Power Simon: Supreme Court Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Power Simon: Supreme Court Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:612;Page:9010] 
SIMON POWER (NZ National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 It is with pleasure that I make a contribution on Part 1 of the Supreme Court Bill. I was on the Justice and Electoral Committee when the bill first came before that committee and at that time I expressed along with my colleagues on the committee many of the concerns that have been raised by my colleagues and by members on this side of the Chamber during the course of this debate. In fact many of those concerns have not been addressed at all. 
I reflect on what this bill will mean for the legal community and those seeking to have their cases heard at a high level by way of appeal and more particularly on what it says about the Government’s basic attitude towards the people of New Zealand. This Government’s view is simply that the public are not smart enough to get it and on that basis the Government believes that it will tell the public what is right for it and refuse to allow the people of New Zealand to have a say. 
I am sure that amongst Government members on the opposite side of the Chamber there are those who are concerned that a constitutional change of this magnitude is about to occur. I am sure there are one or two over the other side of the Chamber who are in fact a bit embarrassed that they are about to deal with a significant constitutional aspect of the lie of the land in New Zealand—by a very slim majority—in what can only be described as a slippery way to make a substantial change to a basic constitutional right of all New Zealanders. 
We on this side of the Chamber—New Zealand First ACT and National—share a very simple view. We actually believe that the public of New Zealand are smart enough to have a view on this. Funnily enough we believe that the people of New Zealand are quite capable of making an informed decision as to whether they wish to remove the right of appeal to the Privy Council. In fact we trust the people of New Zealand to get it right. On that basis members on this side of the Chamber have been promoting a referendum on this issue. 
It is not an issue that this Government is turning down in isolation. Members will recall that when a member’s bill in my name came before this House about 6 months ago with an opportunity for the New Zealand public to have another look at the electoral system the Government also threw that out. Parties who actually had a bit to lose from that referendum like the ACT party because they are all list MPs voted for that legislation. I remember it clearly. The reason that the ACT party voted with National on that issue is simply that members of those parties are not arrogant enough to believe that the New Zealand public are not smart enough to have a view on these issues but believe that they are in fact able to make their minds up themselves. [ 
Interruption 
] 
That is what that member always says. I wish she had another issue because I am getting a bit sick of it after 4 years. It would be nice if she had another issue. [ 
Interruption 
] The well-liked Government senior whip—the only senior whip in the Parliament who chips in while people are speaking and does not have the decency to keep his mouth closed while other people are making a contribution—should learn a bit from the behaviour of other senior whips in this House. That sort of behaviour does the Government no good in the eyes of the public. 
In fact this Government actually thinks that the public of New Zealand are not smart enough to make these decisions. We say they are smart enough. We say that the Clark-Wilson Government is not able to make a fair assessment of what the New Zealand public want. In fact I would have to say that on the more than one occasion that this has occurred in the last 6 months it is that type of arrogance when dealing with the public that this Government would be—