Brown Simeon; Williams PotoSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): Thank you for the opportunity to take a call on the regulatory systems amendment bills for their first readings. I'd like to commend the Government for bringing these bills to the House important pieces of legislation which will make some important changes to a range of legislation which often wouldn't get the opportunity to actually be brought to the House due to the fact that these are minor changes and in many ways are similar to what we would see through the Statutes Amendment Bill: a range of non-controversial changes which are agreed to by all parties in the House to make what are really important changes to our regulatory systems.I'd like to make a few comments around how these bills propose to operate as omnibus bills. There are three pieces of legislation and the policy objective is to ensure that our regulatory systems are improved; they are to become more efficient effective and that they accord with best regulatory practice. As a member of the Regulations Review Committee I think it's important that our regulations are continually improved and that as we as Parliament as the one which empowers bodies to make regulations through statutes are ensuring that the regulation-making bodies are doing so in the way that they should be done.Often what we see is that over time as regulations either become older or the regulation-making power hasn't been reviewed we'll see that practice may change or we may see that there is a requirement for there to be a review to ensure that the legislation is reflecting what is taking place out there in society. So this legislation makes a number of changes which are minor but do ensure that those regulations are keeping up to pace with what is required. I think the Minister in her speech at the start referred to how this is about doing repairs and maintenance which are required to ensure that regulations are working with legislation that needs updating so it is not out of date. That is exactly what this legislation does. It ensures that we as Parliament do the repairs and maintenance which are required so that the legislation is reflective of what is taking place. Often Ministers will be competing for time in the Chamber. We note that this is the second time I think that this bill has actually been brought to the House. On the first time I think there was an issue with the Minister not being available to speak to it. But Ministers will be competing for time in the House and when minor pieces of legislation are brought to the House there's often not time to deal with them. So this bill brings a range of different changes together to ensure that they are made all at once and that provides for Parliament to use its time more wisely and sensibly in putting that through.There are three bills as part of this omnibus bill. We have the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment (No 2) Bill which makes amendments to the Building Societies Act amendments to the Companies Act the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act the Fair Trading Act the Financial Reporting Act the Insolvency Act and a number of other pieces of legislation. And these are all as I said minor changes to ensure that our legislation is keeping pace in regard to those issues which are to do with the Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill. So that is an important amendment bill which makes a number of important changes. We also have the Regulatory Systems (Housing) Amendment Bill (No 2) which makes changes to the Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Act the Retirement Villages Act. Then we have the Regulatory Systems (Workforce) Amendment Bill (No 2) which makes changes to the Holidays Act. The amendment to the Holidays Act clarifies that the maximum penalty for a person involved in a breach depends on whether the person is an individual or a body corporate rather than depending on whether the employer is an individual or body corporate—a very minor change being made to the Holidays Act but as can be seen an important one to ensure that it is actually an accurate reflection of what is intended by Parliament. There are the changes to the Employment Relations Act 2000 and the Remuneration Act 1977. This change in the Remuneration Act is in line with the related changes to the Employment Relations Act 2000 allowing for the Remuneration Authority to set the remuneration of the Employment Relations Authority members who are delegated to take over the responsibilities of the chief of the authority. So as can be seen by the detail as to the change in the Remuneration Act it is a minor change which relates to the change under the Employment Relations Act 2000 in terms of the remuneration for the Employment Relations Authority—a very minor change but again an important change because it is important that our legislation is accurate in reflecting what Parliament is intending.These changes were brought about from 2014 with the proposal for this omnibus bill brought about by the Productivity Commission which issued a report in 2014. Of course the Productivity Commission was looking at our regulations and how the regulation-making process happens and wanting to ensure that out-of-date legislation is being updated. One of their recommendations was for an omnibus bill to be put forward which would then be able to make a range of different changes to ensure that the legislation was updated and was able to reflect. So that was a recommendation brought forward by the Productivity Commission. It was then agreed to by the Government and hence we now have this bill going through Parliament. The relevant three bills will go to relevant select committees to be scrutinised with submissions being able to be taken and then any changes will be able to be agreed to by the select committee after hearing submissions and then brought back to the House.I'm sure there'll be a lot of interest from a lot of people because this legislation covers so many different areas of law whether it's trade mark law the Weights and Measures Act housing legislation the Retirement Villages Act the Remuneration Authority and amendments to the limited partnerships. The Personal Property Securities Act is an important piece of legislation when it comes to commercial law. The Plant Variety Rights Act and the Takeovers Act—these are all important pieces of legislation that make a big difference in terms of how New Zealanders go about doing their business and how New Zealanders go about making decisions in their everyday lives. I mean one of them is the Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) Registration Act which I'm sure will get the spirits of this House very high and the members of the Regulations Review Committee I'm sure will be in high spirits when they are running through that and hearing submissions on it from the wine and spirits federation and the different bodies which have a range of different interests in it.I heard a bit of whining from the other side of the House as I mentioned that but I'm sure that's in good spirits as well—as we are. Hon Tim Macindoe: I'm sure you can bear it well.SIMEON BROWN: I will bear up well Mr Macindoe as I discuss this important piece of legislation. Of course there are also amendments to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act and I know that Minister Faafoi is also looking at some other potential changes around that and I'm sure there's a range of different interested parties who take a very close interest in the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act. I think it's an important piece of legislation. It's about protecting our most vulnerable New Zealanders to ensure that they have the ability to make purchases where they know what they are purchasing particularly when it comes to the issues around those who have high finance rates which they apply to a range of different loans. The Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act is about providing consumer protection so that people know what they are doing and are able to make those decisions. There is more improvement and more changes coming in that from what I hear from Minister Faafoi and we'll be looking at those closely as to what he recommends. There are also amendments to the Fair Trading Act which again is an important piece of legislation and I think fundamental to every New Zealander in terms of their rights when it comes to making purchases. It is about ensuring that they are treated in a fair way and that they have rights around the standards of the products that they purchase and the right to be able to ensure that if they're not satisfied they're able to get their product fixed or changed or whatever the issue might be. So this is an important piece of legislation. I'm looking forward to its progress through the House and I commend it to the House. Thank you. Kieran McAnulty: Whoo! ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Mr McAnulty.