Woolerton R Doug: Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and  Validation) Bill — First Reading 
Woolerton R Doug: Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and  Validation) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:228] 
R DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First) 
: 
 As the previous speaker has said this is not a very exciting bill but New Zealand First will be supporting it going to the Regulations Review Committee. I am pleased that Lindsay Tisch gave Mr Worth such a good build-up because he is probably the only person who would. We are pleased to support this legislation. 
But I want to say to the House that we went through the right-wing economic phase some years ago—which I am sure Dr Cullen would sooner forget about and which the National Party and the ACT party find it impossible to forget about. In fact they are rushing around hoping for the day when they can reinstitute many of the things that happened all those years ago. But this is a typical example of what happened all those years ago when people were so keen on talking about reducing taxes: they would reduce taxes here; they would give tax reductions all over the place; and the Government had no place in business or in people’s lives etc. etc. So they did all of those things but let me tell members that these sorts of things were the result of that. They got tax cuts and they did all those sorts of things but along came levies in another guise. So in the cities were people who were paying rates and being promised rate reductions but then they went out and got charged 20 bucks to dump their trailer-load of rubbish in the dump where previously that cost was built into the rates. 
It is the same with these sorts of things. These levies have come about as a result of the unbundling all of those years ago but the point is that people are still paying tax and they are paying levies on top. Now I must say that these particular levies are at least under the scrutiny of the House or a committee of Parliament and at least they are renewable each year. So when a levy is no longer needed such as the levy for the varroa bee mite and things like that it can be got rid of without fuss without causing alarm around the country and without a whole lot of political agitation. They can be simply left off and not renewed. As to the rest of them they have a slide rule as it were run across them and they have a fresh examination each year to see whether they are just whether they are right set at the same level and in fact still needed. 
I like to think that there should be more of that sort of thing. I know that the argument against it is that it would choke up the House but there are other levies and taxes that if done on an annual basis would make many of us feel far more comfortable about it. 
I want to leave people with the message that there is always a cost and there has been much ranting over the previous bill. It is true that we are in favour of people paying lower taxes in this country but to a level where we do not have to reinstitute levies in another form or licences or fees for other things that in my view can sometimes when all added up be more expensive than the original tax but just levied in different parts of one’s life. So New Zealand First will support this bill going to the select committee where it will get the scrutiny it deserves. If I do not have a heck of a lot of faith in Mr Worth at least the other select committee members will make sure this thing is done properly. 
Bill read a first time.