Key John: KiwiSaver Bill — In Committee 
Key John: KiwiSaver Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:633;Page:4941] 
JOHN KEY (National—Helensville) 
: 
 We are led to believe that the Labour Government cares so much about the KiwiSaver Bill. Well the all-powerful Finance and Expenditure Committee that I sit on is chaired by none other than Shane Jones. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: Who? 
JOHN KEY 
: Shane Jones is the chairman of the Finance and Expenditure Committee. I have not heard Shane Jones take one call tonight. Interestingly enough the Labour Government cares so much about KiwiSaver that Shane Jones has not fronted up to the Committee and taken one call. Why is that? Because Shane Jones does not recognise the bill from when he was shepherding it through the select committee. It has changed so much from the time it left his careful hands that he has not recognised it. I told myself that Mr Jones could be a little too tied up to make a speech tonight—although he is in the Chamber and we hope that he will take a call later on. 
Then I looked to the next more senior member of the select committee from the Labour Government Mark Gosche. I asked myself how many calls Mark Gosche a former Minister of the Crown who sits on the Finance and Expenditure Committee has taken tonight. Zero—not the number of dollars that the Labour Party took when it bought the election with $882000 worth of taxpayer dollars. Mark Gosche a senior member and a former Minister of the Crown has taken zero calls. 
We then have the next select committee member for Labour Paul Swain. He is a former member of the Crown and a senior member of the select committee. How many calls has Paul Swain taken on this bill tonight? Zero! Then we come to the next member of the Labour caucus who sits on the Finance and Expenditure Committee George Hawkins also a former Minister of the Crown. How many calls has George Hawkins taken on this bill? Zero! So here we have it. 
The Labour Government cares an awful lot about KiwiSaver. Apparently it is the biggest thing that has ever hit since sliced toast. Michael Cullen paraded before the kiwi with the very long beak and Labour members care so much about the scheme that none of the members Shane Jones Mark Gosche Paul Swain and George Hawkins have come to the Committee tonight to give a speech on it. I tell Mr Jones—who is in the Chamber tonight—to go to his seat stand on his feet defend KiwiSaver and tell us about the changes that occurred to the bill when it left the select committee and before it came down to the floor of the Chamber. Mr Jones cannot recognise this bill. That is why he has not taken a call and I predict that he will not take a call. He cannot recognise the bill. 
Part 5 of the bill I think has a very interesting situation. It is about investment statements and about giving investment advice. This provision was put in because the Prime Minister of New Zealand the Rt Hon Helen Clark has had a lot of difficulty when it comes to investment advice. New Zealanders will remember that she told them: “Do not sell your Air New Zealand shares. Hang on to them for a little bit longer.” Actually I hope people did not hang on to those shares for too long because fundamentally they have not been doing all that well. 
The Prime Minister is in good company because about 6 weeks ago another member of the Crown—David Cunliffe the Minister of Communications—went out and told Telecom that its dividend policy should look radically different from the dividend policy it has today. So that is why clause 183 in Part 5 talks about investment advice. 
Clause 182 is very interesting as my colleague Katherine Rich pointed out. It states that there is no Crown guarantee in respect of KiwiSaver. I make the point that the one thing investors should realise of course is if they put their money into KiwiSaver then they are liable for whatever investment returns are put in. That is standard procedure. They are also liable for the integrity of those funds and they should choose their adviser very carefully. 
Again the process to support the default providers and the quality of fund managers in New Zealand does not concern me but I just make the point to New Zealanders that they should not be under any illusions. When they put their money into a KiwiSaver scheme there is no guarantee for those schemes and there is certainly no guarantee on a return. I think it would be very wise for them to make sure they choose their provider well they consider that situation fully and they make sure their provider is the one they believe can produce the best return for them. I believe that return will be very very important because so many investors will have such small balances in their account every dollar will matter.