Bennett David: Non-bank Deposit Takers Bill — Second Reading 
Text is subject to correction 
Bennett David: Non-bank Deposit Takers Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 02 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4264. Text is subject to correction.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Speaker— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: How do you compete with this? 
DAVID BENNETT 
: How do you compete after that last speech? It was really “Thursday afternoon - itis” for Mr Trevor Mallard who really needs to take a break I think and come back at a different stage. Everybody in the House left with the lack of decorum in that last speech from that member.  
But Mr Mallard did ask one question and I want to give him one answer to that one. The answer to that is that a non-bank deposit taker does include those people who take deposits outside their electorate office when they are selling items on the street. So just for his clarity: you would be covered by this bill Mr Mallard. Just for your own purposes this is something that is important for you as a member.  
It is important that we look at the nature of why this bill is here. Many New Zealanders over the last few years have really felt the impact of the world recession and the financial crisis through the loss of money through finance companies and the like. That second-tier debt you could say—where people take more risk on the debt and they expect a higher return—has found itself out to be a very delicate and bad investment for many people. Anybody in their electorate office would have seen many sad stories where people especially later in life had invested their whole life-savings and lost it; sometimes they have even borrowed to put into finance companies and the like.  
We cannot protect people from making some mistakes. The nature of Government and the world especially in finance is that you make some choices you take some risks and every reward has a risk—the higher the risk the higher the reward. Many people forgot that and the financial crisis was a wake-up call that brought back to home that there is nothing out there for free and if you think you are going to get a higher return by just investing passively well you have to take that risk with it.  
So we have had to make some big changes. These changes will not solve all the situations. Do not expect the Government to solve all the situations. I think that is the message for everybody in the second-tier debt market. We are not there as a Government to protect in all circumstances and nor can this Parliament because whatever rules we make there will be an incentive in the market to provide other instruments that get around these rules. That is just the nature of it and that will always happen. But what we can do is close up those gaps when we see them. It is very sad when the New Zealand First Party comes in here and abuses this Parliament around this issue.  
 The Labour Party when it was in Government previously started the process of trying to deal with this situation. The National Government took that over and tried to deal with that process as well. It is all right to come in here and say you are lily-white and had nothing to do with it but that is not how it works. We cannot tell the future—nobody ever can—and it is a matter of dealing with those situations as they arise.  
This is a good bill in that it promotes new reforms in this area to give some confidence and some comfort to investors. It will not change everything. It will not solve all the problems. The big lesson for all New Zealanders is that you take a risk on some investments and that the Government and this Parliament cannot deny that risk or take that away. But what we can do is work towards being as constructive as possible in reducing that risk so that we give investors the most protection that is possible. This bill does that. It goes some way to achieving that. That is good for our people. It is something that we need to mix and match with good education and an awareness of the dangers of investment as well. Thank you.