Joyce StevenSTATUTES REPEAL BILLFirst ReadingHon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Regulatory Reform): I move That the Statutes Repeal Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Government Administration Committee to consider the bill. Today I present to the House the Statutes Repeal Bill. The bill repeals or partially repeals 132 Acts that have been identified as no longer being required because they are obsolete redundant or spent. The bill forms one part of the commitment made by this Government to improve the regulatory environment in New Zealand as outlined in the Government response to the Productivity Commission's report on regulatory institutions and practices. This is built around a set of core expectations for departmental regulatory stewardship. Ensuring that the statute book contains laws and regulations that are easy to use up to date and fit for purpose is key to having a quality regulatory environment. The Statutes Repeal 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 132 separate pieces of legislation.The bill will reduce the total number of Acts enforced in New Zealand by 124. It will reduce the number of public Acts which is currently 1116 by 116 or slightly more than 10 percent. That is right—10 percent of all public Acts will come off the books. Without this bill the spent Acts will continue to sit on the statute book which may create confusion for users of legislation.The bill contains five clauses. The first two clauses cover the title and the commencement of the legislation. Clause 3 repeals the Acts specified in schedule 1 of the bill in full or in part. Clause 4 enacts schedules 2 and 3. Schedule 2 saves important provisions from a small number of the Acts being repealed to avoid adverse effects on some parties. Schedule 3 covers consequential amendments which are references to the repealed Acts in other enactments. Part 2 of schedule 3 covers the consequential revocation of seven regulations. Clause 5 provides for the Statutes Repeal Bill itself to be repealed 28 days after the Act comes into force thereby removing the need for future repeal bills to have to repeal their predecessors.Eight of the Acts being repealed are private Acts that are redundant and the relevant successor entity or promoter has agreed to their repeal. The Acts put forward for repeal have been identified by Ministers from 10 portfolios. Acts were identified by the responsible department following a process of consultation led by Treasury and the Parliamentary Counsel Office. Ensuring that the legislation it is responsible for is still necessary and fit for purpose is an important part of a department's regulatory stewardship obligations. The identified Acts represent an interesting cross-section of New Zealand history with many relating to significant events such as the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake and the hosting of Rugby World Cup 2011. A large portion of the Acts originate from the period of 1985 to 1993 reflecting a large number of significant reforms that took place in the New Zealand public sector during that time.A similar bill now the Regulatory Reform Repeals Act was passed by this Government in 2012 and repealed 32 Acts including itself. New Zealand is one of a number of countries that use omnibus repeal bills to repeal redundant legislation. The United Kingdom has passed 19 statute law (repeal) bills since 1965. The Federal Parliament of Australia has a regular repeals day where redundant legislation is considered for appeal. It is not my intention that this be the last Statutes Repeal Bill. I intend that an omnibus bill of this nature be proposed periodically to ensure that Acts that are no longer required are removed from the statute book. I thank my colleagues responsible for the Acts put forward for repeal in this bill. Their decision to put these Acts into the bill shows the commitment that this Government has to improving this stock of legislation.