Little Andrew: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLittle Andrew: General Debate[Sitting date: 04 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10756. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition): That last speaker Amy Adams should pay more attention. She did not realise that her party has nicked our provisional tax policy which we put out a year ago. It has drummed it up and called it its own. What I can say is of course the Government’s is hardly as good as ours.The real question right now because character is important in leadership and Government is: when will the prevarication the dissembling the dancing around the truth really end for this Government and this Prime Minister? Yet again we have seen exactly where this Government’s priorities lie: it is concerned solely about those at the top. Why will the Prime Minister not just be straight about his conversations over foreign trusts? The reason why this issue about foreign trusts is important is that they are a device for those who own them to avoid paying tax in their home countries. We should not be part of it.It all started off with the Panama Papers where I think for most New Zealanders we found out for the first time that there are 12000 foreign trusts in New Zealand—12000 people living overseas with trusts here avoiding their responsibilities to their home countries and most New Zealanders are horrified by that and think it is disgraceful. We also learnt that there are 60000 references to New Zealand in the Panama Papers. We know there is another dump due soon so we will see what that means. But when it comes to the close personal adviser to the Prime Minister and his role in the foreign trust industry then it gets very interesting.At the end of 2014 the Inland Revenue Department said it was going to conduct a review of foreign trusts no doubt because the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department has a good reputation for having a tax system that is one of integrity. That is why the department wanted to review it. It was concerned about it. On 2 December 2014 Mr Whitney wrote to the Minister of Revenue after having spoken to the Prime Minister saying that the Prime Minister had told him that the foreign trusts would stay protected and he asked for a meeting with that Minister. Eight hours later—8 hours later—the Minister of Revenue replied and arranged to make a time to meet. They then met less than 2 weeks later. The Minister received a briefing about foreign trusts then he had a meeting with Mr Whitney and the undertaking was given that there will be no review of foreign trusts—there will be no review of foreign trusts.Let us remember what the Prime Minister said of his close personal adviser. He said the reason why he uses him is that he is highly ethical and the Prime Minister said: “I don’t deal with people unless they are highly ethical and they do things well.” Well surprise surprise. What happened to Mr Whitney? He got tied up in a court case where he has been involved in setting up a trust for a bankrupt so he can conduct business without the oversight of the Companies Office. He set up a sham trust for a property developer and then Mr Whitney failed to disclose it to the authorities who were investigating the bankrupt. When he was asked whether he thought it was a good idea to set up a sham trust for a bankrupt this is what Mr Whitney said: “Oh no not particularly. It’s a common thing for people to do. It may not be morally as white as it could be but it is normal practice.” This is the world of foreign trusts. This is the world of the greedy. And this is the matter that goes to character. That is why the Prime Minister needs to be straight about his conversations and what happened and about why the review was ditched. This is an important issue and it has now tied up the Government and tying up this Government and New Zealanders’ trust and confidence in it.I want to tell you about what Labour is focused on—what our priorities are. They are about looking after real New Zealanders who have real problems. We do not need 42000 children going into hospital each year because of bronchial conditions and health issues caused by unhealthy homes. That is why I will be proud to give an introduction speech on my bill tonight and talk to it—to give a guarantee to those children and their families that they can have healthy homes if the Government has a will to support it. That is what New Zealand is about: looking after those who do not have much who ask only to have good healthy standards and a warm safe dry home to live in so that they are not having to trot off to hospital and every other taxpayer has to meet the cost of it.That is what this is about. We are focused on the priorities for making New Zealand a great place for every New Zealander not just on looking out for those at the top.