Cosgrove Clayton: Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Cosgrove Clayton: Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6105] 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 I am delighted to again speak in this debate on clauses 1 and 2 the title and commencement. I note with interest that we are privileged to have the Minister of Defence the Hon Wayne Mapp in the chair. He has assured me this morning that unlike the Minister of Finance he will be available for exhaustive questioning commentary and analysis on this very important bill. I know that my whip may not appreciate this but I am very happy to yield to the Minister if he would pick up where last night’s debate left off and answer the myriad of questions that the Opposition put up on what is a very important bill which I have to say has the support of the Labour Party and I believe most if not all parties here. It is a very very important bill. We are here under urgency because of the nature of this bill and I see that the Leader of the House is here and that the reinforcements have arrived. The Minister of Defence is in the chair and the 25 pound howitzer is in the Chamber as well. So a military connotation is taking over this debate—the blunderbuss is on the way! 
I just reiterate a number of the questions that colleagues put up last night in this debate because we are under urgency. This is an important bill but we fail to see the Minister of Finance—but I am sure this Minister in the chair Wayne Mapp will be equal to the challenge—taking up and responding to a number of important questions that the Opposition raised. 
Hon Member 
: We did—last night! 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: The member said that yes he did. Well she is right that last night at about 3 minutes to 10 he took I think the longest call he has taken in the whole debate. He got up and answered a couple of questions. Of course I would have thought that this deposit guarantee scheme would be very close to the Minister of Finance’s heart not just because it is the responsible thing to do which of course we did when we were in Government. At its very essence this bill guarantees the deposits of Kiwi investors as we know. We put money in the bank and the Government provides a deposit to agencies that have a BB rating and those deposits for deposit holders are secure. If it was the case for instance that someone was renting a property and getting maybe 700 bucks a week per house—as the Minister of Finance was—I am sure that the Minister of Finance as the Minister in the chair would be very very much in support of this bill which would guarantee his $700 a week deposit in a bank or financial entity that had a BB rating. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Even in a time of restraint. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: Even in a time of restraint my colleague says. I think that anybody who has discretionary income of around 700 bucks a week—perhaps on rent on a property—would be absolutely in need of a commitment from the Government of the day to guarantee that $700 per week deposit. I think that is imperative and it is interesting that the Minister of Finance of course is sponsoring this bill. I would never accuse the Minister of Finance of having some pecuniary interest in this bill because that would be unparliamentary and it would not be appropriate. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: And he would declare it anyway. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: And he would declare it anyway as my colleague says. I just note that those people who are in the privileged position of renting out their own properties perhaps and gaining rents in the order of 700 bucks a week will sleep easy in their beds tonight as we pass this legislation. 
I ask the Minister in the chair Dr Mapp the Minister of Defence who has kindly parachuted into the Chamber whether he will answer some of the questions. Of course some of the questions pertain to why the criteria and the eligibility for the BB rating are in the hands of the Minister of Finance and not put in statute. We have asked repeatedly why that is and whether there is a risk that smaller financial institutions cannot meet the BB rating. Mr Gilmore who has been there done that climbed the mountain done everything and qualified for everything said that it is easy for a financial institution to get a BB rating and that one just sort of pays the money and people rock up—just like when he got his qualification at university; he paid his fees and they handed it out to him. 
Well to get a BB rating from a financial agency especially if one is a smaller financial institution requires a high level of commitment and cost. It is not just a matter as I said yesterday of people rocking up to McDonald’s and saying they will have the double meat hamburger and chips paying the money and getting it. For a lot of these financial institutions it is a huge commitment and the question is of course whether there will be a flight of capital if those institutions do not meet that BB rating. I said yesterday that no one wishes that on anyone—no one is predicting it and no one is wishing it—it is a question we are asking and I ask that question of the Minister of Defence.