Tabuteau Fletcher: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTabuteau Fletcher: General Debate[Sitting date: 11 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10980. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]FLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First): It is actually that member Nick Smith who needs to apologise to the Chinese. It is that member who needs to apologise specifically to the Chinese Premier himself—the man who came to New Zealand and looked John Key in the eye and said: “You have to help us.” What was he asking for help for? The corruption the money-laundering the tax evasion Mr Nick Smith—that is what you need to apologise for because your Prime Minister and your Government are not doing a thing about it and it is completely absolutely unacceptable.We are a small country. We are a proud country that punches above its weight in the rest of the world and that is because of our integrity and our professionalism and the dignity with which we conduct our overseas transactions in trade deals for example. When we go out and we support peacekeeping efforts we are New Zealanders supporting the rest of the world standing up with them. So how can the Prime Minister stand up and use the same tune as Sergeant Schultz and tell the world: “I know nothing. I know nothing.” He denies and he disclaims knowledge. It is unacceptable. In Schultz it was endearing; it was cute. In a Prime Minister of New Zealand it is abhorrent and it is absolutely unacceptable.What we have been seeing lately is a Prime Minister under pressure and when a man is put under pressure you start to see his true colours. What we saw today for example was the nature of the man come to the surface. So what have we seen? What we have actually seen is the history of the Prime Minister coming to the fore. He is a money-trader a player of the international markets who held—well I am not going to say that even in the House. But the man was playing games with ethics and we have to question where his stand is now.The reality is that what was once endearing for the New Zealand public who saw a self-made man making millions of dollars in this money market—now we see that it is unacceptable and the man is basically selling the country down the river. He is a man whose instinct it is to defend the 1 percent—the 1 percent who use phantom corporations shell companies and zombie directors. He talks about a database a list but this party New Zealand First has shown National real cases of real convicted people in companies who are on this list who are evading their tax obligations offshore. They are using New Zealand as a tax haven. The Prime Minister—listen to him in his interviews. He speaks vehemently in denial and in opposition to this country being a tax haven. Listen as he is pressed on detail and goes: “Oh hold on. No you can’t ask me that. I don’t know. I’m not a tax expert.” That is his go-to answer. As a layman it seems ironic and distressing that he would stand up against the world tax experts who actually use expert knowledge and fact to decry the very real reality that New Zealand is being used as a tax haven—experts who use fact against a layman Prime Minister who decries: “You can’t ask me that. I’m not a tax expert.” This is a farce.New Zealand First simply says to the Prime Minister: “Act—act now. It’s not acceptable. You cannot just sit there and sit back and watch this happen.” New Zealanders are seeing that our reputation is being sullied in the world. They are not comfortable with this. This Government needs to fix up these tax-evasion problems so that the 1 percent—the money-launderers the gun runners—cannot hide their money here in New Zealand. It is unacceptable and it must stop right now. Thank you.