Roy Heather: Local Government Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
Roy Heather: Local Government Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:632;Page:3801] 
HEATHER ROY (Deputy Leader—ACT) 
: 
 I rise to speak— 
Jill Pettis 
: Oh here she is—“Sergeant Dan”. 
HEATHER ROY 
: I tell Jill Pettis that she can make fun of the army but who will defend her in times of misfortune? I am very proud of what I have done thank you very much! 
I rise to speak about this ridiculous legislation on the microchipping of dogs. This Government seems to think it is providing a sense of security for New Zealanders. Well there is nothing in this sense of security except falseness. Unfortunately this legislation will not make any change to what happens at the moment. As a result of a very tragic and unfortunate accident—one involving Carolina Anderson—this Government in a knee-jerk reaction has provided this Parliament and the country with legislation whereby absolutely no children nobody will be prevented from again being the result of that sort of accident. It is very disappointing that both New Zealand First and United Future are joining the Government in this legislation. It is very disappointing indeed that United Future has flip-flopped so much in this whole debate. I call on United Future and on Mr Copeland who is sitting here with us today to forget about their “no surprises” deal with the Government. Instead Mr Copeland should engender his common sense—forget “no surprises” but call on his common sense—because this Government needs a surprise. It needs a wake-up call and a reality check. 
As members of the National Party said in this debate all last night and have been saying all today nobody wants this legislation. It is absolutely silly legislation. Local authorities do not want it. I received an email 20 minutes ago from somebody who works for a council to ask me to go to the debating chamber to vote against this legislation. I could assure the person that that is exactly what I would be doing. ACT has always opposed this legislation. We have never been in favour of the microchipping of dogs. This is a desperate attempt by a very very desperate Government that wants to be seen to be doing something. The sad reality is that this bill will do absolutely nothing. It is a desperate attempt by a desperate Government to do something. 
I have heard also that the SPCA is reporting that dogs are being abandoned while this debate goes on amongst the general public. Many people do not realise that it is new dogs that will have to be microchipped. But no matter what has to be microchipped dogs are already being abandoned as a result of the thought that this legislation is about to be put in place. It is also very sad that every time there is an unfortunate accident such as occurred to Carolina Anderson there is a knee-jerk reaction by this Government which puts in place more and more unnecessary legislation in order to deal with problems that exist in only a very few cases. Suddenly everybody—in this case all dogs but in other cases all New Zealanders—bears the brunt of a few unfortunate episodes. 
Kate Wilkinson should be congratulated on reading out the comments made by Michael Bassett. The comments were absolutely right. I cannot quite remember them exactly but the paralysis of this Government is very evident. This desperate measure by the Government is a result of that paralysis. The Government has run out of ideas—I am not sure it actually had any to start with but there are even fewer now almost 6 or 7 years down the track and there will be no more. We need to see less not more of this sort of knee-jerk legislation being put in place. ACT will support all the amendments from members on this side of the Chamber. We want no microchipping at all but the amendments from members on this side of the Chamber make good sense because they move in the right direction. We will oppose the amendments of Mark Burton. 
I call again on United Future members to put on their common-sense hats for once abandon that no-surprises deal they have with the Government and do the right thing for New Zealand dogs and New Zealanders. They should do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. New Zealand deserves nothing less than that. This bill will bring no safety for New Zealand children as poor little Carolina Anderson can probably attest to. Microchipping will bring no resolution to the problem she faced. It is a problem that is really very small.