Bishop ChrisCHRIS BISHOP (National): One of the things that I have discovered on the Justice and Electoral Committee which I am very privileged to serve on is the very worthy contribution very often made on that committee by Mr Denis O'Rourke. Sadly he did not join us in Australia a couple of weeks ago. It is a shame actually because I am sure he would have made a useful contribution. But I have to say that some of the remarks made just then are wrong actually. Actually it seems to me that if you listen to the tenor of his speech and if you listen to the points he was making everything would lead one listening to think that he would support the bill rather than vote against it. So I think it is a shame that New Zealand First is voting against it and there are a couple of reasons for that.The first was that just at the very end of his speech he said: Well this hasn't been through the Law Commission process or through the department therefore we can't vote for it." Well that seems to me to be a reason to vote for the bill. Often members' bills come before the House and one of the things about drafting members' bills is—I see members opposite some of whom have had member's bills drawn particularly notable ones with Ms Wall over there including myself and other members—you do not have the—Hon Simon Bridges: Yeah not Faafoi.CHRIS BISHOP: "Not Faafoi" my colleague Simon says. Well maybe Lady Luck of the biscuit tin has not smiled on my breakfast club friend over there.Hon David Bennett: He's seen a biscuit tin all right—ha ha!CHRIS BISHOP: Anyway the biscuit tin has treated to me OK so far—two in 2 years.Hon Simon Bridges: Yeah Chris likes the biscuit tin too.CHRIS BISHOP: Anyway—sometimes a bit too much on both sides. The thing is that often members' bills come to the House without that background work.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! We are going to get back to the bill are we?CHRIS BISHOP: Yes. I am making the point that often bills come to the House for that work.The second reason he advanced was a very concerning worry about confidentiality because what this bill does—in I have to say a very poorly drafted sentence in the general policy statement in the explanatory note of the bill—is: "ensure arbitration clauses in trust deeds are given effect to extend the presumption of confidentiality in arbitration to a rebuttable presumption of confidentiality in related court proceedings". Mr O'Rourke was very concerned about the erosion of confidentiality. I think that is fair enough. There is a legitimate debate to be had around that and I think Mr Foster-Bell would be the first person to acknowledge that. You can have a legitimate debate about that but the place for that debate is actually at the select committee where you get the legal experts. I have got to say on a bill like this as a committee we are going to rely on not only the Ministry of Justice officials but also very worthy groups like the Law Society and I suspect we will see a few Queen's Counsel turning up. It is usually the Queen's Counsel who end up doing the arbitration and they will have very firm views I suspect. We will be relying on their evidence as to whether or not that is the right approach as outlined by Mr Foster-Bell. But that is a reason to vote for the bill at the first reading.The other reason that I think New Zealand First should support the bill is that this brings New Zealand I think increasingly into line with foreign legislation. If you read the general policy statement in the explanatory note of the bill it talks about how there has been a large increase in arbitration worldwide over the last few years and New Zealand is increasingly out of step with the legislation. The Arbitration Act was passed in 1996. That is 21 years ago and it is probably about time that we updated that Act. There is probably a case for a thorough-scale review. It is not something that can be done through a member's bill but what one can do is make small and incremental useful changes and I think that is what this bill does.So I would have expected a party such as New Zealand First which often rails against how we are out of step with tax legislation and multinational trusts and things like that to vote for a bill that increases New Zealand's international linkages and brings New Zealand into line with other legislation but New Zealand First is not going to vote for it and that is a shame.I think the bill will pass. I am looking forward to examining it on the Justice and Electoral Committee. It is a very busy committee. We have got a lot of bills before it at the moment—Paul Foster-Bell: Punishing.CHRIS BISHOP: It is a punishing schedule of business Mr Foster-Bell says. I do not know about punishing; we certainly have a lot of business and I think this will be a worthy addition to our schedule."