Tabuteau FletcherFLETCHER TABUTEAU (Deputy Leader—NZ First): Thanks Mr Assistant Speaker for this opportunity to speak on this legislation. I'd first like to address some of the nonsense put up by the Opposition this afternoon using this legislation as some kind of mouthpiece on their ideological fantasies and talking about this Government as if we were not doing exactly what we set out to do. We are fixing the problems of nine years of apathy where a party on the opposite side of the House refused to do anything in case it affected their poll ratings. They didn't want to be seen to be doing anything that was controversial for fear of upsetting those focus group polling numbers. This is the same Opposition party when they were in Government that decided—talking about houses and ring-fencing losses—to not only get rid of our Government housing stock for those most in need but they refused to build or upgrade any more and then they accuse this side of the House for the increase in costs for rental properties. Go figure Opposition—when you take supply away it puts pressure on the market and prices are going to increase.That is the legacy from the Opposition over there. That is what we're dealing with now as a Government. I commend not only this Minister in charge of this good and sensible piece of legislation but for example the Minister of Housing and Urban Development who's trying incredibly hard to work with industry.Alastair Scott: Trying is that—trying. He's trying.FLETCHER TABUTEAU: Well here's a fact for you guys: he's built more houses in his time now than you did in the last three years. How's that for a factoid right? Apologies if I brought you into the debate Mr Assistant Speaker.As for those who spoke about ring-fencing losses on rental properties I think those speakers were quite selective in their interpretation of what this might mean for rental property owners. Already rental property owners are able to ring-fence losses into future incomes so that they tie any losses now to that rental and are able to offset against profits into the future so that they can compensate themselves as it were for the creation of that rental property that is being used by people who need rental properties. That is being done now and that is what is in this legislation right now so that rental property owners are able to use ring-fenced property deductions from one year against residential income in future years on their property. So that is in this legislation. I've seen it first-hand being done in the market already and yes long may it continue. So look there are so many things that were said on the other side that were just—well annoying" is a polite way to put it.But to this piece of legislation I'd like to commend the Minister. It's quite a hefty bill; it covers a wide range of issues not least the fact that we're setting the annual tax rates and they will remain the same. This bill will improve and speed up administration of Working for Families student loans and child support administration processes and it outlines how as I said the ring-fencing of rental properties is set out going forward. It ensures that a transaction involving the sale and compulsory buy-back of pre-1990 property forest land emission units is treated as a loan for tax purposes. The Minister pointed out—and I commend him for this—that it is a practice currently but actually what we're formalising in this legislation is the use of Te Reo Māori in terms of record-keeping for the purposes of this legislation and IRD communications. I think that's fantastic recognising one of New Zealand's official languages. Yes it will put challenges on the system I'm sure but I know of a few good accountants in Rotorua who are already doing great work in this space.The area I wanted to focus on today is around GST on goods. Back in I think it was mid to late 2016 we debated—Andrew Bayly: Who's "we"?FLETCHER TABUTEAU: Parliament Mr Bayly. Thank you for your—how about you be quiet eh mate? We were debating the tax on services the remote—I don't know what does everyone call it? The "Internet of Things"—you know buying services online like movies and that kind of thing.So at the time what New Zealand and businesses were telling that side of the House when they were in Government was "Yeah that's a good start but it's only half the issue. You're not addressing the real problem." That side of the House were not addressing the real problem or the bulk of the problem the majority of the problem with the fact that our New Zealand-owned businesses our retailers especially have been competing against international big business for quite a number of years with this kind of built-in disadvantage around GST. That just made business incredibly hard and those supposed advocates for business on that side of the House there were told repeatedly by advocate groups individual businesses—I know business owners went into their offices repeatedly to try and tell them the message "That's only half the issue. We need to do something about the goods side of the goods and services equation."This is what this legislation is doing. It's complicated and it's going to take quite a bit to enforce at the margins. Actually to be fair to IRD what they've presented to the Minister and what the Minister has worked through is quite a good comprehensive piece of work where the bulk of those purchases will be identified and be able to be taxed. So not only is that a good thing for the Government in terms of a small increase in GST returns but primarily this was always about evening the playing field for New Zealand businesses.Mark Patterson: Fairness for Kiwi businesses.FLETCHER TABUTEAU: Yes fairness for Kiwi businesses—exactly.So that's all I really wanted to focus on in my contribution in the House today. We will have plenty of opportunity to discuss other aspects of the legislation but it is a sensible bill that does everything that we set out to. There are a few minor and technical fixes as well which I'm sure others will touch on but going forward this is absolutely good for business good for transparency and efficiency in our tax system and I do commend it to the House. Thank you."