Lotu-Iiga Peseta Sam: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Lotu-Iiga Peseta Sam: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:660;Page:9035] 
1. 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie) 
 to the  
Minister of Commerce 
: What will be the Government’s response to the report of the Capital Market Development Taskforce? 
Hon SIMON POWER (Minister of Commerce) 
: 
 Today I announced the release of the Government’s action plan responding to the recommendations of the Capital Market Development Taskforce. The plan sets out the Government’s response to each of the task force’s 60 recommendations and what action the Government is proposing to take by whom and by when. We are committed to supporting the task force’s key recommendations. 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: How will the Government balance the need to encourage greater investment in our capital markets with the need to protect investors particularly mum and dad investors who may be new to the market? 
Hon SIMON POWER 
: We will continue to work to ensure that our capital markets create safe opportunities for retail investors provide investments that are easy to understand and enforce these investor rights. We will be taking two key steps. First as recommended by the task force we will consider consolidating parts of the regulatory functions of the Companies Office the Securities Commission and NZX into a new market conduct regulator. This new regulator would have a much greater emphasis on enforcement of our securities laws. The second key step is assigning a formal coordination role for financial and investment literacy to myself as Minister of Commerce. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: Does the Minister stand by his statement last year that the Government would demonstrate how important it regarded the recommendations as being by the Prime Minister leading the response to them; if so what does that mean in light of the Minister announcing the response to the recommendations today and leadership on the finance hub recommendations being allocated to Gerry Brownlee? 
Hon SIMON POWER 
: The Prime Minister did lead the Government’s response by referring to it in the Prime Minister’s statement at the start of the year. It is important to the Government’s agenda. The detail of the proposals produced largely falls within the ambit of the commerce portfolio and that is why I made the announcement on behalf of the Government today. 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: How does the Government’s response fit into the Prime Minister’s goal to lift the long-term performance of the economy in order to make New Zealand a more prosperous country capable of providing well-paid jobs? 
Hon SIMON POWER 
: Business needs capital in order to grow and the markets are a vital source of financing those businesses. By making the capital markets work better we will see greater amounts of investment flow into them. This growth will bring more jobs and more high-paying jobs. The task force also identified opportunities that New Zealand could pursue such as becoming a hub for managed fund administration. The Government is pursuing that initiative. Officials who are working with private sector experts will report back to Ministers on this in May of this year.