Coates BarryBARRY COATES (Green): I rise to talk about the Taxation (Business Tax Exchange of Information and Remedial Matters) Bill 2016. The Green Party is continuing to support this bill. We have major reservations about it. It is however a step forward. We will be supporting this bill although with some concern that what we regard as our constructive proposals so far have not adequately been incorporated in the bill.At the core of this bill are two issues that the Green Party has campaigned on for a long time. The first is to simplify the tax treatment for small business. Certainly we regard the pay-as-you-go tax provisions to be a major step forward for small business. Part of my background is working with small business. I see the importance of cash-flow considerations for small business. As they say cash flow is king. This provision in this bill will help cash flow for small business so we warmly support its inclusion.The second major aspect of the bill from our perspective—again it is an issue that the Green Party has been campaigning on for a long time—is greater transparency around foreign trusts. There is a lot of history to this issue of foreign trusts. I pay tribute to the former Green Party leader Russel Norman who in 2011 banged on about foreign trusts at a time when nobody else was doing so. We should not really be patting ourselves on the back for introducing this regulation 6 years later given the warnings of New Zealand's risk to our reputation—an issue that was then subsequently highlighted by the Inland Revenue Department.Our international reputation has been put sorely at risk by our policies in the past. Unfortunately it appears that the National Government was lobbied. As many people will remember the former Prime Minister's personal lawyer visibly lobbied for this issue to be swept under the carpet. The Minister of Internal Affairs Peter Dunne talked about legitimate tax avoidance in the spirit of leaving things as they were. It really took the leak of the Panama Papers to bring this issue to public notice. I think we ought to congratulate those investigative journalists who brought this issue to a public audience in a way that has forced this change.Subsequently the Government inquiry into foreign trust disclosure rules the so-called Shewan review came up with what we think are some sound proposals and why we are supporting this bill but they do not go far enough. I would like us to remember why this is a problem. It is a problem because tax havens are a trillion-dollar industry worldwide; they are the driver behind the situation where the obscenely wealthy are able to avoid paying tax. As Oxfam's research recently showed—many members know that I headed Oxfam New Zealand for a number of years—62 people in the world own as much wealth as half the world's population. One of the reasons they are able to maintain this obscene disparity is that the obscenely wealthy do not pay their fair share of tax. We need to do this; we need to close these loopholes properly.In the time I have left there are two aspects that I want to highlight. They were highlighted in the minority report that the Green Party participated in. Firstly the anti - money-laundering provisions phase 2 covering lawyers accountants and real estate agents have not yet been implemented as was recommended in the Shewan review. We think that that legislation should be brought forward quickly. Hot money is sloshing around from organised crime and from China in particular. We need to make sure that New Zealand does not end up as a haven for hot money as well as a haven for tax. Secondly we do not think that the legislation on disclosure of foreign trusts goes nearly far enough. We would support a public register of foreign trusts. This is the disinfectant of sunlight of transparency that is needed in order to properly ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share of tax. Thank you.