Catchpole Brent: New Zealand Guardian Trust Company Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Catchpole Brent: New Zealand Guardian Trust Company Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21189] 
BRENT CATCHPOLE (NZ First) 
: 
 I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take exception to the senior Government whip’s comment. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I take that on board. I ask the senior whip to desist from comments like that when a member is starting a speech. 
BRENT CATCHPOLE 
: This bill as explained in the Committee stage and in the second reading is a technical measure that basically changes the ownership of the trust company from its previous owner to Promina and gives the seal of approval for the company to operate its business as it has been operating till now. 
The bill goes back to 1982 when the original New Zealand Guardian Trust Act was enacted. It was amended in 1989 and again subsequently. There are four private Acts that cover four different companies; the New Zealand Guardian Trust Co. is one of them. New Zealand First feels that requiring these companies to appear constantly before the select committee and go through the process to change the name of ownership is a waste of time and money. I note that the Minister’s third reading speech picked up on an issue I raised about priorities but she may have missed the point or miscalculated the cost of bringing these bills to the House and putting them through the select committee process. If these four trust companies change time and time again the cost in parliamentary terms adds up to a considerable amount. 
Although there would be an initial cost of the work of officials on an umbrella Act it would save the time and expense of the House and select committee debating these different Acts. So New Zealand First supports umbrella legislation to cover these four private Acts because that would give the ability to seek an Order in Council and for the measure to be signed off with the approval of the Ministers involved. It would make the process much easier. 
I note that Stephen Franks has concerns about the Australian interest in these companies. New Zealand First is also concerned about the offshore ownership of all of the trusts but by having them under umbrella legislation all the issues raised by Stephen Franks could be covered. It would streamline the process for it to go through Order in Council and we would not have to bring the particular organisations before a select committee and go right through the process. 
New Zealand First will support such legislation and we look forward to its being brought to the House in the very near future. We hate to see this matter drag on and on with the Government not getting priorities right. It is costing the Parliament a considerable amount of money to just keep on repeating the process through the select committees. New Zealand First does support this legislation in its present state noting that it was unable to make the changes in this legislation because it would have to go through the process for each individual one again. It needs to be brought under umbrella legislation and we will support that as well.