Swain Paul: Securities (Local Authority Exemption) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Swain Paul: Securities (Local Authority Exemption) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15214] 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 This is one of those seemingly strange occasions when everybody in the Committee supports the Securities (Local Authority Exemption) Amendment Bill so we will talk it out endlessly probably down to closure. Many of the reasons for that relate to the importance of the legislation but I suppose also it is to give us a little time to organise ourselves for the maiden speech from our colleague Su’a William Sio which is coming up next. I think my job is to try to provide a little light entertainment— 
Dr Richard Worth 
: Warm-up. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: —to warm up the crowd I think it is called; and significant the crowd is and it is lovely to see them all—before the maiden speech and the pearls of wisdom from our new colleague who is coming in very shortly. I am looking forward to hearing them. I am sure they will be far superior to the pearls of wisdom that people are about to hear from me. 
I will make a couple of comments about what the previous speaker Dr Richard Worth said. We both agree that this is important legislation in order to be able to encourage investment within the local authority scene. He talked about local government stock. I remember the days when we had hospital bonds and local government bonds. They were a good way for people to invest in local authorities. He actually mentioned two dates that I thought were quite significant: 1996 and 1998. He said that unfortunately the Government at the time—I think that is what he said—did not take into account the full consequences of the legislation that came into force in those years which meant that in the end it made it much more difficult for local authorities to access investment. 
The member forgot to say—and it is important for me to remind him of this—that it was a National Government that did that. The member nods; he is saying yes. I do not want to labour the point because I think— 
Hon Member 
: He made a mistake. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: It was just a little mistake. But I think that in one moment in time one can see that a National Government created difficulties for local government investment and a far-reaching long-sighted Labour-led Government is enabling local authorities to get into investment strategies once again. I could talk a lot about the vision of the two parties—probably outside the scope of the bill—but I will not because I thought the member gave a good speech and it would be churlish for me to remind people of the differences between short and long-term vision. It would not be appropriate to do that when we are debating a bill that we all agree with. 
As the member said the legislation is about creating investment opportunities. And he is right to say it will apply mainly to things like transport infrastructure where there are long-term investments. Lots of investment funds are looking for good investment opportunities. We have seen all the difficulties that happen with some of the short-term Blue Chip - type arrangements. So here are good opportunities for people to make investments in local authorities. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Red chippy not blue chippy. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Blue chippy not Blue Chip the Minister of Finance said. That is not one of his better interjections. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: I said “red chippy”. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Oh I see—“Red chippy not blue chippy.” That is not one of his better interjections. If I keep talking a bit maybe he can think of something a little funnier to say. It is very very difficult to make a speech such as this without humorous interjections so I hope that the member will interject in a more humorous tone in a minute. 
The member over there Richard Worth was right when he said this bill is about investment in local authorities. Members might ask what the bill does. It lowers the compliance cost for local authorities to issue debt securities. That is a good thing and it will help local authorities as they try to move forwards. In particular the problem is that they now have front-loading infrastructure projects at a time when investment funds are looking for more long-term advantages. The bill helps to lower compliance costs by releasing some of the obligations and requirements of the Securities Act and that is important. A couple of important things it does are to ensure that two local authority - elected people may sign off a financial statement not the full council but that they are all still liable for the accuracy of the statement. 
Progress reported. 
Report adopted.