Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill

This Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill seeks to repeal the Temporary Safeguard Authorities Act, which goes way back to the fourth Labour Government in 1987, and to implement a new safeguard regime for New Zealand that is consistent with the World Trade Organization’s rules. According to the Government, it is to promote “efficient, transparent, and objective investigative and decision-making processes.” Those words are important, and I want to come back to them shortly, but I want to consider the history of this bill because it is a rather curious history.

The origin of this bill was actually as a consequence of a review carried out under the last Labour Government and after wide public consultation. In fact, it was the now Mayor of Christchurch, Lianne Dalziel, who introduced this bill into the House. With the parentage of this bill under a Labour Government and under a good Minister, the Labour Party’s inclination is to support this bill, and as a former Minister of Trade my inclination is to support it. But there have been things that have happened under this bill that raise real questions about how competent the management and the oversight of this bill have been.

The first question is why, 6 years after it was introduced, are we now only in the Committee stage? I want an explanation from the Minister of Commerce, Mr Foss, another Minister in the chair, as to why it has taken 6 years. Has the Government had second thoughts about it? Or is it because such was the incompetence of the ministerial oversight of this bill by a previous Minister that the Government does not have confidence that it has got it right?

After Lianne Dalziel brought this bill into the House, it came back from the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee in the name of Simon Power. Simon Power, of course, is no longer a Minister in the House or, indeed, a member of Parliament. It fell to the Hon John Banks to marshal this bill through the House. The real question that we are wondering about in the House today is why Mr Banks is not in the chair. Well, I suppose we know why, do we not? Mr Banks is not in the chair because he is no longer a Minister because he is facing criminal charges for electoral fraud.

I worry about what happened to this bill under Mr Banks, because Mr Banks clearly had a memory problem. If he could not remember things, how could he remember what was in this bill or what the intended changes were that were necessary to the bill? Why do I accuse Mr Banks of having a memory problem? Well, because he forgot a helicopter ride and he forgot the biggest house in the country, which he went to after that helicopter ride. He forgot about meeting one of the most oversized members of our population, a certain German entrepreneur and internet expert. He forgot that he asked for two cheques for $25,000 each, $50,000, and then he forgot to declare them and said they were anonymous, though he had asked for them. If a Minister has that sort of—

The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Sorry to interrupt the honourable member, but the time has come for me to report progress.

Progress reported.

Report adopted.

The House adjourned at 9.55 p.m.