Jones Dail: Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill — Second Reading 
Jones Dail: Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill — Second Reading 
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DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 New Zealand First will be supporting the bill as has been indicated by the Rt Hon Winston Peters. We want consistency for all of New Zealand in one piece of legislation. We do not want to see 120 or so bills for all the places around New Zealand that have the same type of tourist shopping facilities as Rotorua as has been suggested by the Hon Margaret Wilson. We want to see everyone in New Zealand dealt with in the same way. If Margaret Wilson’s promise to the people of Tauranga in the 1999 election was sincere she has had nearly 4 years as a Minister to put a bill into the House that would cover not merely Rotorua Tauranga and Mount Maunganui but the whole of New Zealand including the people of Wanaka whom David Parker has mentioned. They could be covered as well. 
That is what New Zealand First is trying to achieve today. As has been indicated we are trying to seek leave of the House for all New Zealanders to get the same benefit from the one bill with no one getting a march on somebody else. We are not being small-minded with regard to this legislation. We have said we will support the exemption for Rotorua. New Zealand First wants to take a broad approach and has no intention of kicking someone in the guts if we do not get our way. We are ready to support Rotorua; we merely say that support should go not just to Rotorua Tauranga and Mount Maunganui but also to the people of Wanaka and anybody else who might come within the frame. 
It is quite extraordinary to have heard United Future and the Greens being on the same side in this debate. It is quite extraordinary to hear the Greens take the Christian viewpoint on this issue—the longer one is in the House the more one learns. It seems the Christian viewpoint of the Greens is the same as that of United Future and maybe that is why they both support the Government from time to time. 
We have made it very very clear in this debate as to what we want to do. We have heard the Labour Party saying from time to time that it wants to empower local government. Is that not Labour’s standard phrase? We heard Government members saying “Let’s empower local government” time and time again throughout the debate on the local government legislation and that is what we in New Zealand First want to do on this issue. We want to empower local government so that it can make the decision as to whether the shops will open. I realise there will be a conscience vote on this bill but I hope that all those members of the House who support the empowering of local government will not oppose the leave that has been sought by New Zealand First. 
So far this year we have seen local government being empowered to do almost anything under the sun in terms of the local government legislation. For example it has been suggested—absolutely wrongly and mischievously—by the Mayor of Waitakere City that we could have a civil airport at Whenuapai. That is the extent of the empowerment that has been suggested. We are not going anywhere near that in this legislation. As the Hon Margaret Wilson has suggested this bill is merely about allowing people on this particular Sunday to go along to a tea shop in Mount Maunganui Rotorua Wanaka or wherever to have a cup of tea or as the case might be to buy an ice cream as they are going by. 
I hope the request we have made will have the support of all members of this House. The Rt Hon Winston Peters has had terrible luck or just bad luck with his member’s bill. It has been in the ballot for years and years—it is amazing how these things crop up. Perhaps the solution is for the Rt Hon Winston Peters to take a little holiday and then the bill will come up as was the case for Mr Peter Brown whose bill came up in the ballot while he was away for a few days. I am not quite sure how one gets to win in a ballot on members’ bills. However as far as New Zealand First is concerned we want to make sure that all of New Zealand gets the same opportunity which is why we make our plea to the House to support the proposal put forward by the Rt Hon Winston Peters.