Nash Stuart: Taxation (GST and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
Nash Stuart: Taxation (GST and Remedial Matters) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:669;Page:16104] 
STUART NASH (Labour) 
: 
 My colleague Trevor Mallard brings up a very good point and I will tell members why I think it is such a good point. It is because the bill as originally put forward was quite wide. It was quite wide and we had major concerns about that. Sir Roger Douglas spoke at length about it. I did David Cunliffe did Brendon Burns did—everyone expressed outrage that this could actually occur. In fact it was quite a long and robust debate. Roger Douglas became animated the tax officials were sent scurrying and they came back with a suggestion that was not good enough for the select committee. They went away again and came back with a whole lot of assurances. But the point that the Hon Trevor Mallard has brought up is very relevant. What happened with this bill is that it went to the select committee and members sitting on that committee had a whole lot of questions about it. So the members presented those questions to the tax officials and the tax officials said: “We hear what you are saying let’s go out and consult and come back with suggestions.” And do members know what? The changes were made. The changes were made to this legislation because Sir Roger Douglas the Hon David Cunliffe Brendon Burns I and the National members of the Finance and Expenditure Committee scrutinised this very robustly. We said that we had the same concerns that Trevor Mallard has brought up. We had exactly these same concerns so it was altered. That is what the select committee process allows. It allows bills to be scrutinised with other eyes with different eyes and the necessary changes to be made.  
One thing I would like to talk about is the amendment to insert new clause 10(2) that I tabled with regard to zero-rating the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. Mr Cunliffe asked Tau Henare a very interesting question as to whether he was a fruit or vegetable. Some say he is a fruit I suspect he is a vegetable but that does not really matter. The bottom line is that this is quite easy to ring-fence and clarify. People asked about the lettuce in a McDonald’s hamburger. That is pretty obviously not covered because it has been processed in some way shape or form. One cannot put a huge big fresh lettuce between two buns and not call that processed. It is a very easy distinction to make. When a member or any New Zealander goes into a supermarket if they can see a fresh apple in an unprocessed form sitting there it has not been processed. If they go in and see a can that has apple quarters in syrup that has been processed. It is pretty simple. That is why we have drafted the subclause like this because it is very much common-sense legislation. It is very much a common-sense amendment that we are asking the Minister to include. I would like to ask the Minister first to let us know whether he will support this because it is common sense. It is very much common-sense legislation that will help all New Zealanders from the cradle to the grave—from the cradle to the grave. It is about providing them with cheap options to allow them to live a healthy lifestyle and we all want that. 
At the moment the only group leading the healthy lifestyle charge is the private sector. As my colleague Brendon Burns mentioned the Hon Tony Ryall turned up at a supermarket that is promoting healthy lifestyles. Why cannot the Government be seen to be promoting healthy lifestyles? Is not one of our roles to send signals out to the public about what we believe is right? Is it not part of our role to actually do what is right for the people of New Zealand? Well this is right for the people of New Zealand. It is right for the people of Christchurch and it is right for the people of Waikato. My friend on the Finance and Expenditure Committee the honourable David Bennett says that the people of Waikato are suffering because of a drought up there. I heard a man last night say that people there want some special assistance. All they want to do is provide fruit and vegetables on the family table. That is what that south Waikato farmer said. This amendment will help that south Waikato farmer.