McNair Craig: Taxation (Annual Rates Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee Procedure 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McNair Craig: Taxation (Annual Rates Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee Procedure 
[Sitting date: 14 December 2004. Volume:622;Page:17819. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CRAIG McNAIR (NZ First) 
: 
 We are debating clause 1 the title. I believe that the bill should be called the “Taxation (Still Putting Foreign Investors First and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill”. Why should it be called that? I am obviously referring to the venture capital provisions. I have always said in speaking to this bill that I disagree with giving certain non-residents a tax advantage on profits from the sale of shares in unlisted New Zealand companies. That disadvantages New Zealand - resident venture capital investors. Even proponents of those provisions say they will not attract the appropriate capital that is needed—the purpose and reason for creating them. 
I will show Labour Governments’ track record of putting foreign investors not New Zealand investors and not New Zealanders first. Between 1984 and 1990 a Labour Government sold to foreign investors New Zealand Steel Petrocorp Health Computing Services the Development Finance Corporation PostBank the Shipping Corporation Air New Zealand Landcorp Financial Instruments the Rural Bank the Government Printing Office the National Film Unit Communicate New Zealand the State Insurance Office the Tourist Hotel Corporation New Zealand Liquid Fuel Investment Maui Gas Telecom and forestry - cutting rights—to the tune of $10.1 billion. That is right—$10.1 billion. I thought that when this Labour Government came in in 1999 it promised to stop putting foreign investors first and to start putting New Zealanders first but it did not do that. We can see the fruition of its policy in the venture capital provisions of this bill. 
Unfortunately and very sadly National was not much better as far as putting foreign investors first goes. That is probably one of the reasons National members are supporting the venture capital provisions in this bill. National sold $6.36 billion worth of State-owned assets to foreign-owned companies: the Export Guarantee Office the Government Supply Brokerage Corporation mortgages held by the Housing Corporation of New Zealand Taranaki petroleum-mining licences the Bank of New Zealand—yes we do remember the Bank of New Zealand—New Zealand Rail Wrightson rights Fletcher Challenge Ltd shares the Maori Development Corporation the Radio Company Ltd the Forestry Corporation the Ministry of Works’ civil construction arm and New Zealand Timberlands. 
Pita Paraone 
: A headache. 
CRAIG McNAIR 
: That is right. My colleague says one gets a headache listening to it because it is so sad. It is so sad because the foreign investors of the global market have taken advantage of New Zealanders and the previous Labour Government and successive National Governments have allowed them to do that. I think that has been devastating for the country and we are still paying for the consequences of those actions years and years later. Another name for the bill could be the “Taxation”— 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Drum roll. 
CRAIG McNAIR 
: Even the Labour member over there the chairman of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is getting all excited about the next title. It could be called the “Taxation (We Don’t Care What You Think and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill” because the Government time and time again has proven that it does not care what the average Kiwi thinks. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: This is a very average speech. 
CRAIG McNAIR 
: It is. It will get angrier. The Minister will start to hear me get more and more angry and get wound up because what this Government has done in the past few years while it has been in power has been very devastating. The reason why I say the bill should be called the “Taxation (We Don’t Care What The People Think and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill” is that it provides high income-tax rates high business compliance costs and a whole bunch of compliance costs which the average New Zealand taxpayer has to foot and that is because of this Government.