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CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I will direct my comments this morning to Supplementary Order Paper 246, proposed by Judith Tizard, the Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, in the House last night. In my second reading speech I explained why, following a visit to the Government Administration Committee by Sir Geoffrey Palmer, it was thought fit to include in the interpretation clause some definitions that were regarded as very important. The first is “author”, the second is “book”, and the third is “New Zealand author”. I will now analyse those definitions briefly.
 
 
Part 2 Public lending right for New Zealand authors scheme

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : Part 2 is the heart of the legislation; it establishes the scheme. It disestablishes the Authors’ Fund established by Norman Kirk in 1973, and it provides for the establishment of an advisory group. I do not think I need to detain the Committee for too long on this issue.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : The National Party enthusiastically endorses the Public Lending Right for New Zealand Authors Bill, and we will support its third reading. As I said last night during the second reading debate, it is one of those strange pieces of legislation. If one is a property rights person, one can be very much in favour of the public lending right from a property rights point of view. If one is a socialist or a social democrat and believes that everyone should be on welfare, then likewise it is utterly acceptable. So there is no reason why anyone in this House should oppose this legislation. It serves our excellent New Zealand authors very well indeed, and my personal hope is that we will be able to do more for authors in the years to come.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : As the Minister in the House, Judith Tizard, knows, National will support the second reading of this bill. I look forward to the Committee stage, because some interesting definitional matters will need to be dealt with, and I will explain the rationale for those in a moment.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : National will support the first reading of the Public Lending Right for New Zealand Authors Bill and its referral to the Government Administration Committee. The bill does, however, require a great deal of work, and I will touch on that in the course of my speech. We have heard from the Associate Minister this afternoon the official history of the Authors’ Fund since, say, 1973, but I want to give members the real history—the real oil.