Gosche Mark: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Gosche Mark: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:626;Page:21684] 
Hon MARK GOSCHE (Labour—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 This is an interesting debate. If one was listening to this debate one would think that the Opposition parties might have taken their opportunity in the Law and Order Committee to do the work that they get paid for by the taxpayer. They have all stood up and said: Woe is me this bill doesn’t go far enough. It’s not tough enough. We want to send it back for another go.” Well I read the commentary on the bill from the select committee. Who is on that select committee? The members are Martin Gallagher a very good chair Marc Alexander the deputy chair and a very conscientious man Georgina Beyer Brian Connell of the National Party Ann Hartley Mahara Okeroa Ron Mark and the Hon Tony Ryall. I read the committee’s membership and I looked for the minority report that stated the Opposition disagreed with this bill because it did not go hard enough and tough enough and did not do enough. What did I find? Nothing—absolutely nothing. 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: They are lazy. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: Well either the Opposition members are lazy or they do not know how to do their jobs. They are still learning on the job and expect to be paid full wages. They still expect to be paid full wages yet they did nothing—absolutely nothing. 
The failure to provide a minority report was not because the Opposition members on the committee had insufficient time. The public came along and gave 1 hour and 9 minutes of evidence. That committee considered the submissions for 9 hours and 2 minutes. I think the 2 minutes was probably what the Opposition members did and the 9 hours was what the Government members did. Now the Opposition members whinge and moan and come here to the House and say the bill is not tough enough. Well who is going to take them seriously? Nobody could take them seriously. That is why they are the Opposition—because they are too lazy too incompetent and too hopeless to have actually done the job in the select committee that they said needed to be done. Who stopped them? Did anybody say that no they could not do that? Did anybody from the Opposition say that if they did not like the bill the way it was they as members of Parliament could put a minority report in even if they were voting for the bill? Even if a member is voting for a bill he or she can say that it is not tough enough. 
The Opposition members on that select committee need to take lessons from Maurice Williamson. He is on the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee which I chair and he said he thought the Government had done a good job on a bill but that National would go a little further than the Government so it would put that in the report. Maybe Maurice Williamson needs to run a seminar for the Opposition members to show them how to do the job properly because I think they are hopeless and so does the public. 
This is a competent Government which is doing an excellent job and saying to people who have broken the law that they will not get away with it. It is telling people they cannot go for their holidays to Australia and come back and get away with it any more with a big fine owing. If they do not pay up they will not be going. That is the simple truth. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: That is not what the bill states. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: That does not suit Tony Ryall—no no. Tony Ryall says he would not do anything because when he was the Minister the size of the millions was only half the present amount. He sat back took his salary drove around the country and pretended he was important but he did nothing. He would do nothing again if the country ever gave him the chance. 
Jill Pettis 
: They won’t. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: People will not do that. This is good legislation from a good Minister and it states to people that we are fixing the issue. Can we fix it? Yes we can.