Mackey Moana: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Mackey Moana: Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
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MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am so pleased to see that Jo Goodhew is looking forward to my speech. Her expression of joy makes me want to speak for 10 minutes instead of 5. I did not realise how much National members wanted to hear from me. 
I was in my office listening to the debate on the Motor Vehicles Sales Amendment Bill and I felt I needed to come down to the Chamber for Minister’s Boscawen’s first piece of legislation. Like other members I congratulate the Minister on his appointment. But I was a little bit disappointed. When Mr Boscawen was on the backbench he was a lion on many issues and here he is the Minister of Consumer Affairs with his first piece of legislation. He has been released on the Chamber. He can say what he wants. He has the power in his hands. What does he do? Nothing. He has been muzzled. He has been curtailed. It is incredibly disappointing. 
This bill deals with motor vehicle sales. Motor vehicles produce emissions. Emissions cause climate change. Climate change has resulted in an emissions trading scheme. Mr Boscawen feels very strongly about the emissions trading scheme and about emissions that come from motor vehicles and this bill was an opportunity for the Minister to take a call. Finally he is in a position to do something about it but he has not. That is a bit disappointing but the Committee stage is not over yet so we do look forward to the Minister taking a call in that regard. 
This bill is another piece of legislation that started under the previous Labour Government as many other pieces of Government legislation have. I wonder when we will stop passing Labour legislation. But if we are going to have a National Government then I prefer it to be one that passes Labour legislation. So I will not complain about that too much. 
This bill is very important. Consumer protection is one of the critical roles of this Parliament and a vehicle purchase is one of the biggest purchases that New Zealand families will make. I am a case in point as to why we need consumer protection legislation. Everyone has been talking about their first cars. Mine was black and it did not have a cup holder and that is about all I can tell members about it. My current car is white and it does have a cup holder. Ergo by the very complex Moana Mackey vehicle-rating system my current car is better than my previous car. It has a cup holder and my previous car did not. I am one of those people who do not know what to look for. Mr Chair you do not need to regard me in such a disappointed fashion. I am being honest. I know nothing about cars except that they are useful and I have to have one and a cup holder is incredibly important to me personally. 
There are other people who may be too ashamed to admit that they did not know the bit of the car that Mr Robertson talked about—the bit that rusted through. I had never heard of it. I did not even know it existed until today. I thank Mr Gary Bates from Gary Bates LMVD in Gisborne who was incredibly helpful to me when I had to purchase a car. He explained to me that there were probably other functions and attributes of a car beyond the cup holder that I should probably be asking about. When he asked me what I wanted I said “My mother said it has to be white or silver because I drive a lot so visibility is important and it has to have a cup holder. And that is pretty much it.” So he went through the process with me and this is an example of why consumer protection law is very important. 
A car is a major purchase and many many people know nothing about vehicles or the questions they should be asking or the problems they should be looking out for. We know what happens in private sales. In our electorate offices we see people who have been burnt by these sales because they did not know the questions to ask—that protection is not in place. That is why it is so important for people to go through licensed dealers who can make sure that they are getting what they think they are getting and that they are getting value for money. 
I have to say that this is one of these bills that I feel if a Labour Government was passing it then we would be told that we were being too nanny State that too many rules were in place and that people should be able to buy a dog of car if they want to. We would be told it is their right as free individuals of this country that the free market will provide and the invisible hand of the market will make sure that that the car goes properly. That is not the reality and there are people out there who will take advantage of ignorance. People are very busy. The often do not have time to do all the things they should and look up all the things they need to know. They do not have time to make sure that they are prepared when they are buying something as important as a car and that is why it is important to have these protections in place. It is also very pleasing to see the role of the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal beefed up because tribunals are a much easier way of dealing with things. If we can keep things out of the courts as much as possible it is absolutely desirable—and I say happy birthday to Aaron Gilmore— 
The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 161 in the name of the Hon John Boscawen to Part 1 be agreed to. 
Amendments agreed to. 
Part 1 as amended agreed to.