Prebble Richard: Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Prebble Richard: Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:610;Page:7888] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (Leader—ACT NZ) 
: 
 The ACT party rises to speak on this bill but then we are in favour of capitalism. Indeed we think this bill should be entitled the “Triumph of Capitalism Bill” or perhaps it could be called the “Unlimited Global Economy Bill”. We are thinking of moving such an amendment because the Green Party supports this bill—and does that not show that the bill should be called the “Triumph of Capitalism Bill”? When even the red Greens are in favour of an independent Reserve Bank— 
Ian Ewen-Street 
: There must be some mistake! 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: The member calls out to me that there must be a mistake. No I am delighted to hear that the Green Party is now in favour of capitalism. I welcome them to that but I would hate it if they voted for capitalism by mistake. We would hate that would we not? That would upset us. 
Ian Ewen-Street 
: I had better just check on it! 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: The Green Party now tells me that it wants to check on this bill. Let me just refer the Greens—because I always thought they were opposed to global capitalism—to one measure in the bill for example. 
As the commentary on the bill states there are provisions “designed to cater for a variety of different payment systems including CLS (Continuous Linked Settlement) Bank International. In foreign exchange transactions a bank may pay out in the currency it has sold but not receive the currency it has purchased”. Anything more like global capitalism than that would be hard to find would it not? 
Rodney Hide 
: One couldn’t do that on a skateboard. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: No most certainly not. But there would not be another Parliament in the OECD where capitalism is as rampant and as successful as it is in this one. As the leader of the party that has always been unabashedly in favour of capitalism and of the global economy I welcome the Greens to us. If they have carefully studied this bill there is hope for us yet. 
There is the New Zealand First Party which says it puts New Zealand ahead of everything but the New Zealand First members are to vote for this bill. I can remember when Mr Peters thought the Reserve Bank was a plot by Ruth Richardson. Clearly he has changed his mind. I have never known what Peter Dunne thought about the Reserve Bank because he talks in pompous platitudes. But it is delightful to know that he too is in favour of capitalism. 
Rodney Hide 
: Even the National Party. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: That is good! Even the National Party is in favour of it. That could be due to the influence of Mr Brash; he has joined National. Mr Brash has always been a capitalist and he has been a banker from way back. But it is nice to see that the Labour Party is in favour of capitalism too. Labour members used to say that having an independent Reserve Bank was a plot by Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson. There used to be a sort of Social Credit streak in the Labour Party—[ 
Interruption 
] yes let us talk about our loss of sovereignty—and it is nice to see that that has been removed. 
So I think we should change the title to the “Triumph of Capitalism Bill” just so that the Greens New Zealand First and— 
Jim Peters 
: Progressive capitalism. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: I am delighted to hear that because that is exactly what the ACT party says. Capitalism is progressive and the New Zealand First Party has grasped that. Is that not wonderful? But I do think we should change the name of the bill. I wonder whether the Minister in the chair the Hon Chris Carter would be prepared to move that amendment to the title himself so that when he goes to the Labour Party conference people will realise there is no doubt about it—that Labour was warned by the ACT party that it was voting for capitalism and for a global economy and that it has managed to persuade the whole Committee to do so. 
I am trying to be as generous as I can because I think that is a wonderful achievement. I hope that the members of the Green Party—who until now have voted solidly for this bill—will recognise what this bill is about now that they have been told by the ACT party. We would recognise capitalism if we saw it would we not? If anybody knows a piece of capitalism it is the ACT party. There is no doubt about it; this bill is pure capitalism—an independent Reserve Bank that is set up to have international settlements and to promote global capitalism. The only thing that would be better than this bill would be to have no Reserve Bank at all—that is what the ACT party really wants. But this is a good good step towards that. I do not want the Greens to say later that they were tricked into voting for global capitalism and a global economy. There is no doubt aboutthe fact that that is what this bill is all about and the Greens are voting for it.