Kedgley Sue: Local Government Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
Kedgley Sue: Local Government Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:632;Page:3735] 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 During the first reading debate in this House Minister Burton confessed that this legislation would not stop a dog from biting a child. That is what he said. Therefore we have to ask why we are debating this bill today. It is time in this Committee to admit we got it wrong. We have got a number of bills wrong and we should admit that we have got this bill wrong and move on from it. It has happened in the past. We do not doubt that the bill came with good intentions. The Minister said that it was with the best of intentions that the bill was developed. We were all thoroughly alarmed about the heart-tugging case that involved Carolina Anderson and we tugged at our heartstrings for all the right reasons. We passed the wrong legislation and we have had time to reflect on it so let us admit we got it wrong. 
The other point is that when we get legislation wrong in this Parliament there tends to be a rising tide of opposition to it. That is exactly what we have seen all around New Zealand. Sensible councils all over New Zealand are saying that the bill is unenforceable and stupid. I ask members to guess what happens when a large proportion of society is opposed to legislation. The answer is that it does not work. We have seen that happen with cannabis and with many other laws. When legislation is widely opposed and society thinks it is stupid it does not work. 
Another issue that has not really been widely raised in this debate concerns the comment made in the last debate that National Party members should be microchipped—ha ha! But actually that is not so silly because it could be a case of dogs today and humans tomorrow—members should mark my words. This is surveillance technology. This is Orwellian technology. [ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I remind members about Speaker’s ruling 57/3. 
SUE KEDGLEY 
: The technology of inserting microchips into human beings has moved from the realm of science fiction into a genuine business strategy astonishingly quickly. The technology now has high-profile supporters such as Microsoft chairman Bill Gates; President Bush’s former health secretary; and so forth. Manufacturers standing to benefit from the trend are now targeting workforces in the UK and USA. So we should be quite clear that once we have legitimised this practice for dogs eels and salmon it will be us next. They will make it voluntary first—one cannot get insurance without a microchip—then it will be beneficiaries and then there will be microchipping all over New Zealand. 
A wider issue though is the question of what ever happened to the trusting relaxed friendly New Zealand society. We all trusted each other but now our communities will be running around microchipping dogs. What happened? We used to be a nice trusting society. This is just one symptom of how we seem to be fast turning into an authoritarian Orwellian society. We are rushing around microchipping our dogs when we know it will not work. That is crazy stuff. The Government knows it but it will not back down. 
The Minister said he had reflected long and hard about it and had come round to deciding he agreed with it. In truth the Minister and every other member who does not agree with it—and I am sure there are plenty who do not—have been whipped into line. This has been made part of those parties’ confidence and supply agreements. I say to Gordon Copeland: “Good on you!”. He has tried and he has flailed around but in the end he has been whipped into line because of his party’s confidence and supply agreement. That is all this is about. It is about being whipped into line. Most of those members know that it is wrong and that it will not stop one dog from biting one child. They are putting this stupid legislation through just because they are being pigheaded and do not want to admit that they have got it wrong.