Henare Tau: Veterinarians Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Henare Tau: Veterinarians Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:901] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 I want to take a different tack on this. Part 2 contains the most prescriptive rubbish I have ever seen. The problem with this country is that we are over-regulated. We have far too many Acts of Parliament. What do we see here? It is a part of a bill about veterinarians that basically tells them how to suck eggs and to do everything else in between. Sure the council should be the body that gets everybody together and takes the registrations but what do we do? We 121 members of Parliament say: “Right on Monday at 10 o’clock you’ll do this.” That is basically in effect what Part 2 does. From day to day it sets out exactly what the council is there for and what it does. It does not give the council any room to manoeuvre. It does not give the council any way shape or form to go about doing its business. 
Phil Heatley 
: Flexible. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: It cannot be flexible. This is the most inflexible legislation I have seen. Oh yes of course we will vote for it because at the end of the day it is about quality and about the registration and operation of veterinarians. But I do not like it one bit. I do not like it because of the fact that it is too prescriptive. It is far too prescriptive. The trouble with this country is that the 121 members of Parliament believe that we are the experts. Why do we not leave the experts’ job to the experts? 
R Doug Woolerton 
: We realise you aren’t. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: There we go. We have a classic example in this House of a failed farmer who thinks he is a vet thinks he knows what he is talking about because he moved a couple of cows into the milking shed and thinks that now gives him the right and the expertise to talk about veterinarians. [ 
Interruption 
] Well I do not know what he did with the cows while he was in the milking shed but I do not want to go there—that is not actually part of the bill. 
In respect of overseas vets this is a classic example of how we try to over-regulate the market and tell everybody what to do. If an overseas veterinarian comes here why does the Veterinary Council of New Zealand not take up the cudgels take up the job and look at that person’s qualifications? Overseas veterinarians should be checked out by all means—that is not a problem. Why does that have to be in an Act of Parliament? Why can we not allow the council to do its job? That job is to look after the registration and to look after the quality of vets that we have in the country. It is pretty simple. 
The Hon Brian Donnelly is looking over at me while I am speaking and is pointing at the Minister. Why would he point to the Minister? I know what that means. Brian Donnelly is saying that it is the Minister’s fault but it is not his fault. It is the fault of the coalition partner—New Zealand First. We know that it is the fault of the coalition partner. I have heard people say it is the “Peters-Clark” leadership but that is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about giving the power to those who know best. 
Those people know their industry. Why are we saying to the council: “Look guys we’ll take the registrations we’ll suss out whether you are a good person—we’ll do all of that.” Why do we pretend to know everything about everything? Why do we do that? Is it because we want a job in the next 10 to 15 years so that once in a blue moon somebody will come to the House or to a parliamentarian and say: “Under the Veterinarians Act 2005 …”? It is a load of rubbish. We are over-regulated.