Nash Stuart: Tariff Act 1988 Repeal Bill — First Reading 
Nash Stuart: Tariff Act 1988 Repeal Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10803] 
STUART NASH (Labour) 
: 
 I have heard the Maori Party member Te Ururoa Flavell talk about principles and I hope he stands by his principles when the Government comes to introducing the Budget which will increase GST on food to 15 percent. I hope he has the balls to stand by his principles and vote against the Budget. 
We have heard from Labour members and National members from every party in this House as to why they will not support the Tariff Act 1988 Repeal Bill. I offer a personal message to Sir Roger Douglas. There are a few of us in this House whose ancestors have trod this path before. There is Todd McClay whose father was Roger; there is Jonathan Young whose father was Venn Young; and although I am a little further removed I have an ancestor who was here for 38 years. Then there is Sir Roger Douglas who was a Minister in the same Cabinet that his father was a Minister in. I remember Sir Roger Douglas as the man behind the concept of compulsory superannuation. I wonder what state our country would be in today if Sir Roger’s vision of compulsory superannuation had been realised and Robert Muldoon had not illegally cut the scheme off. I wonder what it would have looked like today. I think that Sir Roger’s vision of compulsory superannuation would have created an economy far greater in size and scope than the one we have today. So I take my hat off to him. 
But I say to Sir Roger that at this point in time it is a game for a different generation. The prestige that he once had is now gone; it is a different game now. What happened to the principles he once stood for that allowed him to stand for Labour and work for the rights of workers? The ACT Party opposed my colleague Darien Fenton’s Employment Relations (Statutory Minimum Redundancy Entitlements) Amendment Bill. That bill represented the rights of the workers—the workers whom Sir Roger Douglas once stood for stood proud for and fought for. 
The Tariff Act 1988 Repeal Bill would remove the tariffs that protect the industry still remaining in this country. It is the ideological thinking of a Sir Roger Douglas who is not connected to the Labour Party. In his younger days in the Kirk Government he espoused everything that the Labour Party stood for. It is time for Sir Roger to retire. It is time for him to hang up his gloves put his boots away and remember the old times. I will remember him for introducing compulsory superannuation because I think it was an awesome scheme. But this bill is not the bill that he wants to go out on. This bill will not protect New Zealand workers and New Zealand industry. It is not a bill put forward by a Labour Minister from a party that has 94 years of proud legacy. It is not a bill from a man who comes from three generations of Labour Party members of Parliament. It is time for Sir Roger Douglas and the outdated philosophy of the ACT Party to move forward. When it gets to a point where not only Labour but also National the Greens Jim Anderton and Peter Dunne—everyone—oppose that philosophy it is a sad conclusion to a great Labour Party family. 
Labour supports free trade—of course we support free trade. New Zealand’s next Prime Minister the Hon Phil Goff signed the free-trade agreement with China. We are the champions of free trade; we believe in free trade. But this bill will not champion free trade. It will not move New Zealand forward; it will move New Zealand back. I am not too sure why Jacqui Dean is offering a rebuttal speech because she stood up less than 5 minutes ago and supported the stance that I am now taking. This is not a bill for New Zealanders. All I can say to Sir Roger is that I am sad and ashamed that such a proud Labour family is bowing out on such a bill. I will not support it.