Luxton JoJO LUXTON (Labour): Thanks very much Madam Deputy Speaker for the opportunity to speak on this piece of legislation the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Bill. It's this type of legislation that makes me really proud to be a parliamentarian and have the ability as a member of the coalition Government and also actually just a member of Parliament to make changes to legislation that's actually going to better the lives of people in New Zealand and particularly some of those that are the most vulnerable people here in New Zealand. So I am really proud to stand in support of this amendment and I commend Minister Faafoi for bringing this piece of legislation to the House.So we know that the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act was last amended in 2015. Some of what was put in place then didn't quite go far enough and we understand that people within our society are still being harmed by credit providers and these mobile truck shops that we've been talking about this afternoon. So this piece of legislation goes even further to bring in harsher penalties and actually better rules and regulations about these people and what they can do. This piece of legislation also complements a suite of other pieces of legislation that the coalition Government has been bringing in which all in all leads to enabling the people of New Zealand to have better lives—such as things like lifting the minimum wage winter energy payments and so on and so forth.Ultimately though this bill protects consumers and often our most vulnerable consumers. We know that a lot of people in New Zealand don't have access to credit cards. Some people potentially have poor credit and obtaining credit finance from credit providers is often the only way that they are going to be able to meet certain bills that come in—for example there might be a family who are struggling financially and they have an unexpected cost. They're not going to be able to go to their bank for a loan so they'll go to a credit provider and borrow the money—quite easily at this current point in time—and end up owing a lot more money. So for example something that might only cost a few hundred dollars initially can spiral into a debt of thousands and thousands of dollars that that family potentially can never ever escape from. What we do know is that things like this end up being inter-generational.We have parents who at the beginning of a school year struggle to pay for their children's school uniforms and again this could be the type of situation where people look to these types of lenders for credit. What we do know though is that whilst we see there is a legitimate business need for people who provide these sorts of services they must do it in a way that is appropriate—that ensures that the money that people are borrowing from them that they are able to afford to pay it back. We just don't want to see some of our most vulnerable people continue to spiral deeper and deeper into debt that they will not be able to escape from.What I do think is really important is that within this piece of legislation mobile traders and private sector lending practices are going to be brought more into line with other financial service providers such as banks. So we know that the directors and senior managers are going to have to pass a fit and proper test before they can be registered on the Financial Service Providers Register and be able to lend money or provide credit to people. We are going to have an interest and fees cap of 100 percent of the principal loan which I think is essential so that it stops people having to pay penalties or pay additional costs when they need to continue to re-borrow perhaps to pay that existing debt. So I think that's a huge step in the right direction.Again I'm very very pleased to stand here and take a call on this piece of legislation—a piece of legislation that is going to enable people to make better financial decisions I think in the long run and put some responsibility also back on to our mobile truck shops and credit lenders.