Hide Rodney: Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill — Second Reading 
Hide Rodney: Rotorua District (Easter Sunday Shop Trading) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4444] 
RODNEY HIDE (ACT NZ) 
: 
 I have to say that I was astonished at the Attorney-General’s speech to this House. The Attorney-General of New Zealand has been unable to deliver on a simple promise; a simple promise to have shops open in Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. Here is an Attorney-General who puts out a pamphlet that declares her to be “Margaret Wilson MP for Tauranga”. Well I do not know how to break it to the Labour Party’s Attorney-General but the good people of Tauranga have spoken. They have spoken consistently at the polls and Margaret Wilson ain’t the member for Tauranga! She never will be because she cannot do the business. There is a word for a person who says he or she is the member for Tauranga when that is not true and the idea that an Attorney-General would make that statement is truly shocking. 
I rise to support this bill on behalf of the ACT party but I am very disappointed that it is only for Rotorua. Why is Parliament having to decide who can open what shop and where when my bill would allow that for everyone? The Rt Hon Winston Peters would leave that decision up to the local councils. I see that Margaret Wilson was able to spend her 10 minutes explaining why she could not deliver for the people of Tauranga and Mount Maunganui and that is what I will comment on. Margaret Wilson the MP for Tauranga said this in her newsletter to the people of Tauranga: “I have constantly strived over the past 3 years to ensure that the needs of Tauranga are heard and understood at the highest level of Government.” That says it all because if she wants a bill for the people of Mount Maunganui and Tauranga she does not have to rely on days on which private and local orders are debated or on members’ days. Mr Peters has done it. He put a Supplementary Order Paper into the nursery bill in order to help the people of Tauranga but how did Margaret Wilson vote? Did she vote for the people of Tauranga and Mount Maunganui on Winston Peters’ Supplementary Order Paper? I am reliably advised by the Rt Hon Winston Peters and Mr Ron Mark that Margaret Wilson the “MP for Tauranga” voted against it. 
For 10 minutes we heard her explaining why she could not deliver despite her best efforts and her election-year promises to the people of Tauranga. In 1999 she said: “Vote for Margaret Wilson and shops will be open in Mount Maunganui on Easter Sunday.” I suppose the people of Tauranga did not keep their part of the bargain. I think she was still grumpy with them because they did not vote for her. I remember what she told them on the night of the election. She said that Tauranga is the redneck capital of New Zealand and the Hon John Tamihere agrees. However I disagree. Margaret Wilson the Attorney-General did get voted in on Labour’s list and what has she done? 
Steve Chadwick 
: She did try to do a joint bill. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: We heard from Steve Chadwick that the Attorney-General did try but she failed. That is what has happened. We now understand that the Attorney-General tried hard but she failed and what comfort is that for the people of Tauranga? The Attorney-General parades herself as their local MP and the best thing that can be said in her defence by Steve Chadwick is that she tried. The Attorney-General could put a bill up as a Government bill. She could take over Winston Peters’ bill as a Government bill and deliver on it. We are going into urgency next week and she could do it then for the people of Tauranga so that the bill would be in place by Easter. If this Government had any concern about Tauranga that is what it would do. 
Do members know what is going on here? No one in this Government wants Margaret Wilson to win the Tauranga seat. They realise it is not possible because the people of Tauranga remember what Margaret Wilson told them on election night and they will remember that she tried hard but did not deliver. 
We support this bill and I thank Steve Chadwick for her comments on it. However I ask the Parliament who are we to be deciding which shop can be open in which town or district? We should do one of two things: we should either leave the decision to the shop owners and the customers themselves or at the very least follow Mr Peters and let the local bodies make the decision. Who are we in Parliament to be deciding this? How is it possible that Rotorua can have a special case over Hanmer Tauranga or parts of Auckland or any other district? We do have an odd Government do we not? It is saying that people can trade on Sunday but they cannot smoke inside a shop any day of the week—even if the owner and the customers do not mind. People cannot smoke in a car-park or in Returned Services Association rooms but they can pick up a prostitute 24/7. There is no ban on that. 
I ask Steve Chadwick what the principle or philosophy underpinning this bill is. It is State-control over who can and cannot open a shop on Easter Sunday. What is wrong with the simple principle that it is the shop owner who should decide whether to open his or her shop for the use of customers? Are we not grown up enough to decide when we should and should not shop? Is that not a responsibility that the Labour Party is prepared to give to New Zealanders and to businesses? Will the Government decide when people can go shopping? With the greatest respect to the United Future Party I say that not every one in New Zealand is a Christian. [ 
Interruption 
] I do not know what Anzac Day has to do with Easter Sunday. I say to this Government that not every one is a Christian. If Muslims non-Christians or even Christians want to go down to the local hardware store and buy a shovel on Easter Sunday why should they not be allowed to do that? Why should they not be allowed to go shopping particularly when this Government apparently wants them to be able to smoke dope and go to the local brothel to have some fun? Why can they not go to the local hardware shop and buy a shovel and do some work? Why is that not allowed? Why can they not do it in Tauranga? The Attorney-General the self-styled “MP for Tauranga” said: “I promise I will deliver this to you if you vote for me.” but they did not and she did not.