Boscawen John: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Boscawen John: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2423] 
JOHN BOSCAWEN (ACT) 
: 
 We have just heard from Mr Cunliffe on the issue of the recession the things that are driving the recession and the Government’s response to the recession. I will come back to a theme that I have been speaking about over the last 2 or 3 weeks. Many things have contributed to the recession and I believe that one of the things that have contributed to it has been the collapse of so many finance companies as well as the losses that have been incurred by investors in those finance companies. I have publicly called for an inquiry at the Commerce Committee level and I have had tentative encouraging support from the Labour and National members of the committee. I will discuss a related issue this afternoon the collapse of the Blue Chip group of companies. 
Blue Chip as such was not a finance company but a company that was involved in raising money from the public which actually raises issues of whether it complied with the Securities Act or whether it was required to comply with the Securities Act. Many people have lost money in the Blue Chip collapse. I guess they fall into different categories. In some cases people have invested in apartments developed or built by Blue Chip and have received those apartments. Those apartments may well be worth less today than when they purchased them but nevertheless they have received those apartments. They may have bought those apartments because of misrepresentations but nevertheless they have apartments. Another group of investors have paid deposits for apartments but are yet to receive them and those deposits are being held in trust for those investors pending settlement. A number of legal actions are arising out of that. 
I will focus this afternoon on another group of investors. These investors entered into agreements to buy apartments that were to be built for them. There are three cases where companies associated with the Blue Chip group of companies sold apartments off the plans to investors and some 400 to 500 people purchased these apartments paid deposits on them and entered into agreements to release those funds. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member but I read out the instructions at the start. Although I have some appreciation for what the member is doing Blue Chip is outside the realm of the discussion. If the member is making a comparative point that he wishes to bring back he should do that but the subject matter he is on now is outside the scope of the debate. 
JOHN BOSCAWEN 
: Thank you Mr Chairperson. I did hear your opening comments and guidance as to how the debate should run but Mr Cunliffe picked up the issue of recession. I believe that one of the issues that contribute to the recession is the failure of finance companies. I guess that was the point I was trying to make but rather than feeling your wrath on this issue Mr Chairperson I will continue with those comments I wish to make in the general debate tomorrow afternoon. 
Let us come back to another issue that contributes to the recession. The ACT Party campaigned on getting Government expenditure under control. Over the last 9 years under the previous Labour Government we saw Government expenditure increase by double the rate of inflation. Expenditure by the previous Labour Government increased by 6.5 percent per annum over the last 9 years. That increase was over and above inflation and over and above population growth and it was equivalent to $12000 per year per household or $230 per week per household. I came into this House today and heard Labour members of Parliament quibbling about the cost of a helicopter ride over Auckland by the Minister for Tertiary Education. Well literally billions of dollars were wasted by the previous Labour Government. One of the great challenges that face this country is the raising of our living standards so that citizens of New Zealand can enjoy the same standards of health and education as their friends and families who now live in Australia. The reality is that the standard of living in Australia is 25 percent higher than that of New Zealand. One of the great challenges that face this country and this Government is the raising of our living standards.