Sepuloni Carmel: Credit Reforms (Responsible Lending) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sepuloni Carmel: Credit Reforms (Responsible Lending) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12590. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour) 
: 
 I would like to begin by commending my colleagues Carol Beaumont and Charles Chauvel for a job well done: for the fantastic campaign they have run and the foresight they have shown. I also wish to acknowledge the Mayor of Porirua Jenny Brash and the deputy mayor Litea Ah Hoi. I thank them both for coming along to support this bill. I also acknowledge Andrew Shann for the amazing amount of work that he has put into this member’s bill. 
I need to start by dispelling some of the myths that have been said tonight in the House. We heard from a number of members but I wish to speak to the points that were made by the Minister of Consumer Affairs the member Hekia Parata and the member Sam Lotu-Iiga. All three said that this bill does not go far enough. I have been a member of Parliament for only 18 months but I have seen a number of bills come through this House. No bill is perfect when it comes up for its first reading. That is why we allow it to go to a select committee. We make the decision on whether it should go to a select committee based on the intention behind the bill and what the bill seeks to achieve. Everything that this bill seeks to achieve is something that we as a whole Parliament should be endorsing. 
Four things stand out about this bill. I think they need to be mentioned and told to members on the Government side of the House because they fail to get it. This bill is about the duty of care to vulnerable citizens. It is about protection of the weakest members of our society advocacy for those members of our society and fairness. Those are the four points that members on that side fail to understand. 
I am a Pacific woman and it has come up over and over again tonight that Pacific people are the ones alongside Maori who are disproportionately affected by loan sharks. As a Pacific woman I humbly need to acknowledge that an organisation that does not take political matters lightly or come out endorsing political matters has done so on this occasion. That organisation is P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A. Inc. That organisation has written to the Prime Minister pleading with him that he support this bill. The reason it is pleading with him is that the organisation knows that loan sharks are out there being predators on our families and our communities. Rather than speak on behalf of myself as an individual I wish to read directly the letter that has been written to the Prime Minister by the Pacific women’s organisation P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A. Inc. I say from the get-go with my hand on my heart that I am a member of this organisation but I have not even spoken to those people about this legislation so I have in no way lobbied them in that regard. The letter is addressed to the Prime Minister and states: “We are writing to seek your urgent action on loan sharks by seeking your support for the Credit Reforms (Responsible Lending) Bill. As the premier organization of Pacific women in New Zealand with 20 branches from Whangarei to Invercargill PACIFICA has been supporting Pacific families by empowering Pacific women for over 34 years. Unsurprisingly PACIFICA has been seriously concerned by the significant number of Pacific families struggling on low incomes who are vulnerable to accessing expensive finance company loans. Prime Minister it is evident that our families are preyed upon by loan sharks. Targeted advertising campaigns free ‘Pacific focused’ gifts such as boxes of corned beef trips to Samoa and Tonga and the recruitment of Pacific frontline staff are all practices that loan sharks use to attract Pacific clients. On any given Sunday evening when Pacific programmes view on Triangle TV the car dealer and finance company advertisements repeatedly target their Pacific viewing audience. The problem we have Prime Minister is not with loans being easily accessible; but that finance companies exploit people during their vulnerable times through the supply of high interest loans with high fees making them more expensive than loans provided by banks. Families who are already shackled by the constraints of low income now have the added burden of having to pay back more than just the principle and the interest. Furthermore when a client falls behind in their repayments they are subject to default interest and penalty fees in some cases this can add up to more than the principle. … It is upon this basis that we contest that all lenders should be fair legal and monitored by the government. We are now seeking your support for the first reading of this Bill and we ask that this matter be given the chance for public discussion and debate through Select Committee.” It is signed by Sally Dalhousie National President.