Parker DavidHAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES AND NEW ORGANISMS (HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES ASSESSMENTS) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): I present a legislative statement on the Hazardous—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): No. Order! I understand that the Minister is required to seek leave. Does he have those words?Hon DAVID PARKER: No I don't.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): There you go.Hon DAVID PARKER: Thank you. Madam Speaker I seek leave to present a legislative statement on the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Hazardous Substances Assessments) Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Leave has been sought for that course of action. Is there any objection? There is none. That legislative statement—one more thing I need to do—is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon DAVID PARKER: Madam Speaker thank you and thank you for your assistance in respect of that issue that we just dealt with.This bill improves the way chemicals are assessed or reassessed—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): No. Sorry just one more—Hon DAVID PARKER: I move That the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Hazardous Substances Assessments) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.This bill improves the way chemicals are—[Applause]. Thank you it's a high-wire act! This bill improves the way chemicals are assessed or reassessed by the Environmental Protection Authority the EPA. Can I thank the chair of the Environment Committee the Hon Eugenie Sage and other members of the committee for their thorough consideration of this bill and the submitters who made thoughtful and helpful written and oral submissions to the committee. The bill had broad cross-party support at introduction and through the select committee process and I think this reflects the importance that people attach to the good management of chemicals in our country which is needed to protect the health and welfare of the citizens as well as the environment. We rely on literally tens of thousands of chemicals in New Zealand in industrial processes in agriculture and in many other aspects of modern life including cleaning products in our own homes. As the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment noted recently in a report about chemicals management in New Zealand the rules about how a chemical can be used or shouldn't be used ought not to be static. We need to be able to adapt as new information comes to light. As he noted and I think many of us know there have been chemicals that are in use in New Zealand for decades that have not been subject to close scrutiny. There are also many substitutes for those chemicals that are used overseas that are not registered for use in New Zealand in part because we are a very small market and the regulatory barriers to registration can sometimes stop the owners of the rights to those chemicals applying for registration of a new chemical which may be better and less harmful than an existing chemical that is being used.Our chemical reassessment processes for existing substances and our assessment processes for modern are slow and expensive and this bill will help to speed up those assessments and reduce those costs by making it easier for the EPA to make use of information from international regulators. Now I for one and I think most members of this House realise that there are some very good careful regulators overseas—not all jurisdictions would be on the list but many would be—and some of those countries go through very very expensive and thorough processes to consider the pluses and minuses of existing chemicals or new chemicals and bring out determinations that are very very well reasoned. The purpose of this bill is to enable that work done in other countries to be more easily adopted in New Zealand rather than us repeating it here or rather than us—actually more often the case—not repeating it and being stuck with the status quo which can be worse than improvements that could be made if the EPA can consider that overseas information.So the Environment Committee considered the bill and they've reported it back with some amendments and I'm pleased to report to the House that I accept the committee's commentary and the proposed amendments. The amendments that the committee has recommended include the express power to amend the notice on international regulations which makes it clear that the EPA can amend the notice at any time whilst following the correct procedure. And there are other amendments to improve the clarity or transparency of the bill.To conclude I think this will result in environmental and business improvements in New Zealand. I again thank the members of the committee acknowledge the advice from the EPA and the ministry as well as the work of Parliamentary Counsel Office and advisors to the committee. Thank you.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to.