Banks John: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Banks John: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 20 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8716. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon JOHN BANKS (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 By the look on David Cunliffe’s face it was him who found the lost cash. It was him who found the lost cash. David Cunliffe is so happy he has found—is it $50000 or $100000? He looks so happy he has found the lost cash. I want to ask my National Party colleagues a simple question. How much money does a Labour Party leader need in a bank account before the Labour Party leader knows he has money in a bank account? 
Scott Simpson 
: $1 million. 
Hon JOHN BANKS 
: One million dollars? Fifty thousand dollars? Five hundred thousand dollars? I want to ask the Labour Party heavyweight-lightweight the deputy leader of the Labour Party this question: where did this money come from? Where did Mr Shearer’s money come from that was in the secret bank account in New York? Where did Mr Shearer get this money from in the first place? [ 
Interruption 
] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! Can I just say to members that chaos may be fruitful in furthering some forms of management but it will not be parent to good order in this House. What I want is good order. 
Hon JOHN BANKS 
: I want to ask the deputy leader of the Labour Party this question: is he absolutely convinced that this cash in this secret bank account was absolutely legitimate? Was this cash in this secret bank account absolutely legitimate? Was this cash in this secret bank account money earned? What was the origin of this secret cash in this secret bank account? Otherwise why would you not tell the parliamentary register that you had a secret bank account? Why would you tell the Inland Revenue Department—and by the way I do not take it on face value that Mr Shearer has told the Inland Revenue Department; Mr Shearer says he has told the Inland Revenue Department—but not tell Parliament? Mr Shearer has told the Inland Revenue Department he had $100000 $500000 $1 million or whatever it is in his secret bank account but at the same time he did not tell Parliament’s register that he had $500000 $1 million or whatever in a secret bank account. So I want to know that from Mr Shearer. 
He demands accountability. He said last year that any member with a memory lapse was not worthy of public office—any member with a memory lapse was not worthy of holding public office—and the rooster is still in the job today. David Cunliffe is upset although he looks like he has found the cash because he knows there is more knife-sharpening here today in the Labour caucus than there is at The Mad Butcher. 
For 4 years David Shearer remembered to tell the Inland Revenue Department that he had a secret bank account in New York. And what about his ability on finances? He tells the register he has got a home in Mount Albert with a mortgage on it. He will be paying 5.75 percent interest. He has got a secret bank account in New York getting 1.5 percent interest and he does not pay off his mortgage in Mount Albert. And he wants to look after the mortgages of this country. That is the financial reasoning behind that member. 
I have got a question today. I want to ask Mr Shearer the leader of the Labour Party a simple question. Come to this Parliament and produce evidence in this Parliament of where he received that money that is in the secret bank account that he has been hiding in New York for 5 years. Where did he get the money from? Produce evidence that it has been legitimately earned by him and placed in a secret bank account. Why else would he hide the money? Tell me. Give me one reason why else the leader of the Labour Party would hide $50000 $100000 $500000 $1 million—we do not know—in a secret bank account in New York if he was not hiding something. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Because he forgot. 
Hon JOHN BANKS 
: Oh because he forgot. But he did not forget to tell the Inland Revenue Department that he had a secret bank account in New York; he forgot to tell the parliamentary register. This is what he said. Listen to this carefully—[ 
Interruption 
] Listen to what he said. Listen to what he said. [ 
Interruption 
] Listen to what he said. He said that any member who has a memory lapse is not worthy of holding public office and the rooster is still in charge of the Labour Party chickens today. I mean that is—[ 
Bell rung 
]