Penk ChrisCHRIS PENK (National—Kaipara ki Mahurangi): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. It's interesting to see the innovation being employed as referred to by the Minister whereby a statement can be placed on record and thereby keep contributions to the House reasonably brief and relevant and not need to spell out every detail. In that spirit I'll make a few remarks only briefly. But without that particular mechanism available to me I would like to make a couple of particular points for the record. One being just to acknowledge the purpose of the exercise that we're engaged in; second to make a number of acknowledgments; third to deal with the real-world relevance of the regulations that we've been looking at; and fourth of course to conclude on behalf of the Regulations Review Committee.So I speak—as much as anything at this the second reading; albeit the only reading in effect in terms of contributions to the debate—on behalf of the Regulations Review Committee. Of course it's a committee that has an important function whereby we're scrutinising the work of the executive. That much has already been traversed in contributions on other matters recently.I will acknowledge—as well as the members of the committee generally as I have done previously—in particular the deputy chair Rachel Brooking who is a new member of Parliament. I wish her and those members of the committee—indeed all new members of the committee who are in this place—all the very best for the 53rd Parliament.I do also want to acknowledge the various Government agencies who engaged with us in this process because we had to move quite quickly to this item of business at our first and so far only meeting of the Regulations Review Committee. We were somewhat reliant on the work that had been undertaken on our behalf by the committee clerk staff whom I also acknowledge and variously the New Zealand Customs Service the Ministry for Primary Industries New Zealand Police the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Transport. So it was that they were able to answer a number of standard questions explaining the way that the orders—or rather the regulations; the subordinate legislation eponymously—have been carried out and that was a helpful exercise.I don't need to traverse the detail obviously you'll be pleased to know. But I do also just want to pause and thank them for the work that they do as a matter of course. The work of for example the New Zealand Police is something that's appropriate to acknowledge today in light of the role that they played as first responders in the tragedy that unfolded in Christchurch on 15 March 2019 along with the victims and their loved ones of course. They were essential workers that day; they're essential workers every day. And though we have coined that term particularly in the context of COVID-19 of course we should always acknowledge the work that they do and thank them for their service at every available opportunity.Madam Speaker I promised you the real-world relevance of the exercise that we've been engaged with. So just to give a bit of a flavour generally one of the matters covered in these instruments was the continuation of commitments that have been made in relation to a trade agreement with Singapore. So that's an international obligation that is appropriate that this House continues to allow the Government to meet along with the continuation of various other measures: an increase to the road-user charges for example which won't please everyone but none the less does reflect in essence an extension of business as usual.Turning to my final point which is the conclusion we reached: After considering the responses we found no reason why the orders and regulations should not be confirmed." A neat little double-negative there that I suppose counts for an enthusiastic endorsement in the language of the Regulations Review Committee. We weren't unhappy and so it was that we said that the House of Parliament—as a whole if they were to be advised by us and take their lead from our examination of these regulations—should allow them to remain in force effectively or be retrospectively validated for the period that they were in force up to 30 June 2020 which was several years ago at least according to the way that I feel and probably a lot of New Zealanders feel! But in any case that time has been and gone. Not really a matter of retrospectivity in a sense that these matters were covered by regulation. They now are also covered by legislation—primary legislation. And so it is that we commend this bill to the House."