Huo Raymond: Regulatory Improvement Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Huo Raymond: Regulatory Improvement Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 30 March 2010. Volume:661;Page:10167. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RAYMOND HUO (Labour) 
: 
 As part of my contribution I would like to pay tribute first to the Hansard Office and second to the wonderful hard-working good lawyer turned good member of Parliament the Hon Lianne Dalziel. Because of the Hansard Office we have the speech notes readily available for us to reflect on and to bear witness to how history repeats itself. 
The honourable member who spoke before me Jonathan Young quoted Winston Churchill. Interestingly in the Regulatory Improvement Bill’s first reading in May 2009 if my memory serves me well the Hon Tariana Turia also quoted Winston Churchill. I would like to quote her: “Winston Churchill and Rodney Hide have something in common apart from looks though Rodney is definitely in better shape. It was Churchill who famously said that if there are 10000 regulations all respect for the law is destroyed.” 
Almost 80 years later Mr Hide has introduced a bill to do something to address once and for all the duplications gaffes errors and inconsistencies that make a mockery of our law. I was very lucky in May 2009 to have the opportunity to rise and take a call on the bill’s first reading. I responded to the Hon Tariana Turia that Winston Churchill would have been very pleased to hear what I was about to say in the next 10 minutes or so. Then I said that Mr Churchill was a great statesman and a great historian. Given his great historic status let us look briefly at the historical side of the Regulatory Improvement Bill. 
I join my colleagues in congratulating the Hon Lianne Dalziel who introduced this bill in September 2008. The Hon Lianne Dalziel made history in September 2008. She introduced a brand-new bill that aimed to improve some existing laws and reduce compliance costs for businesses. More important I would like to remind members that the bill was introduced as a result of the careful 15-month Quality Regulation Review and reflected consultation between Government agencies and 200 businesses. Therefore I rise to support this bill both for its content and for the way in which it was introduced. In that regard to some extent the bill itself may be more important than its content. 
The Hon Lianne Dalziel and the Labour-led Government listened to business people and set about implementing their recommendations. As I pointed out nearly 12 months ago at the bill’s first reading consultation is particularly relevant. We have witnessed—this week and many times in the past month in this honourable House—recommendations being systematically ignored and legislation being rammed through. To borrow the Hon Tariana Turia’s words what makes a mockery of our law and the way we as lawmakers make our law is that such important legislation can be rammed through in such a manner. 
I want to reiterate what my colleagues Stuart Nash and Clare Curran said previously. Labour supports this bill—it is Labour’s bill anyway—because it is the result of the careful 15-month Quality Regulation Review and reflects consultation between Government agencies and 200 businesses. As Stuart Nash has just said the Labour Party is a true party for business people and of business. The bill is more important than its content. 
For the benefit of Mr John Boscawen I reiterate that Labour listened to business people and set about implementing their recommendations whereas the style of his ACT Party is to ignore recommendations and come up with its own plan. This is a typical example of the National-ACT approach to lawmaking—that is there is no consultation. 
I return to the bill. The bill makes small and controversial but important changes to the regulatory environment. The Quality Regulation Review also led to a greatly enhanced regulatory impact statement regime. This is yet another bill that was introduced by Labour and the Hon Rodney Hide is taking credit for it. Regulatory improvement bills are a sensible way of ensuring quality regulation unlike the ACT Party’s Regulatory Responsibility Bill which languishes on the Order Paper. 
Thank you for the opportunity to take a call. I look forward to the debate in the Committee stage. Thank you very much.