Bridges SimonREGULATORY SYSTEMS (BUILDING AND HOUSING) AMENDMENT BILLREGULATORY SYSTEMS (COMMERCIAL MATTERS) AMENDMENT BILLREGULATORY SYSTEMS (WORKPLACE RELATIONS) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingsHon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister for Economic Development): I move That the Regulatory Systems (Building and Housing) Amendment Bill the Regulatory Systems (Commercial Matters) Amendment Bill and the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. The three regulatory systems amendment bills are omnibus bills that contain small regulatory amendments to legislation administered by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment.The Government is committed to maintaining and repairing existing legislation to respond to changing environments and citizen needs. Regulation when implemented well underpins markets protects the rights and safety of citizens and their property and assists the efficient and equitable delivery of goods and services. Regulation is an important tool for preserving and advancing the public interest.I would now like to comment on a few main points raised in the reports from the three select committees. The Regulatory Systems (Building and Housing) Amendment Bill—in relation to this of course it is in two parts. Part 1 proposes amendments to the Building Act 2004 that are largely targeted at fixing minor drafting errors. Part 2 proposes amendments to the Unit Titles Act 2010 that clarify and reduce unnecessary compliance burdens. For example clause 20 of the bill deals with reassessing ownership in utility interests in unit plans. In clarifying reassessment dates the Local Government and Environment Committee recommends that clause 20(4) be amended to make it as clear as possible when the reassessment date takes effect.The committee also noted that the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment is currently working on a wider review of the Unit Titles Act and that many of those submissions received recommended changes outside the scope of the bill. I want to commend the committee's decision to ask officials to invite submitters to submit on the ministry's wider review of the Unit Titles Act.We then come to the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Bill which is also in two parts. The first part proposes amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2000 while the second part proposes amendments to the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987. The Transport and Industrial Relations Committee recommends amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2000. The amendments correct two incorrect cross-references to the personal grievance provisions that arose when certain amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2000 were enacted in 2016. The committee also recommends amendments to the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 that clarify and improve certainty of the Act in relation to pre-term and parental leave payments.In the third bill the Regulatory Systems (Commercial Matters) Amendment Bill amendments are being made to 16 Acts and the bill is in four parts. Part 1 relates to commerce and consumer affairs matters and proposes numerous changes to 12 Acts that relate to corporate governance insolvency financial markets competition and consumer law. Part 2 relates to communication matters and makes technical changes to the Postal Services Act 1998. Part 3 is concerned with energy and resources and makes minor changes to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act 2000 and the Gas Act 1992. Finally Part 4 concerns building and housing matters and it makes technical changes to the Construction Contracts Act 2002.The Commerce Committee report has focused on the main recommendations to four Acts. They are the Companies Act 1993 the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 the Takeovers Act 1993 and the Construction Contracts Act 2002. I will highlight two of the committee's recommendations. Firstly under the Companies Act 1993 the committee recommends that the application of audit requirements allows large overseas companies with small New Zealand businesses or group businesses not to be subject to an audit requirement if there is no audit requirement in the home country. This amendment would remove excessive compliance costs and promote entity neutrality.Under the Construction Contracts Act 2002 the committee has noted that from 31 March 2017 the Construction Contracts Amendment Act 2015 will require retention money withheld under commercial construction contracts to be held on trust. Clause 138 of this bill clarifies that the trust obligations will only apply to contracts entered into or renewed on or after 31 March 2017. It is because of the date of the provisions that the three omnibus bills must be enacted before that date.The second change to the Construction Contracts Act recommended by the committee is providing payers with two options if they choose to withhold retention money. The options are the default option of holding retention money on trust in the form of cash or other liquid assets readily converted into cash as is currently the case under the Construction Contracts Amendment Act or obtaining an instrument such as an insurance or payment bond to provide third-party protection of retention money.Can I just thank very much the three select committees for their consideration of the bills. They have done so in a timely manner which is important here. The committees have considered changes to 20 Acts and reflected on submissions covering technical and detailed information. I commend the three committees as I say for reporting back early enough to ensure that the amendments to the Construction Contracts Act are made before the new retention money scheme that was enacted in 2015 comes into force on as I have said 31 March this year. I commend these three bills to the House.