Key John: Consumer Protection (Definitions of Goods and Services) Bill — In Committee 
Key John: Consumer Protection (Definitions of Goods and Services) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:609;Page:6893] 
JOHN KEY (NZ National—Helensville) 
: It is my pleasure to stand on behalf of the National Party and oppose Part 2. As members well know this bill is looking to amend three specific Acts: the Commerce Act the Consumer Guarantees Act and the Fair Trading Act. In particular I want to make reference to the Consumer Guarantees Act to clarify the position that will be confusing a great many consumers in New Zealand. It is simply that this bill attempts to define a service or a good but it uses in the definition of a good an objective test based on a reasonable person. That is what the law states. One cannot contract out of it under the Consumer Guarantees Act. It says that it is an objective test based on a reasonable consumer. 
That means that if electricity is defined as a good then a reasonable consumer is meant to understand that it will have certain imperfections and certain specific peculiarities in the way it will act. That is what the law says. So it says for instance that electricity is subject to momentary fluctuations and prone to interference by environmental factors and actions of third parties. In other words that is the kind of understanding that a consumer is meant to have. 
Well how practical or likely is it that consumers who will be looking to the Consumer Guarantees Act that will be amended by this legislation tonight will understand uniformly an objective test? Let me put this example to the Committee tonight. There I am with my pinny on in front of the stove cooking up a lovely supper for 141 of the neighbours I have invited around from the Helensville electorate for a quick dinner. I have my 15 ovens burning away and for dinner I have decided to cook a lovely meal. I am going to start with a mulligatawny soup. I will move nicely into roast legs of lamb—beautifully done with just a little pink inside. I will have potatoes pumpkins—because those are always very good for us—a few peas some gravy and bits and pieces. I am going to make a lovely dessert. I will have pavlova a New Zealand favourite. I know that the Australians have tried to claim it and that there will be Australians listening in on their satellite dishes to this speech but I want to tell them here and now that nobody in New Zealand believes that pavlova is an Australian dish. It is a New Zealand dish and we are proud to have it. 
Hon Rick Barker 
: That’s not what we’re here to talk about. 
JOHN KEY 
: That is not what we are here to talk about; we are here to talk about the objective test of whether electricity should be a good. So here I am with 141 people for dinner from the Helensville electorate and I am serving them a beautiful three-course meal. We sit down and the power goes off. The lights are out but there are plenty of people at home because they are all National Party supporters. There are 141 of them. They do not know each other very well; they do not have neon signs. All of a sudden I come out and say: “Look a bit of bad news—“ 
David Benson-Pope 
: What do you know about Epsom? 
JOHN KEY 
: I know lots about Epsom. It is a wonderful place. There is— 
David Benson-Pope 
: You live there. 
JOHN KEY 
: I do live there from time to time and it is a wonderful part of the country—absolutely wonderful. But like all good things I like to share myself around. There is absolutely no point otherwise. I am known in places in Wellington Helensville and Epsom and wherever I go I am given a sort of coming-home greeting. People are proud to have me when I am there. But that is not what I am here to talk about; I am here to talk about this dinner for 141 people—and the power has gone off. 
Here is the rub: am I a reasonable consumer with an objective test? In other words if I cannot get an electricity supply would I be reasonable to say that it is OK to understand that the electricity may not be there? Well with 141 people for dinner and a beautiful 3-course meal when I am having pavlova for dessert with kiwifruit on top— 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: The answer is to buy your own power company. 
JOHN KEY 
: The answer is to buy one’s own generator. It is cheaper than a power company. My point is that on that particular occasion electricity supply would not meet an objective and reasonable test—and that is where this legislation will horribly fail. It is just not possible to have an objective test measured across the country because people will have different circumstances at different times. People will be looking to this fine Parliament for legislation that they will be able to rely on and they will simply not be able to rely on it because they will not understand that particular issue.