia’s Peter Costello in 2006. That memorandum of understanding was a centrepiece of the single economic market agenda with Australia which explicitly recognises the trends towards international convergence and the regulation of financial markets and business regulation. If members opposite would choose to listen they might learn something. Apparently this is part of National’s economic agenda. Well it was Labour’s economic agenda for 9 years. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: It’s too late for John Hayes to learn. 
STUART NASH 
: The member is dead right; it is too late for John Hayes to learn but he should listen and he might learn something. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: That’s unlikely. 
STUART NASH 
: The member is dead right. It is unlikely. This bill is most important considering what we have seen recently in both our domestic and international markets due to what many would perceive as a fundamental breakdown in the regulatory framework governing the investment banking sector and the shadow banking system especially in the United States. But we were not immune by any stretch of the imagination. Countless numbers of Kiwis lost thousands of dollars and some of them lost their life-savings due to the unscrupulous behaviour of some true rogues. 
The crisis and the resulting recession of the last couple of years was not just a case of problems associated with financial deregulation even though this did not help. According to Professor Krugman himself a Nobel Laureate it involved risks undertaken by institutions that were never regulated in the first place. Although this bill does not deal with this specific issue head-on it is one piece of the legislative jigsaw that is needed to guard the future security of the world’s citizens from unscrupulous and predatory behaviour on behalf of those who seek to rip the heart out of our communities. It is an important step in the process of tightening the regulatory environment by providing an efficient regime that facilitates enhanced cooperation between the commission and overseas regulators whilst ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place to address public interest considerations. 
As has been mentioned this bill aligns us with Australia which passed similar legislation in 2007. This is an important bill in terms of regulatory and economic alignment which was introduced by Labour. The Australians actually thought it very important legislation in terms of developing a regulatory framework in line with international best practice. I suppose the question must be asked why if the Australians thought this legislation so important—and I think it is as well; I agree with that—it has taken Mr Power so long to bring this bill before the House. 
Hon Simon Power 
: I’ve had a bit on actually. 
STUART NASH 
: A bit on? We have been under urgency passing legislation for secondhand-car dealers and that sort of carry-on. Now we are talking about financial regulation between New Zealand and Australia. I would have thought that was quite important. We have had numerous periods of urgency under this Government debating various bills that one could argue very successfully I think do not have nearly the positive impact that this bill does. So much for the rhetoric around increasing productivity and harmony with Australia or aligning the regulatory framework and providing protection for ordinary New Zealanders! Anyway here we are. 
This bill provides powers for the Commerce Commission to use its statutory tools to provide assistance to overseas competition or consumer regulators with investigations. 
Carol Beaumont 
: What a good idea! 
STUART NASH 
: It is a very good idea. The bill will promote more effective and efficient enforcement of competition and consumer protection law in the global economy. 
In this age of globalisation New Zealand needs to ensure that we are at the cutting edge of regulation designed to ensure that our citizens never again are taken advantage of as they were by the shady characters running the shonky finance companies preying on the elderly and the vulnerable. 
Although we will never be able to totally eliminate that risk we can put legislation in place to at least mitigate the risk. This bill is one of those pieces of legislation. It is a fundamental part of the Labour philosophy of looking after the many and not the few. That does not refer to just developing a fairer tax system that benefits all Kiwis not the lucky few. It is backed up by a regulatory framework that serves and protects the many from the few. It is quite interesting because we are talking about New Zealand and Australian alignment of regulation here and who would have imagined 10 years ago that a man who had defrauded thousands of New Zealanders out of millions of dollars will today fly back from his Sydney penthouse each time he has to serve his community service sentence? It would almost be comical if it was not so obscene. 
Closer economic alignment with Australia while still maintaining our economic sovereignty which of course is very important is another important platform of Labour’s economic and foreign affairs philosophy. This bill is about best practice and as I have mentioned follows the signing of a joint agreement between the Hon Lianne Dalziel and Peter Costello. We all know the Prime Minister bangs on about catching up with Australia which is what this bill is about yet this Government would not even let a bill on compulsory redundancy which is law in Australia go to a select committee in order to let the public have their say. Whilst the Australian Government increases worker superannuation this Government cuts the Cullen fund and continues to erode workers’ rights. 
This bill will help build relationships between New Zealand and Australia but what would really help cement a relationship is closer alignment of worker pay and conditions. I note with interest how oil workers in New Zealand have received a massive pay increase in order to align them with their Australian counterparts who are doing the same job. The path to economic prosperity is not tax cuts for the most fortunate but increasing salaries and wages. As anyone who knows anything about economics economic history and philosophy will understand there is a direct correlation between wage rates and productivity. This bill complements a trans-Tasman treaty on court proceedings that was signed by—you guessed it—not the Hon Simon Power but Lianne Dalziel when Labour was in Government. That bill is currently before a select committee I understand. That bill concentrates on enforcement and this bill aims to facilitate mutual assistance during the investigative stages through to enforcement proceedings. This is a good bill a helpful bill a constructive bill and a focused bill. It is a Labour bill and I commend it to the House.