Tremain Chris: New Zealand Geographic Board (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill — Third Reading 
Tremain Chris: New Zealand Geographic Board (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill — Third Reading 
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CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier) 
: 
 I rise to take a call in the third reading of the New Zealand Geographic Board (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill. This bill has been before the House for an hour or so tonight. It is a bill that National members oppose. I want to focus initially on the reason why we oppose the bill so that it is clear to members of the public why we are doing so. It comes out quite clearly in the minority report presented in the summary of the bill. It states: “National members recognise the role of the New Zealand Geographic Board under the existing legislation.” There is no doubt there. We recognise the opportunity to name parts of the country. We are fully behind that. However the minority report states: “There appears nothing wrong with the way the current legislation is operating and accordingly National members see no need for change.” 
Therefore National members believe we are debating a bill that in our opinion is a waste of parliamentary time. We accept that there are some benefits in the new administrative functions within the bill but essentially it is more bureaucracy. We are taking up Parliament’s time to debate this bill at a time when food prices are going through the roof when petrol prices are going through the roof for hard-battling Kiwis out there when mortgage rates for hard-working Kiwis have doubled over the last 4 or 5 years and when we are seeing job losses throughout the country. I refer particularly to the loss of 500 jobs today in Oringi in southern Hawke’s Bay. 
The National Party believes that at times like this we should be debating legislation that will take this country forward. We look at this bill and we do not see it taking us forward as a nation and addressing any of those issues out there in the public domain. In fact if we look at what is on the Order Paper which includes this bill we have to ask ourselves whether there is anything on it at the moment that is taking our nation forward and addressing some of those key issues we are talking about. The fact is that we are slipping behind the rest of the world. 
If we want to tie this speech to geography then we are No. 22 in the developed world for income per person and we are falling. We cannot seriously compare our standard of living with the geography of the UK Australia or the United States which are the areas of the globe that we used to compare ourselves with significantly. If we go back to 1958 when my dad first put on his boots for the All Blacks we were No. 3 in the OECD and we compared ourselves with nations like the UK and Australia. But now it is not those key trading nations that we compare ourselves with geographically; it is the Czech Republic. That is not a nation we have been compared with before. We are comparing ourselves with families that are struggling in nations we have never compared ourselves with before. 
Right now as we are dealing with this bill grocery bills are going through the roof. Families are finding it harder to save for a holiday and it is becoming harder and harder every day to save for the mortgage. More than 78000 New Zealanders are leaving this country every year. There are 78000 Kiwis leaving this nation every year and here we are debating the New Zealand Geographic Board bill. What will this bill do to stop 78000 Kiwis leaving this nation every year? I put it to members that it will do nothing—absolutely nothing. Here we are in this Parliament taking up hours and hours of this Parliament’s time to debate a bill that will do nothing for growth in this nation and will not take us forward. 
Members will be aware that Michael Cullen said earlier this year that this year’s election would be about a contest of power in New Zealand. I have news for him; I have a lot of news for him. This election will be about other far bigger issues at stake such as grocery bills mortgage payments and job losses like the 500 jobs that were lost at Oringi today. It will be about growth and productivity—things that will take this nation forward. We should not be spending hours of this Parliament’s time debating the New Zealand Geographic Board bill. 
New Zealand needs to be focusing its efforts on the things that will really make a difference in this country. Do members think this bill will do that? No it will not. There is not a chance. Tinkering around the edges is not good enough. We have major issues in this country now. Mortgage prices are through the roof. Hard-working Kiwis are battling to keep their heads above water. Those are the issues we are facing out there. 
New Zealand needs a step change geographically. National has a plan for this. We have a plan to deliver geographically around this fine nation of ours around all the different parts of this country from Kerikeri at the top to parts of Mr O’Connor’s electorate—to Punakaiki to Hokitika and even to Motueka. We have a plan that will deliver geographically for this nation. It will not achieve what this bill has set out to do which is just more bureaucracy more administration and not taking a step change forward for us. 
National has plans to deliver an ongoing programme of personal tax cuts. We have plans to take a disciplined approach to Government spending so that interest rates will track down over time not up. Over the course of this Government we have seen interest rates go through the roof. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: What plan? Waffle waffle waffle. 
CHRIS TREMAIN 
: I ask Mr Burton how the people in his electorate of Taupo are coping with the interest rates that they are currently paying. How will this bill help them to sort out their interest rates? It will do nothing. That member’s lack of activity on this issue will drive him out of his seat of Taupo very shortly. 
We have other plans to deal with geographically. The third plan is that we will stop the massive rise in head office bureaucracy that Labour has encouraged. We will deal with the compliance issues that are affecting small businesses in Taupo in Tokoroa and all around that member’s electorate where people are struggling to pay the bills and the grocery prices. 
Mr Burton is in this House and we have Ministers here—Mr Carter is here and so is Mr Barker. They are spending time on the New Zealand Geographic Board bill when we have issues such as rising grocery prices and interest rates going through the roof. Ministers of this Government are down here debating insignificant little bills like this when we should be looking at a step change to this economy 
Here is something else we will do. We will have an unwavering focus on improving education standards. These are the things that this party will do to take a step change in this country. 
Geographically we will be investing in infrastructure because this country needs a step change in investment in infrastructure. In particular 3 weeks ago my leader announced a huge step change in investment in infrastructure. This policy will take this country forward and will increase productivity from Kaitaia to Kerikeri all the way down to Waihi down to Wairoa all the way down to Oringi—where we lost 500 jobs today—to Paraparaumu to Kaikoura to Waipara all the way down to Punakaiki Wanaka and right the way down to Invercargill in the south. This step change is about an investment in broadband; an investment like we have never seen before in this country. It will bring us closer to the rest of the country and to other nations. It will improve productivity and take this nation forward. 
These are the things that the Labour Government should be discussing in order to take us forward rather than the New Zealand Geographic Board (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill which we are debating tonight. We are spending hours and hours of this country’s time on this bill while hard-working Kiwis are battling with grocery prices battling with interest rates and battling to keep their heads above water. This bill is a waste of time. Thank you.