Goudie Sandra: State Sector Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Goudie Sandra: State Sector Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:610;Page:7327] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (NZ National—Coromandel) 
: 
 I would like to raise one of the points in the Public Service Association submission that the Hon Trevor Mallard referred to. It states: “Many aspects of the amendment are based on principles that the PSA has negotiated in management of change clauses in collective contracts and agreements.” The Hon Steve Maharey said the association could not do that. Obviously it is doing that because it has said so in its submission. No wonder I came up with the title: “Ill-conceived State Sector Amendment Bill” because clearly there is some confusion on the part of the Minister as to what prevails and what does not. 
In looking at Part 2 I have to raise again concerns about the obvious lack of cognisance of  
Legislative Change: Guidelines on Process and Content. 
 The Minister in that document is clearly identified as being the person responsible for this legislation and therefore he is responsible for the appalling state of it. He is also responsible for Supplementary Order Paper 107 which has come in at the eleventh hour from a Government that has no hesitation in putting a requirement for consultation in all its legislation—and going way way over the top in the Local Government Act—but has not bothered to consult on this Supplementary Order Paper. 
The Supplementary Order Paper has not been referred to the Government Administration committee and in my view that is a complete miscarriage of justice. Some significant concerns have been expressed by the New Zealand Law Society. When one considers that the Crown not only is promoting the legislation but also will be the contractual beneficiary of it and that there is not any select committee process for this Supplementary Order Paper which is a substantive change one realises that there is an absolute miscarriage of justice. There is no commentary nothing. There is no opportunity to have legal involvement in determining the efficacy of this legislation especially in the light of the guidelines on legislative change. If I were assessing this Supplementary Order Paper against the guidelines on legislative change this Supplementary Order Paper would not be happening. Anyone in his or her right mind would not support this Supplementary Order Paper—which in effect is the bill—which has been put forward by the Hon Trevor Mallard. I keep tending to forget that name; I wonder why. 
Consultation is such a biggie with this Government. Government members have put huge costs on local authorities by including a raft of consultative processes within the Local Government Act yet they cannot even adhere to that principle themselves in the introduction of a major Supplementary Order Paper. It is not having any consultative process attached to it. That is a miscarriage of justice. 
Those members are laughing about that. They do not care. They are saying: “We’ll stick it on the public.” They have put in the Local Government Act a requirement to consult. In the Land Transport Management Bill there are about five or six clauses on consultative requirements for Maori alone. Those members love that. They will put that cost on every Joe Bloggs out there through his or her rates or through petrol taxes or whatever but they will not apply that process to themselves. They want this measure so they say: “Stuff the consultative process!”. That is what those members are saying. They are not going to bother. “Why should we?” is what Labour members are saying; “Why should we care what the people think? This is what we want. We want to change round all these departments as we see fit.” They do not want to go back to the public and be publicly accountable for what they are doing. Goodness me no! That is why they are going to shove through this Supplementary Order Paper—which is just about the whole bill—and to hang with any requirement to consult the public. Those members are not interested in public opinion. 
We have a Government that is going to do what it wants at all costs and to hang with the consequences. Who will pay? It will be the people of New Zealand who pay and they will pay in a whole raft of ways. This lack of consultation is typical.