Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill

It is a great pleasure to stand again and speak on the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill. I have thought about whether the title is a good title, and I think it is a reasonably accurate reflection of what the bill contains. It is clearly a bill that is designed to amend the existing Motor Vehicle Sales Act, and, generally speaking, the amendments, although positive, are not life-shattering or anything like that. They are all relatively small amendments, so I do not think the bill warrants a grander title than the one it has—the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill.

As I said, the changes are positive and they follow what has been a reasonable process. The changes are primarily around the renewal of annual registration for motor vehicle traders. There is a very good amendment that closes a loophole that prevented the automatic banning of traders whose registration has lapsed. That is positive. It is not huge in the grand scheme of life, but it is a very positive change. There is the requirement in terms of the consumer information notice, which we have discussed and which my colleague Mr Hipkins outlined so well.

The legislation removes car market operators from the definition of motor vehicle trader. There is the removal of the requirement to display the consumer information notice for transactions between traders or between traders and wreckers, and, of course, the bill increases the jurisdiction of the Motor Vehicles Disputes Tribunal, and there is the ability for the tribunal to publicise its decisions. So there are a number of good, solid amendments to the Act; probably the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill as a title reflects pretty accurately what it is.

There was a process around that bill, which my colleague the Hon Lianne Dalziel outlined. Of course, the Motor Vehicle Sales Act was good legislation brought in by the previous Labour Government. It put in place things like the disputes tribunal, and it required good, solid consumer information and registration of motor vehicle traders. It was good legislation with pretty chunky requirements. As others have said, motor vehicles are very important in New Zealand life, and for many the most significant purchase they are likely to make.

In the legislative process there was an automatic requirement of a 2-year review, there was a discussion process, and 12 areas were identified, and they carried through into this bill, mainly. As my colleague the Hon Lianne Dalziel said, the bill was considered by the Commerce Committee—a committee that she does an extremely good job of chairing; we are all very proud of the Hon Lianne Dalziel and the work that she does. She is extremely well qualified for that role, with a very incisive mind and a good ability, I think, to deal with the issues.

The process is reflective of what the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill is called. I thought about whether we could call it something else that would be better than that. Although it is a very accurate reflection of both the process and what is contained in it and its relative importance, it occurred to me that we could call this bill the “Not the Most Important Issue Facing the Country Today Bill”. I think that is a very important point. As we are debating this bill under urgency—a nice, solid bill, as we have all identified—out there people are struggling. They are struggling to make ends meet. Unemployment is at a very high level. There is no approach to bring greater jobs or skills into our economy. So calling the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill the “Not the Most Important Issue Facing the Country Today Bill” would have been more accurate and reflective of what is going on in the wider community. As I say, people are struggling to make ends meet.

To link that issue to the motor vehicle area, I noticed when my colleague Chris Hipkins, a very fine member of Parliament, gave his first reading speech he talked about the implications of the recession on the motor vehicle industry, and the job losses in that particular industry. He noted that a survey carried out by the Motor Trade Association in January showed that over 200 people in the motor vehicle industry had lost their jobs.

Thank you very much, Mr Chairperson. Once again it is great to have your enthusiastic support for giving me the call. I will pick up where my colleague Carol Beaumont left off on some potential alternative titles for the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill. Obviously that title is one option, because the bill amends the Motor Vehicle Sales Act, so that would be traditional.

💬 Moana Mackey: It’s not very original.

It is not terribly creative, and I think it is important that in this Committee we try to make sure that our laws are contemporary, that they stay in touch with what is happening in the world, and that they are relevant.

One title that I considered was the “Motor Vehicle Sales (ACT Party Shuffling the Deckchairs on the Titanic) Bill”. That is one way of looking at it. Mr Boscawen has found himself in the chair, and—

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: How many knives could they melt down from a car to put into Heather Roy’s back?

Mr Mallard has a suggestion, which is interesting coming from him, as he has just re-entered the Chamber after having been out of it for some time. Mr Mallard might want to reflect further on that. The ACT Party has obviously reshuffled the deck, and Mr Boscawen has found himself in the chair. He is obviously concerned about consumers—it is in the name of the party—so he is concerned about those who buy and sell motor vehicles.

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: ACT—consumers and taxpayers?

Yes, that is right.

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: Surely you can do something—

No, we will come back to that soon. But the “Motor Vehicle Sales (ACT Party Shuffling the Deckchairs on the Titanic) Bill” is one alternative title that we have thought of.

I actually think Ms Beaumont was on to a particularly good point around alternative titles, given that we are yet again here in urgency to debate the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill, which has been taken through most of its stages under urgency. Perhaps the “Motor Vehicle Sales (Go, Stop, Go, Stop, Go) Amendment Bill” might have been a more appropriate title, because it is hard to understand why a bill that was brought in by the previous Labour Government and was wending its way through its processes—and that National occasionally believes is an urgent bill—occasionally merits the title of urgency, and then stops for a long period of time.

💬 Jacinda Ardern: Lada-Ferrari.

Yes, perhaps it is going from being a Ferrari of a bill to a Lada of a bill; we are not getting much in between that from this Government.

The Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill is the title that the Government has come up with. It is probably a fair enough title. Mr Boscawen has been strangely silent during the Committee stage of this debate; he made an early contribution, although signs of life have been rare since then. But I hope that we will hear from him again in the further stages.

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: Heather Roy would have spoken on it.

Heather Roy has had a lot of references made to her in this Committee stage. She took the consumer affairs role seriously, and I am sure she would have taken several calls, in fact, and answered Mr Hipkins’ very useful questions that were raised earlier in the Committee stage about the consumer information notices. I think, on balance, the Labour Party can support this title. We perhaps would have preferred something that was more creative. We could have injected other words into the title, like “lamington”, for instance—that is one potential word that could have found its way into the title—but I think on balance we will be able to support the title being the Motor Vehicle Sales Amendment Bill. However, we would obviously welcome a contribution from the Minister in the chair to this particular part of the debate.

Clause 1 agreed to.

The question was put that the amendment set out on Supplementary Order Paper 161 in the name of the Hon John Boscawen to clause 2 be agreed to.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 2 as amended agreed to.

Clause 3 agreed to.

Bill reported with amendment.

Report adopted.

Third Reading