John Boscawen

It is a pleasure to take a call in this debate on the Settlement Systems, Futures, and Emissions Units Bill. This bill is designed to align New Zealand’s clearing and settlement system with international best practice and to facilitate trading in futures and emissions units. The bill contains various technical amendments to existing legislation, and …

It is a pleasure to take a call in this debate. I have heard so much rubbish being spoken on this issue in the last 24 hours by members on the Opposition benches that I jokingly said to George Hawkins as we crossed the bridge across to the Chamber this evening that if he gave …

I start by addressing some of the issues raised by the Opposition about the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme Bill. Opposition members talked about the growth in the finance company sector as a result of the guarantee that was introduced last year. They said deposits into the finance company sector had been declining, but, following …

The Taxation (International Taxation, Life Insurance, and Remedial Matters) Bill is a very big bill, and it took many months of consideration. When Mr Foss rose to speak on the bill last night, the first thing he did was acknowledge the work of the officials. I also acknowledge their work, in particular that of the …

From listening to the debate in the House over the last 2 days one would think that Parliament lives in a vacuum. On Friday we had the result of the referendum on smacking. On Friday night we were told that just on 1.5 million people had voted No in the referendum—87 percent—but has anyone raised …

I was not intending to speak on this bill, the Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill, but I feel I must respond to the comments made by the previous speaker, Mr Robertson. This should be a relatively non-controversial bill. Under the provisions of this bill, the size of polytechnic councils will be reduced to eight members. Currently, …

I thank Mr Chairperson for giving me the opportunity to speak. He was quite correct when I rose to speak a short time ago; I thought I was speaking on Vote Social Development and was quite surprised that it was Vote Employment.
The Hon Tariana Turia said in the Chamber a short time ago that 12,000 …

New Zealanders are very lucky people. We live in a democracy. Last year we had a peaceful transition of power from a Labour-led Government to a National-led Government. That may seem unremarkable, but there are far too many countries around the world where that would not have happened.
Democracy is fundamental to our society. Democracy is …

I was very pleased to hear Mr Sam Lotu-Iiga say that we are a Government that listens. Well, I say that we should listen to the 91 percent of people who tell the pollsters that they are National supporters, that they will be voting in the referendum, and that they will be voting “No”. I …

It is also my pleasure to speak this evening on the Taxation (International Taxation, Life Insurance, and Remedial Matters) Bill. Like the speakers before me, I would like first of all to acknowledge my colleagues on the Finance and Expenditure Committee, the chairmanship of Craig Foss, and the officials. Earlier this evening Robin Oliver was …