Chauvel Charles: Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Chauvel Charles: Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 17 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:5952. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHARLES CHAUVEL (Labour) 
: 
 I have listened to this debate with great interest and I thought the statement that the previous speaker Andrew Williams made about setting the record straight was an apt one. I think it is time that the House actually had a look at some facts rather than concentrating on the sort of rhetoric that we have heard in this debate to date. Let me point out a couple of those facts for the House. I see that the Deputy Leader of the House is smiling. Well I hope that by the end of her— 
Hon Anne Tolley 
: I’m always smiling. 
CHARLES CHAUVEL 
: She has a sunny disposition just like the junior Minister over there Simon Bridges but there we go. Let us hope that they are still smiling at the end of the debate. 
On 19 September during question time in response to a primary question from the Rt Hon Winston Peters the Prime Minister said this: “Interestingly enough also that member will know that because he was part of a Government that had Charles Chauvel chair the Finance and Expenditure Committee in 2008 and what that select committee found was the following. It found that New Zealand’s monetary policy approach is now standard among small open developed economies and is regarded as ‘world’s best practice.’ ” The Prime Minister repeated the burden of that statement on 26 September in response to questions from Dr Russel Norman. He said that I had “chaired the Finance and Expenditure Committee as part of the”—quote unquote—“old Government in 2008 and what it found was we had world’s best practice”. 
As seems to be the case time and time again John Key had not read his papers because what actually happened in respect of that committee is as follows. We heard 92 submissions from a number of distinguished experts in this field from Germany Australia New Zealand and other countries. We received very good advice I think from Treasury. We had independent advisers including Dr Stephen Grenville and Dr Dean Parham from the Australian Productivity Commission. What is most interesting is the composition of the committee because we produced a unanimous report. I want to remind the House who was on that committee. Although I chaired it there was the Hon Bill English there was Craig Foss there was Hone Harawira there was Rodney Hide from the ACT Party— 
Hon Members 
: Who? 
CHARLES CHAUVEL 
: Ah yes we remember him well. Dr the Rt Hon Lockwood Smith was the deputy chairperson we had Chris Tremain and we had representatives from the Greens United Future and New Zealand First. That was a committee from across Parliament and it carefully considered the evidence. And quite contrary to the claims of the Prime Minister in question time last month this was the key finding of that committee—I am going to read it in full—“While monetary policy has largely succeeded in delivering low inflation despite challenges the long-run economic performance remains less encouraging. GDP growth per capita has not been strong enough to close the gap with other OECD countries; the stock of capital equipment per worker remains low; and the country’s export performance appears disappointing. It is also a concern that recent imbalances in the economy at present have manifest in a high exchange rate.” 
That is the so-called ringing endorsement that the Prime Minister’s speech-writers and note-takers told him was what we had said in our report on monetary policy. But never mind that. We know he never reads anything and we know he does not have his hand on the tiller; he simply does what his advisers say and reads out what they suggest he reads. 
Those are the problems that need to be addressed. Those are the sorts of problems that sending this bill the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Amending Primary Function of Bank) Amendment Bill to a select committee would allow to be debated. They are issues that need to be confronted and that are facing us in our economy at the moment. That is why we support sending this rather modest bill—it is the sort of bill that would put in place for example the Singaporean approach in the New Zealand economy—to the Finance and Expenditure Committee for careful submission. That is what this legislation deserves not the sterile ideological rhetoric that we have heard tonight from Bill English even though he sat on the committee and joined in the endorsement that I read out and from Todd McClay John Banks and others. 
I want to commend the Rt Hon Winston Peters for his initiative in introducing this bill. I am proud as a Labour member to stand with my colleagues with the Greens with Mana and with others in supporting this very sensible bill.