Upston Louise: Inquiries Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Upston Louise: Inquiries Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 July 2009. Volume:656;Page:5215. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupo) 
: 
 I am pleased to have the opportunity to stand and speak in support of the Inquiries Bill. It is the third bill that has been before the House today that has been supported across the House. I am sure New Zealanders will be pleased to see that this House works together incredibly well in putting forward bills that will benefit all New Zealanders. It is a bit of a recurring theme today. It feels like there should be a group hug by the end of the day but I am not sure the members over there will be that way inclined. 
Let us have a look at this particular bill. The current law that governs inquiries is the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908. It is a little out of date and needs a bit of work. We all know that public inquiries have always played an important role in New Zealand society for much of our history but it is interesting that commissions of inquiry have a much earlier history than 1908. Their introduction goes back to the signing of the  
Domesday Book 
 in the 11th century. The creation of the  
Domesday Book  
was the first time the Crown had examined its own workings and modified its powers. The  
Domesday Book 
 was the result of research and recommendation by agents of the Crown and is referred to as perhaps the first royal commission. That is enough of a history lesson on how commissions of inquiry came about. 
In 2006 the Law Commission reviewed the current law regarding public inquiries and published quite a lengthy document in May 2008 which called for and in fact was entitled  
A New Inquiries Act 
. It identified some of the issues with the 1908 Act including its being over 100 years old and antiquated and that many of the provisions are outdated. The need has been to make this legislation come into this century and to look at some of the problems that were identified. One of the issues is the cost and duration of commissions of inquiry and royal commissions. It is important at this time—at any time—that we be looking to be efficient in terms of both time and money and commissions of inquiry are not exempt from that. One of the other issues the Law Commission identified was the lack of flexible statutory inquiry for Ministers. Those were a couple of the problems that the report from the Law Commission came out with with the intention of solving. Many members have spoken on the bill today and given a whole range of examples of inquiries. The one that stood out for me was the Erebus royal commission which was about Air New Zealand and headed by Justice Mahon. That one stood out for me of all the list of inquiries I looked into. 
The Inquiries Bill will make some important changes so that there is an express power for inquiries to be postponed or suspended where an investigation into the circumstances can be undertaken and where the inquiry may prejudice the investigation or interested parties. There is also the inclusion in the bill of a maximum fine of $10000 if somebody does not provide the evidence or documentation that he or she is required to by an inquiry. The bill also formalises the role of the Department of Internal Affairs in administering all types of inquiries. 
There has been a lot of discussion. There is not a lot more that I will add at this point but I will just say at the first reading of the Inquiries Bill that I commend it to the House.