Brownlee GerryHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National): That speech I think was a little sad because it's sort of suggesting that there has been no history to this particular bill or its predecessor which is still operational which is the 1989 Act.No one could forget the confusion that existed in New Zealand after the 1984 election and the decision by the Government of the day to devalue the New Zealand dollar the refusal by the incumbent Prime Minister at that stage to do it and the powerlessness of any of the bureaucracy to be able to act in the best interests of New Zealand at that time. That's why over a period of years a Labour Government did consider what would be the best arrangements for the Reserve Bank what would be the best arrangements for monetary policy in New Zealand and came up with this Act. I think it's worth noting that for all of those 31 years since that time this has been a success.Alongside the passing of this Act there was also the floating of the New Zealand dollar so that we did not have a finance Minister able to go on to television and dictate to the nation what the value of our dollar would be against other exchanges. We know that the crisis of 1984 cost this country hundreds of millions of dollars because of that intransigence.So a bill like this is extremely important. But we are not going to support a bill that effectively on the one hand gives us the sort of sheep's view of it all nice fluffy and woolly but underneath is in fact just a wolf dressed up. Because if you look at what the roles of the Minister are it's abundantly clear that the independence of the Reserve Bank substantially disappears with the passing of this bill. It's the Minister who appoints the governor. It's the Minister who appoints the monetary policy committee. It's the Minister who sets out the financial policy remit. It's the Minister who sets out the monetary policy remit. It's the Minister who appoints the board of the Reserve Bank and it's the Minister who does all the unappointing of all of those positions as well.So what happens if there is a board that doesn't agree with a Minister? Then I think you see recourse to what is in this bill and most people won't have got to it just yet clause 121 an Order providing a different economic objective or objectives". Well this may well be described as the Muldoon clause because this is where the Minister himself can decide on a different course from what the monetary policy committee might have decided the governor might have decided and the board might have decided by simply issuing a new set of objectives which as it makes clear here state what the board what the monetary policy committee what the governor and what effectively the Reserve Bank must deliver.So I listened carefully to the speech just delivered before and anyone could think from that speech that this policy only dated back to 2008 the global financial crisis. It doesn't; it goes right back to the 1980s in this country and it served us very very well as a response no question.Hon David Parker: He said that.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: Did he say that? Well it was confused by his concern that not enough New Zealanders or not enough people throughout the world knew who Reserve Bank governors were. Well I could just about list for him all of the New Zealand Reserve Bank Governors back to that time. And of course also—a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek leave for an extension of time to further discuss this particular bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'll put the leave the House can decide. Leave is sought for that purpose. Is there any objection? There is objection.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: There you go. So there is confirmation that I'm on the right track. This is a removal of the independence of the Reserve Bank bill no question about that.It is also a bill that reinstates the capacity for the finance Minister to direct the Reserve Bank on particular policy issues. They are the very things that the Reserve Bank Act in the first place was passed for. It's well known that the monetary system the financial status of the country rolls on well past any one Government—and for that reason there should've been a great deal more consultation over this.I think the speech from the ACT member was extremely valuable because it pointed out things that we will discuss in the select committee. We look forward to that process but will not be supporting this bill."