Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) : I rise to speak on the International Finance Agreements Amendment Bill on behalf of the Green Party. This bill essentially does a couple of things. Firstly, it implements some changes to the articles of the IMF, which are votes and voting changes. They are very minor changes in voting proportions in the International Monetary Fund. Much more important, it changes the way that future changes in the articles of the IMF are approved or not by the New Zealand Government. Previously, any changes in the articles of the IMF had to be agreed by the legislature, by this House, before they could be fully implemented by the New Zealand Government. Even though the New Zealand Government might agree to them at the IMF, they actually had to pass through and be legislated before they took full effect. This bill gives the executive—the Cabinet, effectively—the power to implement changes to the IMF articles, or rather to agree to changes to IMF articles, without consulting the Parliament, and without getting the approval of the Parliament.