Yates Dianne: Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
Yates Dianne: Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
[Volume:645;Page:14796] 
DIANNE YATES (Labour) 
: 
 It gives me pleasure to speak on the second reading of the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2) and to congratulate the Government Administration Committee on the work it has done on this bill. It is a very interesting committee to be on because it does have such variety and these omnibus bills illustrate that variety. 
I note the changes that the committee agreed on in regard to the Biosecurity Act and that it makes matters clear in relation to the appointment of inspectors and accredited persons and their delegation of authority in terms of the Biosecurity Act. Unlike the previous member I think these people do a fantastic job. New Zealand can be duly proud of its biosecurity and of the people who carry out the legislation and ensure that this country is kept free of things that could attack our agriculture and otherwise affect our exports. 
I note also that there are changes to the Cadastral Survey Act. Some of those are to do with issues around who is a licensed cadastral surveyor some are about disciplining surveyors and some are about complying with the digital cadastral survey data sets. I suspect that some of the change in this legislation came about through a complaint made to the Regulations Review Committee some many months ago. I am sorry that members from the Regulations Review Committee are not here to make that clear but there was a complaint about changes in measurement changing to digital data sets and the possibility that there could be some sort of slippage in how much land one actually had. I suspect that this change in the legislation came about through this complaint which was upheld by the Regulations Review Committee. 
If that is the case and this is the legislation that refers to that then I am glad to see that the processes are working and that complaints to the Regulations Review Committee can then bring about changes to the substantive Act. That is very important and it is important that the process actually works. These types of omnibus bills which make little corrections some of which can seem very boring are very very important for some people and they can make a huge difference. 
I note that my colleague Darien Fenton has referred to the death penalty and the changes made to the Crimes Act. I also notice that some interesting changes have been made in terms of the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Act. I like this little bit from the explanatory note in relation to Part 10: “The amendments reflect the following name changes: the New Zealand Fruitgrowers Federation the New Zealand Vegetable & Potato Growers Federation (Incorporated) and The New Zealand Berryfruit Growers Federation Inc have been changed to Horticulture New Zealand Incorporated; and the New Zealand Nurserymens Association Incorporated has been changed to The Nursery and Garden Industry Association of New Zealand Incorporated.” 
The New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Act was enacted in 1987. At last we have a non-sexist name for the New Zealand Nurserymens Association which has realised that a certain number of nurserywomen are involved in the industry. That is a really good change. 
If Horticulture New Zealand Incorporated are the people who produce  
Grower 
 magazine then I want to say that I think it is one of the best magazines we get in this House. Of course I am from the Waikato and I am concerned about what we grow and export in New Zealand and I think that  
Grower 
 is an excellent magazine. 
I commend  
Grower 
 magazine for its very very good articles on food miles. It produced some of the best counterarguments to the British scare about our exports food miles and the amount of fossil fuel it was taking to get our goods to Britain. It explained in its articles that on the whole the amount of fossil fuel that is used to get vegetables from the supermarket to the kitchens of British housewives added up to more per vegetable than the actual fossil fuel used in getting them from New Zealand to Britain. So I congratulate  
Grower 
 magazine particularly on its food miles articles. I photocopied many of them and sent them to people in Britain especially to Kiwis living in Britain saying: “Hey here is a really good counter to that fuel - food miles argument. Leave them lying around in your supermarket please.” So I congratulate the authority on that and on the name changes. 
I also note that there are considerable changes to the Veterinarians Act. I note that there were only two submissions on this bill but I am pretty sure that one of them would have been from the Veterinary Association because it is once again a very active organisation. As I come from the Waikato I am very very aware of the tremendous contribution that veterinarians make to our society in keeping our animals alive and well. People are putting a lot more money into their animals because they are much more valuable now than they used to be. Veterinarians are highly valued especially in the dairy industry. I trust that the association did make a submission and obviously that it has agreed with the changes in this Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2). 
As I say the bill seems very routine and technical but many of these changes are very very important otherwise they would not be made. Some of the changes are made because as we have seen technology catches up and the language has to catch up with modern times so Acts have to change. Sometimes other Acts change and in order to keep Acts of Parliament consistent with each other changes have to be made in Statutes Amendment bills. 
However I remember that some time ago there was a recommendation that Statutes Amendment bills should say a little bit more in their headings about what they are about. A Statutes Amendment Bill is about amendments to statutes but which ones? There was a suggestion some time ago that these bills should have a little bit more in their title in order to explain them so that they are easier to trace easier to follow and so on. We could not possibly include every Act that a Statutes Amendment Bill changes but there should be something in the bill’s title that is more indicative as to what the bill is about. 
But once again I give a big thanks to the select committee to all the people who advised the select committee and to the staff who worked in this regard. I commend the passage of the bill.