Cosgrove Clayton: General Debates 
Cosgrove Clayton: General Debates 
[Volume:613;Page:10160] 
CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
In the spirit of charitableness I want to congratulate Mr Brownlee on his elevation to the deputy leadership of the National Party. When he was a woodwork teacher at St Bede’s College he could not quite get his angles right when making a cutting board but I am told by his colleagues that he was very very useful with a Skilsaw. We saw that with regard to Nick Smith this week. There sit Gerry Brownlee and Don Brash—sort of bubble and squeak whim and wham or Gerry and the Pacemakers; and my word they need a few over there! Don Brash needs his batteries recharged.  
As I did last week I want to concentrate on the would-be coalition partner of a National Government—if one ever gets on to the Treasury benches—because it deserves some scrutiny. Once again I want to talk about the party with form—the ACT party! I refer again to Alister Taylor and the controversy surrounding Deborah Coddington. In my speech last week I outlined the labyrinth of companies that we are told by the Companies Office Mr Taylor has set up five of which Miss Coddington is still a director of—a labyrinth of publishing companies with similar names and against which there are a whole host of accusations about not supplying books to the good folk who paid for them on this side of the Tasman and in Australia. I hope the media are listening.  
Then there is the company that does not exist—the company listed in the documents I tabled last week called New Zealand Who’s Who Publications 2004 Ltd. I think that Miss Coddington owes this House some explanations about her conduct as a former director and also as a person who transferred her shares from the holding company that controls a number of those entities to Mr Taylor and another family member in January of this year. I say to Miss Coddington that she as ACT’s spokesperson on consumer affairs owes this House an explanation. It is no good her saying that she as a director of those companies—companies that have rorted people for years—suddenly has amnesia concerning the shares she transferred a few months ago. I ask her why all those companies have similar names. Why is there a company that does not exist—one that we will never find on the companies register? That company never existed yet its name is on a document that was sent to many members of this Parliament soliciting money and asking for biographical details for a publication published by a company that does not exist. Why all the name changes? I ask Miss Coddington whether all these companies had separate bank accounts. Did they all file proper and individual tax returns? Did they flick business from one entity to another or from one company to another in order to disguise debts that we now know are riddled around this nation?  
As Miss Coddington’s paedophile index books were published by Mr Taylor I ask her whether they were paid for out of funds that should have been returned to other Kiwis who bought other publications that were never supplied to them by Mr Taylor. Were they paid for off the back of those people who are now owed money by Mr Taylor for publications they never received? How many small businesses and small printers—we know some are owed $5000 here and $3000 there—did Miss Coddington and Mr Taylor put out of business because they did not pay their debts? Of course Miss Coddington is none other than ACT’s spokesperson on small business. 
Rod Donald 
: And consumer affairs. 
CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: Yes she is also ACT’s spokesperson on consumer affairs. As ACT’s spokesperson on consumer affairs and on small business Miss Coddington has a conflict of interest because she is riddled with these allegations. At the very least she should resign those portfolios. Why did she volunteer to take them up? I say to Miss Coddington that the ACT party should publish an atonement index listing all the people that were rorted scammed intimidated and bullied by the ACT party. Maybe we should have an atonement index and maybe Mr Taylor should publish it; but this time maybe we should ensure he sends it out to the people who actually pay for it. The ACT party is the party of rorts. I ask Mr Hide—I pose this question knowing that other members have posed it in the past but we have never had an answer—whether he is being paid by third parties to be in this House.