McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): It is with delight and some amount of surprise that I am standing here to speak on this bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: You certainly don't look like Willow-Jean Prime.KIERAN McANULTY: Yes. That's right Madam Deputy Speaker. I'm astonished that once again this House rises in unison to support an issue that is so important to our regional areas. It is marvellous to see the second example only just tonight where we saw this. But I am also astonished that the seven speakers or eight speakers that have been before me have not taken the opportunity to define what a cooperative is because of course this is the key element to this bill. The people watching at home have heard the benefits of this bill to cooperatives but they might not actually know what a cooperative is. So I'd like to take the opportunity to do this.A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. What a marvellous socialist idea cooperatives are. What a marvellous demonstration of the socialist ideas that the Labour Party was founded upon. Cooperatives the organisations that this bill seeks to assist dotted around this country in our rural and regional areas are demonstrating the values that this side of the House hold dear and demonstrate in our actions in this House every single sitting day. So I say to my colleague on the other side of the House Todd Muller congratulations comrade. Well done for getting this bill pulled from the ballot and demonstrating once again that this House takes these issues seriously.Cooperatives are not just about agriculture that core of our economy; it is also manufacturing insurance and banking. It might interest the House that it also includes other financial services utilities education health wholesale and retail.I am also quite buoyed by the demonstration of good-natured banter across the House. We all agree but we also want to take the opportunity to just point out little foibles that we see in our colleagues like my friend Alastair Scott—my colleague and opponent in Wairarapa. He is the man that—we actually get on together reasonably well—had a pot shot at New Zealand First calling them the five percent party" neglecting to remember that his leader is the 10 percent man. It's interesting that polls are appropriate—DEPUTY SPEAKER: You don't have to take the whole five minutes if you don't have anything to talk about.KIERAN McANULTY: Did you know Madam Deputy Speaker that the first cooperative was formed in 1871? You may have forgotten that but it was mentioned just earlier. But what's interesting is that 50000 New Zealanders are employed by cooperatives in this country and one in three New Zealanders are members.So I am delighted that a man of such experience in this sector a man that has great respect amongst horticulture and experience with agriculture has brought this issue to the House today. It is as my colleagues have mentioned a technical bill but it is a very simple bill. It is a bill where the explanatory note is two pages but the bill is one little amendment to the section here: section 53 amending the bill proposes "To avoid doubt nothing in subsection (2) prevents the constitution of a company providing that shares in a class do not confer a right to receive dividends in the circumstances specified in the constitution." I'm glad the author of the bill believes that that removes doubt. I'm sure it does to those who this is appropriate to.I note that in his press release at the point that this bill was drawn he identified that this bill had the support of the cooperative Business New Zealand and also Zespri—a company he knows well. I think this Government takes a very simple approach as it did with Mark Patterson's bill earlier today the local bill from Gore and this one today. This is clearly a bill that is influenced by the desires of the industry and as such this Government is very pleased to again congratulate the member for standing up for the industry that he represents and putting forward a solution. We look forward to discussing it at the Primary Production Committee."