Goodhew Jo: Regulatory Improvement Bill — First Reading 
Goodhew Jo: Regulatory Improvement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:3042] 
JO GOODHEW (National—Rangitata) 
: 
 It gives me pleasure to rise today to speak in the first reading of the Regulatory Improvement Bill. It is a bill I enthusiastically support as I stand on behalf of the National members of Parliament. I thank the Hon Rodney Hide the first Minister for Regulatory Reform for introducing the bill. I also acknowledge the work that was undertaken prior to the formation of this Government to get some of the groundwork done on working out what was needed in order to bring this bill to fruition. 
This bill is all about cutting red tape. One of the major gripes I heard during the election campaign was about the excessive red tape that people in businesses have to negotiate. This bill contains 22 amendments to legislation and the broad objectives are “improving the regulatory framework and reducing the compliance burden on business.” Although I acknowledge the work undertaken by the previous Government I have to say that after 9 long years the voters were not prepared to let it finish the job. That is because they did not trust the previous Government to finish the job. 
I want to make some comments in relation to the comments made by the Hon Rodney Hide today. As he has already said this bill is about “systematically reviewing regulation”. It is about responding to the message that businesses have been giving us systematically—over many many years—about regulations that are unnecessarily bureaucratic and costly. The Hon Rodney Hide described the reforms as low-hanging fruit. Nevertheless it is a good start and it shows the resolve of this Government and its partners to reduce the compliance burden on business. At this time of economic uncertainty this has never been more important. It has never been more important to send a clear message to businesses that we are on their side we know how important they are to New Zealand and we are prepared to do the hard work to find ways of assisting them in their business lives. 
The mandate was delivered to the National Party and to its partners in this new Government on 8 November 2008. That mandate is now being seen in the lead that the Hon Rodney Hide has taken as the Minister for Regulatory Reform in bringing this bill to the House. I am also heartened to hear the Minister’s comments that regulatory reform in an omnibus type bill such as this will be a feature of this Government. On 4 February 2009 there was another statement from the Prime Minister. It was not the Rt Hon Helen Clark’s statement back in 2006 but another statement on 4 February given by the Prime Minister the Hon John Key entitled “Jobs and Growth”. He outlined in that speech a very important part of the jobs and growth package and the important reform that is necessary. I quote: “In particular I have given Rodney Hide as the Minister for Regulatory Reform the mission of finding and cutting additional red tape that is holding back business development reducing investment and depriving New Zealanders of jobs.” In saying that the Prime Minister has certainly made it clear that this bill is a very important part of our jobs and growth package. 
I acknowledge some points made by the Hon Lianne Dalziel who raised the fact that this legislation has been the result of 2 years of work. But I remind members opposite that they were in Government for 9 long years. She made some comments about the Small Business Advisory Group holding fewer meetings. I am sure that even though there may be fewer meetings there will be less need for talk under this Government because it will be observing and participating and there will be much more action. This National Government is a Government of action not inaction. This Government is well supported in its partnerships and this Government will see that things get done to make the environment much better for businesses. 
The amendments within the bill address regulatory duplication gaps administrative errors and inconsistencies between different pieces of legislation that collectively create unnecessary compliance costs and uncertainties for business. I can just imagine that businesses around New Zealand on hearing that this bill has been introduced to Parliament have been saying that at last they see evidence that they have been listened to. The amendments also target poor implementation and administration of various regulatory frameworks. Cutting undue regulation will help remove barriers to economic growth and will help business to do business. This Government is committed to removing barriers; this is an important step to make it easier for businesses to do their job. 
I will briefly run through the Acts that are to be amended. It is quite a varied list: the Companies Act 1993 the Conservation Act 1987 the Designs Act 1953 the Fisheries Act 1996 the Gas Act 1992 the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (Restructuring) Act 1995. The Reserves Act 1977 and the Weights and Measures Act 1987 complete the list of Acts that will be amended under this bill. 
I will spend a little time on the regulatory improvement aspects as covered in the explanatory note of the bill because by concentrating on just a couple of the Acts we can see some very good examples of how businesses in New Zealand will be better off. The first one I will concentrate on is the Fisheries Act 1996. Currently commercial fishers are required to balance their catch with an annual catch entitlement which is part of the quota management system. If at the end of the fishing year they have not acquired enough annual catch entitlement to balance against their catch they incur a debt in the form of an invoice for annual deemed values. The majority of fishers manage to balance their catch within the required time frames but some do not. For various administrative reasons which are deemed to be of a minor nature those annual catch entitlement transfers fail to take place. Such failures only surface after the annual catch entitlement register is closed and the fishers are therefore precluded from making additional annual catch entitlement transfers to rectify the errors. The fishers then incur an annual deemed value debt even though they intended to comply—that is the very important point in this case. In this situation most fishers have to pay the debt to prevent their commercial fishing permit from being suspended. 
There are currently no provisions within the Fisheries Act to allow that situation to be rectified. This bill will rectify that problem. An objective of the bill is “To ensure that the catch balancing regime is fair efficient and effective.” The changes proposed would remove the perception that the Government is revenue-gathering by taking advantage of those minor administrative errors and would introduce an element of fairness to situations where invoices for debts have been issued although the sustainability of a stock has not been threatened. It would also mitigate the burdens of firms that arise out of legislation. The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council and Commercial Fisheries Services Ltd have both indicated their support for this proposal. As members can see this is a very good example of how something relatively minor can be fixed within a bill such as this. 
There are other very good examples. In fact the Companies Act 1993 is an example where requiring companies to have their financial statements audited would impose an unnecessary cost as there is no rationale to have entities’ filing and auditing requirements out of alignment. This issue will be addressed in this bill. 
The consultation required for the bill to continue has been undertaken. I am sure that when this bill reaches the select committee we will hear further support and encouragement and also perhaps suggestions as to improvements in the ways the amended bills can assist business. I conclude my contribution to this debate by saying that this bill is all about helping business to do business and I wholeheartedly support that.