Bayly AndrewANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato): Thank you Mr Speaker. It is a duty to be talking on the Annual Reporting and Audit Time Frames Extensions Legislation Bill. I want to start out by saying that National is going to be opposing this legislation not because we don't think that the Audit Office does a good job because I want to just put on record that they do do a good job. They do an extensive number of audits—over 3000 a year. So I think we should just make that an important aspect that we respect the institution and what they do.But I think that the issue with this is that—I think there are four major issues. The first one is—I think this highlighted a Minister who should have had greater oversight of what was going on with this entity.Hon Grant Robertson: He's an Officer of Parliament.ANDREW BAYLY: I know but this is an issue that even when the Auditor-General comes before the Finance and Expenditure Committee there has been repeated questioning around staffing requirements. It seems inconceivable at this late stage that we have a request to extend the time line for two months for the different entities both central government and local government entities. I just think in terms of the liaison and oversight by the Government over this entity it has been something that just raises a few issues as to why we've been suddenly surprised with this issue that has now required urgency to be passed. I think these types of issues should be considered and should be contemplated in a time frame that people are aware of it and can make sure that proper planning has gone on. Obviously we're at a stage where it has to be passed through and rammed through under urgency. That's the first point.I think the other thing is this shows that the Audit Office has been losing staff and the Minister alluded to that. There's been some reduction in the staff of the Audit Office. I understand there's been possibly up to about 30 people that have left the Audit Office. As we understand the Audit Office has its own staff and they do a good job but also rely on third-party auditors to do that. I think the first question is: why is the Audit Office in a situation where it is losing substantial numbers of staff and would appear to be in a position where it cannot compete? I think there's inability to compete in a market where a lot of these people have been taken from the Audit Office into the private sector. It gives rise to the issue of the funding of the Audit Office and how it's being managed and whether in fact it is being properly structured and funded to make sure that it can meet its duties. Clearly it hasn't been in the situation where it can do that because otherwise we wouldn't be doing this bill under urgency today.Just on that we have heard from many Government Ministers across multiple portfolios who've quite simply said to the private sector—virtually to every component of the private sector—that they should just pay more. It's been a pretty tough message that the Government has given to virtually every employer in New Zealand who has been screaming for additional staff. Yet when it comes to a Government entity the response to the Government is: We're not going to pay you more. Let's just defer the timetable." I think there's a lack of consistency around that message which I think's a pretty important aspect that needs to be taken into account. If we talk about apple orchardists farmers manufacturers—everyone has been saying from the Government Ministers that they should be paying more to attract staff; I think quite simply that it hasn't been able to in some cases. In this situation the Government's not prepared to front up. I think that just gives rise to this. Is this a case of the Government not doing what it's saying it should do to everyone else?The other aspect about this is the issue of immigration. I think there is an absolute need for skilled migrants. Again the Government's been pretty robust and tough on private sector wanting to get people into New Zealand. We've just heard from the Minister that there's a shortage of 200 auditors required in New Zealand to be able to deal with this issue. If we accept the Minister at his word at 200 auditors that are required the question that should be asked is why aren't they getting allowed to come through as skilled workers and enter into the managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities? As TVNZ 1 reported on 3 July there were currently at that point 2000 rooms unavailable in the MIQ facilities. And what's more the Government made an absolute commitment that 10 percent of MIQ facilities would be made available to skilled migrants to assist all types of businesses. I think this has been a case where what we are seeing—if you go and talk to any business around New Zealand—is the ability to attract and get anyone through MIQ's facilities particularly in terms of skilled staff has been absolutely stymied. I think again if we're going to be consistent the Government should also be consistent in its approach. Again do what we say not what we're going to do as a Government. This is a case of the Government changing the rules for a Government entity.The third thing I'd like to talk about is that businesses don't have the luxury of changing the law—they don't have the luxury of changing the law. We don't have vineyards who can legislate that vines don't need pruning. We are not in a position for legislation to be passed that cows have got to milk themselves. The whole type of approach around this is that businesses have had to deal with the framework that the Government has dealt to them. Yet when we get to a Government entity like this the Government again says "We're going to legislate. We're going to make a one-off change just for one particular sector." Yet all the other businesses the 350000 active businesses in New Zealand—"Hey presto. Don't you worry about it. You just get on and operate and pay people more."I think all that just comes together in terms of saying look this is a situation where we've got considerable inconsistency by the Government in terms of the way it wants to operate for Government entities and the way it wants to impose conditions on New Zealand employers. I see the Minister for social welfare over here talking earlier talking today about the issue—Hon Carmel Sepuloni: There's no Minister for social welfare; it's social development.ANDREW BAYLY: —social development—talking about doing the mahi and training up people and doing all that sort of stuff. Well that's the same reason that the Government has given to employers that they should go and train people up. Well if we had had a better visibility around that maybe the Audit Office supported by the Government should have been actually looking at training activities. Yet what we've done is we've got to this point or juncture where the Government decided that it needed to pass urgent legislation to drive this through.Again I just think that it is a bit of a concern for every employer who will be looking at this piece of legislation and saying "This Government simply wants the right rules for itself and yet imposes difficult conditions on everyone else in the country who is trying to get on with their lives trying to grow their business trying to take on a risk but are unable to because they literally can't get staff—in many cases can't get one or two staff members who are critical to come and drive or operate parts of their factory because they simply cannot get access to MIQ facilities." I think that argument needs to be explained more by the Government because I think once you've got clarity around that then the justification for moving and providing an extension to the Audit Office in terms of passing special legislation under urgency therefore becomes a key part.The other aspect we haven't heard about is reprioritisation of Audit New Zealand's work which is another option that could have been considered but I haven't heard that from the Minister who spoke earlier. So I think the options that should have been on the table is reprioritisation of work—the Government could have contemplated entering into a payment arrangement even for the short term—and the opening up of MIQ facilities to allow auditors to come into this country which are desperately needed."