Bridges Simon: Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBridges Simon: Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) — Second Reading[Sitting date: 24 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1889. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Associate Minister of Justice): I move That the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) be now read a second time. Sometimes bills come before the House and create a real stir. I think it is fair to say that this is not going to be one of those bills. It is probably in the category of being dull but worthy. I hear the members behind me say that that is like some of the members in front of me but I could not possibly say that.Hon David Parker: They were talking about you.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: How cruel. As the House knows what a statutes amendment bill enables Parliament to do is to make technical short and non-controversial amendments to a number of Acts. It enables amendments that would not usually receive sufficient priority to be progressed individually. This is achieved with the support of all parties in Parliament and I certainly want to thank all parties for their cooperation on this bill.This current bill as reported back by the Government Administration Committee amends 34 Acts. Each of the amendments in the bill has received unanimous cross-party support in the previous Parliament. It is a demonstration of all parties working together. The bill was reported back by the Government Administration Committee on 29 July last year and I thank the committee for its careful consideration of the bill. The committee recommended changes to the proposed amendments to two Acts and the insertion of additional amendments to two further Acts. I support these improvements. The committee also recommended amendments to parallel clauses in the bill amending the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 and the Official Information Act 1982.The Law Commission recommended the initial amendments in its 2012 report on official information. It proposed the changes to clarify common practices about the operation of the legislation and to update the wording of the Act. The committee recommended removing four of the clauses in the bill affecting these two Acts. The committee considered them to be policy issues and not appropriate for a statutes amendment bill. These provisions relate to legal professional privilege.The committee also recommended clarifying clauses dealing with information requests and how agencies may deal with these requests. Two of the recommended amendments will clarify that agencies may request that an oral Official Information Act request be put in writing only if reasonably necessary. Further recommended amendments will ensure that a clarified or amended Official Information Act request is considered a new request. Collectively these changes will make the legislation more effective and efficient for requestors and agencies.The committee also recommended inserting a new amendment to the Local Electoral Act 2001 and the Local Government Act 2002. These changes will address omissions from previous amendments to these Acts. The Acts were amended in 2013 but some necessary consequential amendments were overlooked. The changes will extend the time frame for completing pre-election processes by 7 days for all elections and polls not just general elections.This bill proposes a number of positive changes to the statute book that are technical short or non-controversial—as I said dull but incredibly worthy. Again I thank the committee for its hard work and I thank the House for its unanimous cross-party support. I commend this bill to the House.