Korako Nuk: Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKorako Nuk: Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) — Second Reading[Sitting date: 11 March 2015. Volume:703;Page:2188. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NUK KORAKO (National): Kia ora e te Mana Whakawā. Huri noa i te Whare e mihi atu ana ki a koutou katoa. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to speak on an omnibus bill. I believe that I also take the last call on this bill. I suppose the first thing from taking the last call and listening to the speeches in the House tonight is it is important I think to acknowledge all of the good work that is done by members on both sides of the House particularly from all parties and to acknowledge the Hon Ruth Dyson who chaired the Government Administration Committee in the 50th Parliament and the 51st Parliament and Denis O’Rourke and Chris Auchinvole who as mentioned is not here. I just acknowledge all of those people and members who were responsible for getting the bill to this stage. My colleague Adrian Rurawhe on the other side of the House mentioned a Māori word tito. It was an interesting interpretation that he gave. But I suppose the word I want to mention particularly in talking about the collaboration on both sides of the House is the Māori word kotahitaka which really means the togetherness of everyone and working in unison. I think the important thing is to acknowledge that.The next thing is that Statute Amendment bills are to make short technical and some might say boring changes to existing legislation but the changes are not inconsequential. The changes make it to this House only because they do matter and I believe they are worth talking about. There are actually six that I would like to mention here that have really interested me. The first onethat was of great interest to me as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee and which was alluded to by my learned colleague on the other side of the House was the Ngāti Manuhiri Claims Settlement Act of 2012. In clause 68 the bill addresses an error in the Ngāti Manuhiri Claims Settlement Act of 2012 that puts the Act out of line with the deed of settlement. The deed of settlement with Ngāti Manuhiri agreed that the iwi should have first refusal over Crown land in an area set out in the trust deed. But I think the important thing there is that the trust deed did not give Ngāti Manuhiri first refusal over land owned by Crown bodies. It was supposed to apply only to land owned directly by the Crown.Looking at that I understand now that Ngāti Manuhiri have been consulted on this change and are in agreement that the Act as it stands does not reflect the trust deed and therefore should be changed. It is good to see that consultation was carried out with the affected iwi and I commend the Ngāti Manuhiri people for agreeing to this change and for it being made in the spirit of the original trust deed. That again really reflects the kotahitaka in that and the goodwill as well. That really also reflects the important reasons why we have this type of bill and this type of legislation.The next one No. 2 is something that I think really does highlight the fact that quite a small and possibly insignificant thing could actually be quite big and that one to me was in the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Act of 1995. Currently if a New Zealand - born person wants to change their legal name all that is required that they have to do is fill in a form sign a statutory declaration and pay a fee. They do not need to provide any photo ID or even their birth certificate. This may have worked well in the past but New Zealanders demand a higher level of security around their identity documents. So this bill amends the Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Act 1995. This allows the registrar-general to require evidence of identity before registering a name change. I think that is really important particularly in the day and age that we live in.The next one concerns the Friendly Societies and Credit Unions Act 1982. That one there is a reflection on how committed this Government is to reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and a number of the changes in this bill are designed to do exactly that. Currently the Registrar of Friendly Societies and Credit Unions is required to prepare an annual report and table it in Parliament. However credit unions and insurers are now supervised by the Reserve Bank. There is no need for a report to Parliament separate to that carried out by the Reserve Bank. This bill amends the Friendly Societies and Credit Unions Act 1982 to remove this requirement.A number of these actually have been mentioned tonight but pretty much just in passing. I was just trying to give some detail because of the importance of why I believe that these different changes are needed and that is why I want to highlight them. The changes to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 and the Official Information Act 1982 have been mentioned but I think the important thing is that there are quite a number of changes being made as we know to those Acts. These Acts exist to improve the access New Zealanders have to their Government. I think that is a real hallmark of where this Government is actually positioning itself to enable that. They also exist to promote open and transparent local government and central government. These changes to the Acts seek to improve transparency and openness. They also clarify some provisions that have already been in place but have not been universally understood.We are clarifying that information held by a person engaged by a local authority as an independent contractor is deemed to be held by the local authority. This is as it should be. Local councils often have good reason to use independent contractors to carry out work but their choosing to do so should not result in reduced transparency either deliberately or coincidentally. We are also clarifying that requests for official information under either of these Acts does not need to refer to the Act and can be communicated in any form. This bill will put beyond doubt that official information can be released electronically. Again this reduces the bureaucracy that would be involved if anyone interpreted the current wording of the Act to mean they needed to release information in paper form. There are other changes to improve the way Acts work and increase the transparency.This is a Government that believes in reducing bureaucracy and ensuring that the laws on our statute book are accurate and up to date. These amendments are minor technical and non-controversial but they are very very important as has been highlighted with the speeches tonight in the House on this bill. I have no hesitation in commending the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) to the House. Kia ora.Bill read a second time.