Logie Jan: Building (Pools) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Building (Pools) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6779. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. I rise to take a call on the first reading of the Building (Pools) Amendment Bill. The Green Party will be supporting this bill. The bill repeals the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987 and brings all pool fencing regulation under the Building Act 2004 as well as making some substantive changes to the existing rules. We hope that this will streamline the processes reduce red tape and make councils’ jobs easier for once. We hope it will reduce some of the costs on councils rather than placing more costs on councils which tends to be the wont of this House.Specifically under this bill spa pools and hot tubs—and there are about 100000 of those in New Zealand apparently—will no longer need to be fenced in the same way that pools are. They will still need to have childproof covers though which are accepted as being very effective in preventing drownings which is the core purpose I would suspect of any legislation in this area. Various councils currently allow spa pools to go unfenced whereas others require fences. It would be good to resolve that inconsistency. On that principle—and I am seeing members of the Government nodding their head in response to that—I hope that they will be supporting my colleague Gareth Hughes’ solar power bill which seeks to do the same thing in relation to solar power around the country. Obviously that is something that is consistent with the National Party philosophy so I am looking forward to that in the future. It is great to get that visual support today.Another thing that the bill will do is ensure that all councils will inspect pools for access compliance every 5 years. Currently again it is a mixed bag—something that we want to change—with some councils inspecting every 3 years and others less frequently. The Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment estimates that standardised 5-yearly testing will prevent—and this is possibly the most crucial part of this bill—up to six drownings over 10 years and that obviously is something we would all want to support I am sure.Another aspect of the bill is that all retailers and manufacturers of spas hot tubs and portable pools will be required to inform buyers about their fencing obligations under the legislation so that when you buy a spa pool you are told what kind of cover you need. It seems pretty straightforward and sensible policy-making. The prosecutions for not fencing a pool adequately will occur in only the most serious cases. Infringement notices and fines will be the most common punishment and will hopefully and surely ensure the same result—a behaviour change. The legislation will not apply for pools with less than 400 millimetres of water. Those types of pools such as paddling or portable pools are seen to be easy to empty and so will be empty for long periods of time and therefore they should not require a fence or a designated cover. Again it seems pretty sensible and clear-cut and something we are happy to support.I would like to note though that from 1993 to 2012 nine children drowned in spa pools in this country and four drowned in portable pools which also did include paddling pools though I suspect not knowing the details of that that that may have had more to do with issues of supervision than the covers of the paddling pools. It was not clear in the evidence that we have whether those spas were fenced or fitted with covers.We are supporting this bill’s referral to the select committee and we are looking forward to hearing from Water Safety New Zealand and other experts in the area on what the real-world implications of this bill may be. The Government is saying that this bill will remove red tape and cut costs for pool owners and councils and it is estimating that it will save $17 million mostly from spa owners not having to fence their spas any more and through the prescribed 5-year inspections rather than more regular inspections and that this will save lives as well. So I guess the select committee will test those assertions and we look forward to that discussion. Anything to reduce red tape for city councils and homeowners with the goal of improving safety is something the Greens are very happy to support.