Smith Lockwood: Melanesian Trusts (Income Tax Exemption) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Smith Lockwood: Melanesian Trusts (Income Tax Exemption) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:642;Page:12473] 
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) 
: 
 National will support the first reading of this Melanesian Trusts (Income Tax Exemption) Amendment Bill 2007 but I will not say too much as I think the Hon Phil Goff gave a fairly extensive background to the legislation. 
One of reasons why it is important to support this bill going to the Finance and Expenditure Committee is that if this organisation which does charitable work lost its tax-exempt status then as the Minister mentioned maybe $2 million a year would be involved and that would be a shame. But there is an even wider issue than that: clearly the trust would not want to give up its tax-exempt status without a bit of a fight. Therefore there is a risk of litigation a risk of wasting money on sorting out the matter in court. 
At the end of the day there is not only a risk of having to spend money on sorting out the matter in court but a risk that the court may in fact rule against the tax-exempt status because of the circumstances around the Court of Appeal case that the Hon Phil Goff just mentioned  
Dick v Commissioner of Inland Revenue  
(2002). Some of the facts of that case have remarkably similar parallels to some of the activities that have gone on in respect of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board yet I think everyone accepts that the work of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board is charitable work. The Minister mentioned that the trust runs many schools medical centres and training institutions in a number of countries and New Zealand has a very significant interest in making sure that the interests of those countries are advanced—perhaps in particular the Solomons and Vanuatu. New Zealand is very heavily involved in trying to advance the interests of those two countries. There is no doubt that the Melanesian Mission Trust Board is very much involved in charitable work and it would be a shame if technicalities were to waste money that it has raised for that charitable work. 
When one looks back at the foundation of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board it is quite staggering to see that in 1855 some people had the vision to purchase land in an area of Auckland that was clearly going to become very valuable land. The mission is able to raise funds for this charitable purpose because of the vision of those people involved a long time ago—well over 150 years ago. One has to admire the vision and commitment of people prepared to enter into arrangements for the benefit of people less well off. It was certainly quite a visionary investment back in those days. 
Although this bill is an unusual piece of legislation National feels that in the interests of avoiding loss of money in litigation and in the interests of making sure that the charitable work of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board is not disadvantaged this bill should go to the select committee. If there are any issues that Parliament should be considering I am sure they will come forward at the select committee. In the meantime we are happy to support this legislation. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.