Willis ScottSCOTT WILLIS (Green): Kia ora thank you Mr Speaker. I thought I was number three but thank you for the opportunity to talk on the Business Payment Practices Act Repeal Bill. We have become used to the coalition Government's desire to seek some fabled idyll where the lowly classes know their place. Oliver Twist asked for a second helping of gruel and he was deemed not only impertinent but considered unworthy a criminal and a sinner. What impertinence our small-business owners have to expect to be paid on time for work completed and product supplied! The coalition Government seems to want our small-business owners our innovators our risk takers to doff their hats and to scrape and bow to big business. Our small businesses are grappling with challenging economic conditions and this repeal will simply harm them further. Again like so much that is undemocratic this repeal is being pushed through under urgency which denies the voices of small businesses to be heard through the select committee process. What is it that the Minister fears so much from small businesses? What is it that the Minister fears so much from public scrutiny? Does the coalition really think that urgency is required to pass legislation on business payments? What purpose does urgency serve other than to deny small businesses a voice? It seems the Government's so enamoured with urgency that every little thing is going to proceed through this way. The Minister claims the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment is concerned but really he just loves urgency? doesn't he. Personally I would like to hear from those small businesses who are the backbone of our economy and are currently facing the harsh realities of high interest rates and soaring inflation that is being fuelled by this Government. Whether it's plant-based soap or candles or cleaning products or engineering services or intellectual property innovators our risk takers are the ones that are doing it tough and our small-business owners deserve to be paid on time and in full. The Business Payments Practices Act was to provide a lifeline in difficult times to alleviate the bullying by big business that we've just heard. We need to foster an environment that encourages timely payments and this is going to leave small businesses with less information less transparency in a period of economic turmoil. When I ran my own consultancy I had a good contract with a significant company who did not pay on time and when that payment was missed it took months for the payment to come through. I had to cover not only overheads but subcontractor costs and I carried the risk the stress the hit on income despite completing the work. The examples of small businesses carrying the big boys are so so many. I know of an energy start-up that won a contract with a big company and that enabled it to expand. But when the contract payments didn't come through the founders of the energy start-up had to forgo their income to cover overheads just to keep the company afloat to cover wages. Small businesses who have a modest number of clients take on a huge risk when they take on a contract with these irresponsible bullying big companies and it becomes a serious problem—like the Dunedin engineering firm having to cover $100000 of debt from Macraes mines. They struggle they struggle incredibly and this Government is arguing that the Business Payments Practices Act imposes compliance costs on New Zealand businesses. Good businesses are willing and able to honour contracts and be active and responsive. A good business will pay attention to their obligations each and every day. This is not hurting good businesses. The Business Payments Practices Act was designed to rectify a power imbalance between large corps and small and medium enterprises to help those who want to do better; to do a culture change. And there's a staggering cost to our economy and our small businesses due to late payments. Research from the Institute of Economic Research has shed light on the problem and suggests it's $456 million annually—annually. National has talked big about getting Aotearoa back on track—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The member's time has come to an end.