Benson-Pope David: Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Approvals and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Benson-Pope David: Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Approvals and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:842] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 I move  
That the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Approvals and Enforcement) Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. The bill’s primary objectives are to introduce a new approval mechanism known as the group standard; to include regional councils as hazardous substances enforcement agencies that may enforce the Act; to increase the ability to set practical exposure limits to protect people and the environment; and to improve the workability of rapid assessment reassessment and several other provisions including those for exempt laboratories. 
The amendments contained in this bill will reduce costs to the Government and to industry reduce barriers to innovation and better protect the environment and the health and safety of people in our communities. The bill is not divisive setting up business against the environment. This legislation is good for business and the environment and perhaps most important this bill is good for people. 
The changes in the bill will ensure that the processes of the Act work better providing meaningful reductions in costs to industry and the Government and reducing barriers to innovation without compromising what the Act originally set out to achieve—a healthy environment for all New Zealanders. Concern has been expressed at the time frames within which the select committee was asked to report on this bill. I acknowledge that those time frames were tighter than the norm and I thank the committee and its chair Mr Donnelly for their diligent work in returning this bill to the House. The pressure on timing comes from the time provided for the transitional provisions of the Act. That transitional period ends on 1 July 2006 and by that date all transfers must be complete. Delay means that businesses would continue to have to comply with hazardous substances and new organisms controls for some substances and controls from the old legislation for others. 
Passing this bill means that businesses will be able to get on with business under one piece of legislation whereas previously there were four inconsistent and overlapping processes. This reduces costs for both business and the Government. Contrary to some concerns that have been raised the bill enhances the protection of the environment and the health and safety of people and communities. The bill does this through group standards that will enable hazardous substance and new organism controls to be applied not only to the many currently uncontrolled notified toxic substances but also to hazardous wastes. The bill further enhances the protection of the environment and the health and safety of people and communities by removing the barriers to setting the exposure limit controls that protect people and the environment. 
I moved a number of amendments to the bill during the Committee stage. Those amendments remove the legal circularity that currently prevents New Zealand from meeting its obligations under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. This is an important convention as it provides for the safe disposal of persistent organic pollutants including polychlorinated biphenyl. Other amendments clarify the consultation obligations of the Environmental Risk Management Authority around group standards and notices of transfer. They also provide consistency around the authority’s powers to incorporate materials by reference and group standards and notices of transfer. 
I also remind members of the benefits that the hazardous substances and new organisms legislation brings to the management of hazardous substances. I have explained in my earlier comments that this bill represents a significant step forward in protecting the environment and improving the living standards of all New Zealanders. Hazardous substances do bring us a great many benefits. They allow us to be more productive to generate more with less to grow more with less and to achieve more with less. The bill not only ensures that economic growth can be more sustainable; it actually enhances the sustainable economic growth potential of our country. 
Like many new ideas there were some teething difficulties with the Act and in June 2003 my colleague Marian Hobbs announced a hazardous substances strategy to improve the workability of the Act. This debate marks another vital milestone in delivering that strategy. It is important to speak of the strategy now because it was effectively a promise to industry and to all New Zealanders to deliver good environmental governance through effective legislation. The Government promised to fix the Resource Management Act and I believe we have done so. We promised to fix Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act and we are in the process of doing that. 
This debate marks our commitment to deliver on the outcome of good environmental governance through effective legislation. We said we would do it and we are doing it right now. The bill will reduce costs to the Government and to industry it will reduce barriers to innovation and it will better protect the environment and the health and safety of the people in our communities. I am pleased to commend the bill to the House.