Wilkinson Kate: Remuneration Authority Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Wilkinson Kate: Remuneration Authority Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:8275. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon KATE WILKINSON (Minister of Labour) 
: 
 I move  
That the Remuneration Authority Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. This bill will allow the Remuneration Authority to explicitly take account of economic conditions when making determinations. Earlier this month the authority sensibly ruled to hold salaries to current levels for those under its jurisdiction including members of Parliament. This decision was widely welcomed and came after members of this House and others requested that they not receive any pay increase. 
The Remuneration Authority is established under section 4 of the Remuneration Authority Act 1977. It is responsible for considering and determining the salaries and allowances of members of this House and the judiciary the remuneration of principal allowances for specified statutory officers and the remuneration allowances and expenses for chairpersons and members of local authorities and community boards. It also determines the annuities for other positions specified in the Civil List Act—for example the Governor-General former Governors-General and former Prime Ministers. 
It is important that the Remuneration Authority is able to maintain its independence when determining salary levels. By enabling the authority to explicitly take account of adverse economic conditions this bill is intended to ensure that the authority can make appropriate decisions using its own discretion. This ensures the authority can prevent or reduce a salary or remuneration increase that otherwise might have occurred. The authority will be required to refer to evidence from a reliable authoritative source containing standard economic indicators when taking account of adverse economic conditions. One such document that has been identified is the regular Economic and Fiscal Update provided by Treasury. It is preferred that the authority must take adverse conditions into account rather than that it may take them into account as this will remove any doubt about whether economic factors were included in the decision-making process. 
This bill will also make a number of timely minor and technical amendments. These amendments have been requested by the Remuneration Authority in discussion with my officials as part of the consultation for this bill. 
The Remuneration Authority has asked that the Act be updated to ensure entities and position titles are accurate and up to date. Currently the Act contains a number of references to position titles and entities that no longer exist including the chairs of the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand the education board of the district of Auckland the Tourist Hotel Corporation of New Zealand and Waikato Carbonisation Ltd. Consequently the bill removes these positions from the Act. Additionally the bill updates the position of the Chief of Defence Staff to its correct title of Chief of Defence Force. 
The Act currently requires the Remuneration Authority to provide the Minister of Labour with an annual report of its operations as soon as practicable after 31 March each year. The authority requested that the Act be amended to align the timing of its annual reporting requirements with that of the rest of the public and State sectors. Accordingly the bill amends the Act to allow the authority to provide its annual report in the year ending 30 June. 
In conclusion this bill not only will allow the Remuneration Authority to explicitly take into account adverse economic conditions but also will make a number of very timely minor and technical amendments to the Remuneration Authority Act itself. I commend this bill to the House.