Horan Brendan: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Horan Brendan: Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 27 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:9005. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
BRENDAN HORAN (Independent) 
: 
 I will take a short call on the Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill and will address the proposed commencement date in clause 2. The bill as introduced would have come into force “on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent.” and that—[ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Order! Sorry to the member. I am trying to hear Brendan Horan. 
BRENDAN HORAN 
: Thank you. As I was saying I would like to address the proposed commencement date in clause 2. The bill as introduced would have come into force the day after the Royal assent was given and that is good. It is axiomatic that if Parliament enacts legislation then it should be implemented. But although that is obvious it does not always happen. The bill as reported back would come into force on 1 January 2014—9 months from now. On the face of it that may not seem to be a problem as the first occasion on which the law would have practicable effect would be on Anzac Day in 2015 but long commencement dates can have unintended consequences. 
It has been the habit of previous Parliaments to write Governments of the day a blank cheque but at least this bill is not open-ended. We have allowed Acts to be brought into force by Order in Council and yet not specified any default date. For example part of the Summary Proceedings Amendment Act 1976 is still not in force 37 years after Parliament passed the law. There are over 30 such Acts on the books not in force and with an open-ended indefinite commencement date. Things can go wrong with definite but long commencement dates. For example the Criminal Procedure Act was passed in October 2011 yet may not come into force until October this year. That Act amends numerous other Acts including the Chateau Companies Act 1977. That is fine and good one might say but John Banks came along and repealed the Chateau Companies Act 1977 using the Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Act in August 2012. So the left hand of National does not appear to know what the right hand of John Banks is doing and it is amending a repealed Act. So long commencement dates are not in general a good idea. 
This debate will conclude soon and the Committee will vote. My vote may be cast in person or it may be cast by proxy and I acknowledge and thank the Greens for their support of democracy. Six other MPs may be in the same position as me and it is good that they are able to participate as MPs the equal of my and their 114 other colleagues. But there is a problem when it comes to voting on this bill which is that we have a Prime Minister who thinks we should not be able to vote here. The only thing toxic is that we have a Prime Minister with contempt for democracy and that clearly will not do. The Holidays (Full Recognition of Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day) Amendment Bill will pass despite the Prime Minister’s toxicity with the votes of Labour the Greens New Zealand First the Maori Party Mana United Future and me as an independent MP. I gladly support this bill.