Carter David: Real Estate Agents Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Carter David: Real Estate Agents Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:18379] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 It is with some concern that I see this legislation back before us this morning. My concern is the relationship between the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand and the Minister in the chair Clayton Cosgrove because that relationship appears to be at an all-time low— 
Dr Richard Worth 
: Fractured. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: —permanently fractured. In fact I refer to an editorial in the  
Manawatu Standard 
 on 12 July this year in which the editor said: “Now that the heat has gone out of the property sector Mr Cosgrove looks like a bully.” I say to the Minister that this is not the way to conduct a review of the legislation under which the real estate industry operates. 
I have had a harmonious relationship with the industry for many many years. I have appreciated the worth of that industry. I know that throughout the time National was in Government the industry requested on many occasions that the Act be modernised and reviewed but because National had so many other important things to do we did not get on to the job. Then Mr Cosgrove got the chance so what he did was to go out and call the real estate agents of this country cowboys and land sharks. I know that he has had to back down because Helen Clark put his arm up behind his back and said that is not the way to progress legislation. He has had to eat humble pie with his mate the Rt Hon Winston Raymond Peters. He has had to go to the Rt Hon Winston Raymond Peters and ask him to please support the legislation so that he can get it through the House. He has had to go back to the Real Estate Institute and to work diligently on a Supplementary Order Paper which he promised to present to the institute approximately 2 months ago. I think I am right in saying the institute got it yesterday at around 11 o’clock. It goes some of the way towards starting to mend the fractious relationship that this Minister has created with the industry but it does not go far enough. 
I say to that member who was aptly described by the  
Manawatu Standard 
 as a bully—not my words but the words of the editor of the  
Manawatu Standard 
—that he ought to learn how to handle relationships far better. If he had done that then I think we could have had legislation before the House today that everybody could sign up to. He would not have had to go begging for the support of the Rt Hon Winston Raymond Peters; he would have had support from everybody. But instead he goes around and talks about the industry besmirches it and calls the real estate agents of this country cowboys and land sharks. I am not saying they are all perfect. I am certainly saying to the Minister that the great majority of them are. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: As I’ve said. I’ll give you all the press cuttings. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Oh the Minister is now saying the great majority are good guys! That is not what he said a couple of months ago when the guy was full of bluster and bravado. He went on TV—I remember seeing it—and talked of carnage in the industry. Now he is saying most of them are good guys. Why did he not think of doing the job properly in the first place? Why did he go out and destroy a relationship that did not need to be destroyed? Why did he not talk to the Real Estate Institute work with it— 
Jill Pettis 
: Unlike that member he did something. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Jill Pettis is piping up now. What does she say? 
Jill Pettis 
: That member did nothing! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I am the one who has been talking to the Real Estate Institute on a regular basis making sure that its concerns are addressed in the Supplementary Order Paper. That member would not have picked up the phone to talk to anybody in the industry. She probably would not know anybody in the industry and if she did she would probably abuse them; she would pick up on Clayton Cosgrove’s words and call them all land sharks and cowboys. That does nothing I say to Jill Pettis. 
What this industry wants is modernised legislation. It wants modernised legislation so that it can operate in the 21st century. The industry has been requesting that for a long time and if the Minister had only worked with the industry and prepared some legislation that addressed the concerns held by a wide number of New Zealanders then we could have had legislation back in the House today that would be supported by most political parties. But no Clayton Cosgrove probably took his lessons from Jill Pettis so he had no chance of being a gentleman. He had no chance at all; instead of that it was bullying tactics bluster and words that I should not be allowed to use in Parliament and will not. Consequently we are here now with legislation that will mend some things that need to be mended but it will not go far enough and it will not be enduring legislation for this industry. Of course it is something that the National Government after 15 November will have to come back and tidy up simply because of the arrogant and bullying attitude of the Minister. 
Kate Wilkinson 
: And ignorance! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The Minister obviously had a run-in with somebody some time—we do not know why.