Sio William: Third Readings —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSio William: Third Readings —[Sitting date: 10 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15402. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): It is said that consumer legislation is an important contributor to building consumer confidence and ensuring that successful consumers are participating successfully in our market place and as consumers feel that confidence and are able to interact in the market place they are then able to contribute to a more productive and innovative economy whether it be that they are dealing with goods or services. That is the basis for why we need to have good consumer legislation.I have to say that this Government has failed on so many fronts to be able to provide that confidence to our communities. Well let me just give the other side some examples. This Government has presided over the worst ever economic period. It has presided over the worst economic record in 50 years the doubling of unemployment since 2008 the increasing numbers of Kiwis who have migrated one-way to Australia and we have a continual number—about 40 percent as recently released statistics show—of people working harder and longer but still having to face poverty. That is the result of this Government failing to provide consumer protection and failing to provide confidence to consumers throughout New Zealand.I think that in the last 5 years under this Government our communities—New Zealanders from the far north to the deep south—have continually been screaming at this Government and rightfully so demanding from this lot that they honour their promises made about mana-enhancing legislation their promises of creating 170000 jobs and their promises of providing a brighter future for all New Zealanders they said. Well sadly those demands those calls from our communities the calls for jobs the calls for a living income the calls for affordable homes and the calls for a better quality of life for all have seriously fallen on deaf ears. That is because the people’s issues—New Zealanders’ issues—have not been the priority for this Government. Its priority has always been big business its mates who—Dr Rajen Prasad: Crony capitalism.Su’a WILLIAM SIO: Yes crony capitalism is what my colleague here has said. Its big-business mates have demanded of this Government free unbridled growth and profits. This Government has not put people and the quality of living for all our citizens as its priority. It continues to look after itself and its mates at the expense of Kiwis and it has stopped listening to New Zealanders. It has become arrogant and out of touch.An example is really the series of bills that we are now debating at their third reading. Since this Government came into power the protection of consumers has notbeen its priority. The Government has sat on this legislation for a very long time—in fact from the beginning. What the Government did in the beginning though was to raise this legislation and attempt to pacify the calls from our community for better protection. But the facts remain. The Government has gone through several Ministers of Consumer Affairs to get to this particular point and by my own calculations it has had five Ministers of Consumer Affairs. That is a Minister every year. That is an indication that the consumer affairs portfolio has never been the priority for this Government.So yes it is about time that the Government brought this legislation to the House but sadly for many of the consumers who had huge expectations of this Government right from the start they are quite sorely saddened by the way that the Government has taken its time as an indication that the protection of consumers giving consumers confidence in the market place has never been its priority from the get-go. The Government’s priority has always been its big-business mates. Although my colleagues who have been on the Commerce Committee say that we do need to support this legislation and that there are some good things in the series of bills that is before the House I suspect that the truth of how this legislation provides protection or not to our citizens will depend on how those citizens receive these pieces of legislation.Let me remind the House that very recently—this week—there have been numerous media reports. I want to share with the House one report titled “Loan sharks rob desperate Kiwis. It says: “The head of the country’s biggest credit union has taken a swipe at loan sharks who he says are carrying out ‘legitimised robbery’ of unsuspecting clients. Gavin Earle chief executive of NZCUBaywide said loan sharks were causing despair among the vulnerable desperate and unwary in the community. Mr Earle who is based in Hastings said one lender was openly advertising a daily interest rate of 1.3 per cent per day. ‘That doesn’t sound like much but this equates to an actual rate of 475 per cent per annum. Even worse should you default on your repayments you’re hit with an additional penalty rate of 75 per cent per annum.’ Mr Earle said those rates were ‘fantastic’ if you were the lender but crippling if the borrower.”I do not know whether this piece of legislation is going to give confidence to our consumers to our communities particularly leading up to the Christmas period that there is protection. Some on the other side—I do not know—will hopefully be able to recognise that there are some serious problems that were raised by the community from day one in 2008. I do not know but if they were genuine and serious about taking consumer rights and consumer protection seriously then hopefully their piece of legislation is going to provide some of that protection as raised by Mr Gavin Earle of NZCUBaywide.A woman from Whangarei who got $4000 worth of electrical equipment on credit in 2009 has since paid more than $12000 for the goods and she still owes about $2700. This is an example of how people are getting themselves into debt and it has seen a huge increase in demand for budgeting advice services—not just in Whangarei but right through the length and breadth of this country of ours. I have to say that constantly we hear these stories and the Government has heard these stories from 2008 and 2009. The community will have every right to question whether the pieces of legislation that the Government has put before the House today are going to provide the kind of protection as raised by this particular report and provide confidence to our citizens out in the wider community.May I just finish off by saying that members on the other side laughed when I said that in the last 5 years things have worsened for many many communities. I want to say to them that the inequality has worsened and they have presided over that worsening period for people who have no choice and who are forced to try to make some of the most difficult decisions on the meagre incomes that they are earning. That is just notavailable to them through their lack of knowledge through their lack of resources through their lack of jobs and through their lack of income. I would point the finger directly at their Government. That is the Government that is responsible for the struggles that communities are encountering today.Bills read a third time.