Carter Chris: Legislation (Incorporation by Reference) Bill — In Committee 
Carter Chris: Legislation (Incorporation by Reference) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:625;Page:19825] 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister for Building Issues) 
: 
 I would like to thank the United Future member Murray Smith for his very helpful contribution in the last 10 minutes and also acknowledge the very helpful contributions that United Future has made in the process of dealing with some mistakes that were made in this bill. We have seen a lot of crocodile tears cried over the need to change legislation. It has been curious to hear members—in particular Nick Smith and Ken Shirley yesterday—carrying on and saying what a muck-up this bill has been. Of course there were some mistakes but I remind members that the Resource Management Act passed by National in the early 1990s has been changed 13 times. The Companies Act also passed by National has been changed numerous times. It happens with complex legislation that is being put into practice. It has to be adjusted to the realities of how things work. 
This legislation to be amended passed not so long ago has over 450 clauses and has a lot of practical effect on the building industry. In fact there were only two significant problems. The first is the copyright issue in section 410 which United Future has been extremely helpful in working through—and New Zealand First for that matter. The second is safety in a public building where construction is taking place in part of it in section 363. There has been a lot of legal debate about whether there was even really a problem there but I accept that greater guidance needed to be given. We had some silly comments made by Nick Smith saying that Parliament needed to be closed down because the Beehive was having renovations. Curiously the Wellington City Council the territorial authority that makes that decision said immediately that no such consideration was ever going to be given that there was no problem. But of course Nick Smith has continued to put out press releases claiming all sorts of nonsense about it. 
I want to comment on a few things that Murray Smith raised. He said he felt there was a contradiction between clauses 49 and 53. We have had legal advice from the department and there does not seem to be a problem but we will talk through that issue with the member. We do not think there is a problem. He has put forward an amendment to new clause 3L to insert the word “knowingly”. That gives greater clarity for landlords as the member explained in his presentation. I thank him for that contribution and we will certainly agree to that. 
We are here fixing up a bit of practical legislation. I am pleased we are able to do that. As I said there are only two significant problems and one of them we do not even think is a problem but we will just make sure that everyone is clear about that. We have an opportunity to go through a complex large piece of legislation and fix up all those little things that inevitably happen when one is drawing up a big document—such as grammatical errors; numbering problems which Dr Nick Smith spent an extraordinary amount of time talking about yesterday; and all those practical little things that happen inevitably in big drafting issues. We have that chance today. We are taking advantage of it. I am pleased and believe we will have better legislation at the end of this process.