Bennett David: Land Transport Management Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bennett David: Land Transport Management Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Sitting date: 01 July 2008. Volume:648;Page:17045. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 We have been asked to consider a Supplementary Order Paper that has been put forward by the Minister of Finance at a very late hour in the transaction of the Land Transport Management Amendment Bill. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Very sudden. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Yes it is a very sudden Supplementary Order Paper coming before the House just today. Mr Deputy Speaker you are quite right to say we need to debate the relevance of that Supplementary Order Paper and whether it should be debated or should in fact be passed through the House today. The reason why it is so important to debate whether we accept Supplementary Order Paper 211 relates to the nature of what it represents. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: What is the nature? 
DAVID BENNETT 
: This Supplementary Order Paper represents a mistake made by the Minister of Finance. The Supplementary Order Paper tries to rectify a mistake made by the person whom the Labour Government entrusts with the financial management of this country. It deals with the mistakes of the Labour Government. 
There are many mistakes of the Labour Government with regard to the Toll purchase and we can go through them at length. But the mistake we are looking at today is a fundamental mistake. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Who does it affect? 
DAVID BENNETT 
: It is fundamental in that it affects the workers of Toll. It affects all workers in New Zealand as well because it shows that the Minister of Finance does not consider their needs to be imperative in any deal that he does. He is not concerned about New Zealand’s workers. He has said on TV that he just wants to hold on to power. That is what he is about. So it is important that we debate Supplementary Order Paper 211 in this House and that we continue to debate it because it represents the real intention of the Minister of Finance. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Or a lack of intention. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: Yes—or a lack of intention. The Minister’s intention is not to do what is best for New Zealand; his intention is to do what he thinks will win him another election. 
The Minister of Finance has made a big mistake because in trying to buy back an asset that did not need to be bought back he has made a few fundamental errors. He did not think about the debts that he would incur. He did not think about the fact that he was giving preferential rights to certain land to Toll’s trucking operation a decision that he has now had to reverse again. He did not think about the fact that he is leaving the workers out in the cold—which again he is trying to reverse with this Supplementary Order Paper. What does that tell us about our Minister of Finance? It tells us that he is not a very smart business person. It tells us that as soon as he walked in the door of Toll Holdings to negotiate with it that company was licking its lips. That is why we need to look at this Supplementary Order Paper. 
This Supplementary Order Paper shows the deficiencies of the Minister of Finance. It shows the deficiencies of the Labour Government as well because Labour is a party that is based on the notion that it knows better than anyone else. It thinks that it knows what is right for New Zealanders. The Labour Government does not give New Zealanders the ability to make their own decisions in life. Labour takes New Zealanders’ money and then distributes it. It redistributes that money under its guiding ambitions. 
Sue Moroney 
: Stick to the point of the debate. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: The point we are talking about is that Labour entrusted the Minister of Finance to undertake a major commercial deal which he stuffed up and this Supplementary Order Paper tries to deal with his stuff-ups. That is what we are doing here today. 
We need to debate this Supplementary Order Paper more in this House this afternoon because that is the only way that the public will understand what a failure we have for a Minister of Finance. He has put our country in the position of having some of the highest interest rates and the lowest growth rates in the world and of having an economy that is going down the tubes at a great rate of knots. That is what we have had from the Minister of Finance. The Minister of Finance does not know what to do. He is useless at these financial matters and this Supplementary Order Paper is a practical example of his ineffectiveness. So we need to debate it more. We should be debating it all day and night because it shows the lack of credibility of the financial management of the Labour Government. 
Labour has been going around for many years saying it is there for the workers and is there for the economy but the reality is that it has just been sitting on something that has been in terms of pressures in the international economic environment a reasonably good time. Now that we are going into tough times we see the deficiencies and Labour’s lack of economic management. Should we entrust the finances of the rail company into the hands of 60 ex-unionists? I ask whether we should we do that because this Supplementary Order Paper is what we get when we do that. We are having to do deal after deal day after day to try to rectify the mistakes that those members made when they were signing a commercial agreement. The reason they made those mistakes is that none of them have ever had to negotiate a commercial agreement in their lives. None of them have had to go out there and make money in business. They do not know what it is like they never will know what it is like and they cannot be entrusted to run a country when they do not know the reality of commercial management. 
Today we are seeing the result of that. What more do we need to show us that than to see the Minister of Finance have to come into this House put forward a Supplementary Order Paper and say that he forgot about the workers that he did not look after the people who voted him in and that he has made a mistake in the biggest commercial negotiation he has done this year. He made a mistake. He has had to come to this House to have it rectified. It is important that we debate it and that we debate it strongly because it shows the ability of the Minister of Finance. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Or lack of ability. 
DAVID BENNETT 
: He has a lack of ability in commercial matters and the people of New Zealand have seen that. The people of New Zealand are voting against this Government in the polls because of the economic conditions they are now in. They know that the Minister of Finance has not managed this economy they know that tough economic conditions are coming their way for the next couple of years and they know that Labour has no idea about economic management. They know that Labour is at fault in relation to the conditions we have and they know that they cannot trust the Minister of Finance. 
What more do we need to show that our lack of trust is justified than for the Minister of Finance to have to come into this House and ask for his mistakes to be rectified? We could want nothing more from the Minister of Finance in order to show us how incompetent he is at his job than for him to have to come to this House and show that he has made a huge mistake on the biggest deal he has done this year.