Mooney Joseph; Henare PeeniJOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): Thank you Madam Chair. Minister I am going to ask a concern that was raised by the New Zealand Law Society in a submission that unfortunately made its way late to the Primary Production Committee but was eventually considered. That was the concern about the protection of persons outside the Public Service in clause 6. I'll just read it out and just ask how you have addressed this in the Supplementary Order Paper that's before us today. The New Zealand Law Society—their concern was they said that this clause extends the protection of Crown officials from personal liability to those outside the Public Service as a result of section 63D of the Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Act 2020 which delegates any or all of the Forestry Authority's functions or powers" under Part 2(A) of the Forests Act "to a forestry industry body or other person outside the Public Service". They went on to say that this raises constitutional questions about the use of the Crown protection from liability in tort for the benefit of private actors. The regulatory impact statement does not address this feature of the bill and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 consistency advice does not consider whether doing so is consistent with section 27(3) of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. It went on to recommend that the committee consider this. So I would just ask the Minister for comment on the response to this concern raised by the New Zealand Law Society on this particular feature of delegating powers to a forestry industry body or other person outside the Public Service therefore extending the protection of Crown officials from personal liability to those other bodies.Hon PEENI HENARE (Minister of Forestry): Sorry can I just ask the member for clarification. Which part were you talking about in the Supplementary Order Paper sorry that you said at the top of your contribution?Joseph Mooney: Sorry from reading this it looks like it's clause 6 under "Legal harvest assurance"—there has been an amendment there. I'm just asking if that has been made to address that concern raised by the New Zealand Law Society—or a potential issue raised by the New Zealand Law Society—about extending the protection of Crown officials from personal liability. I note in the Supplementary Order Paper "Clause 6 is amended to remove assessors from the list of persons protected from personal liability under section 13 of the principal Act. The immunity that new section 117 confers on assessors who are outside the public service is retained. That section is amended to clarify that the immunity applies only when they act as an assessor under new Part 5." So I'm just asking has this been to address this concern raised by the New Zealand Law Society?Hon PEENI HENARE: Can I thank the member again. To clarify: yes it does. To be rather specific on the point that the member makes around the Public Service having protection from liability for assessors outside of the Public Service is in line with similar legislation. They are doing a public function so should be protected as they would under the Public Service Act which is why this makes it quite clear with respect to how they are providing a public service here so they should be by these reckonings covered under the Public Service Act."