Williams Poto; Salesa Jenny; Rurawhe AdrianBUILDING (BUILDING PRODUCTS AND METHODS MODULAR COMPONENTS AND OTHER MATTERS) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister for Building and Construction): I present a legislative statement on the Building (Building Products and Methods Modular Components and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website. Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I move That the Building (Building Products and Methods Modular Components and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. Lifting quality in our sector is at the heart of my agenda as the Minister for Building and Construction. This is a challenging time for everyone and we're facing disruption and uncertainty. On top of COVID-19 impacts we have a sector continuing to face systemic challenges that are holding us back from meeting the needs of New Zealand and New Zealanders. The building and construction sector is New Zealand's fourth-largest employer accounting for 10 percent of New Zealand's workforce and our fourth-largest industry by GDP. We are responsible for delivering much-needed housing infrastructure and commercial buildings the places where New Zealanders live work and play. I want to thank the Environment Committee for their work and consideration of this bill. I also want to thank those who took time to submit and to provide their feedback. This bill seeks to address some longstanding challenges in the building and construction sector. Through the Building System Legislative Reform Programme I am progressing major changes to New Zealand's building laws the biggest since the Building Act was introduced in 2004. These reforms will see a more efficient building system a lift in the quality of building work. This bill amends the Building Act 2004 in multiple ways. First the bill introduces building product information requirements to better support and make more informed decision-making to help builders and designers choose the right products and install them in a way intended to support faster consenting. Secondly it introduces a new voluntary scheme for modular component manufacturers to provide a faster more consistent building consent approach. Third it introduces new registration requirements for product certification bodies and provides the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment with greater oversight over the CodeMark products certification scheme to improve confidence that building products and methods will comply with the building code. The bill introduces new offences higher maximum penalties a longer period to file a charge to provide greater protection for users and other amendments to widen the scope of the building levy and enable public notifications to be carried out online. Phase two of the Government's reform programme will progress reforms of occupational regulation focused on ensuring people have confidence in the engineers and the regulated building practitioners and their work. I look forward to presenting these reforms to the House in due course.During the course of the consideration by the Environment Committee the bill underwent a number of changes to address issues raised by both submitters and the committee itself. The first modification is to change the commencement date from 12 to 15 months after the date of Royal assent. This will ensure sufficient time for the development of the regulations required to implement the changes to be developed and consulted on. A number of changes were made to the sections relating to the modular component manufacturer scheme. These changes will improve integration with building consent processes and clarify how the scheme aligns with consumer rights and the remedies under the Building Act. The select committee process has been invaluable in improving the bill. A building system that inspires trust and confidence and can deliver safe durable and affordable buildings is a necessity for New Zealand. Before I commend the bill to the House I'd like to thank the officials for all the work that they have done on this and other pieces of legislation that will help us to reform the building and construction sector. I look forward to progressing this further. I commend this bill to the House. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.