Hide Rodney: Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill — First Reading 
Hide Rodney: Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:670;Page:16908] 
Hon RODNEY HIDE (Minister for Regulatory Reform) 
: 
 I move  
That the Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be considered by the Commerce Committee. 
Today I present to the House the Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill. The bill repeals 31 Acts that have been identified as no longer being required obsolete redundant or spent. The bill forms part of the commitment made by this Government to improving the regulatory environment in New Zealand as outlined in the  
Government Statement on Regulation: Better Regulation Less Regulation 
. That sets out the Government’s commitment to introducing new regulation only when satisfied that it is required that it is reasonable and that it is robust and to review existing regulation in order to identify and remove requirements that are unnecessary ineffective or excessively costly. Ensuring that the statute book contains regulations that are easy to use up to date and fit for purpose is the key to a quality regulatory environment. 
The Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill will help achieve this by clearing the statute book of some unnecessary and spent Acts without having to proceed with a repeal bill for each of the 31 separate pieces of legislation. Without this bill the spent Acts may continue to sit on the statute book which creates unnecessary clutter and potentially may create confusion for the users of legislation. The use of a single repeal Act to repeal multiple Acts is not unique to New Zealand; the United Kingdom has used legislation to repeal and amend a number of Acts and the Commonwealth Government of Australia has a regular Statute Law Revision Act. 
Each of the Acts put forward for repeal via this bill has remained within the stock of regulation for New Zealand even though each item is for all intents and purposes no longer live. None of the Acts are currently in use and their removal will not affect any party. The bill contains four clauses. The first two clauses cover the title and the commencement of the legislation. Clause 3 repeals the Acts specified in the schedule to the bill and clause 4 provides for the Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill itself to be repealed 28 days after the Act comes into force thereby removing the need for future repeal bills to have to repeal their predecessors. That is not bad—a bill that will knock out 31 statutes and then knocks itself out a month later. 
The Acts put forward for repeal have been identified by Ministers from seven portfolios and have been identified through a number of avenues including the regulatory scanning exercise. The Government asked agencies to undertake scanning of their legislation as part of the commitment this Government has to the  
Government Statement on Regulation: Better Regulation Less Regulation 
. Many of the Acts contained within the bill are Acts that agencies have known they have had on their books but have not yet had the opportunity to repeal. The Acts put forward for repeal in the bill range in date from 1884 to 2003 indicating that time is not necessarily a factor in identifying when an Act will become obsolete. 
I do not think that our work in getting rid of the regulatory burden will be finished with the passage of this repeal bill; I intend that an omnibus bill of this nature be proposed as and when necessary to ensure that Acts no longer required are removed from the statute book using this highly efficient method. I thank my colleagues responsible for the Acts put forward for repeal in this bill. Their decisions to put these Acts into the bill show the commitment they have to improving the stock of regulation. 
The Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill is part of a broader agenda of work designed to improve the body of regulation in New Zealand. Other work in this area has led to the introduction of the Regulatory Reform Bill which contains legislative amendments that reduce compliance costs to businesses. I have also prepared a revocation order that proposes the revocation of spent and obsolete regulations. This set of legislative vehicles is designed to improve the stock of regulation in New Zealand and it will make sure that New Zealand has an evolving regulatory environment that is relevant up to date and best placed to meet the needs of a dynamic economy that will help New Zealand grow. This is a good day because here we are in the Parliament removing 31 statutes. Thank you.