Donnelly Brian: Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Transitional Provisions and Controls) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee  
Donnelly Brian: Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Transitional Provisions and Controls) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee  
[Volume:616;Page:11762] 
Hon BRIAN DONNELLY (NZ First) 
: 
 I guess that the confusion over the numbers proves the point about the need for select committees to have an appropriate amount of time to go through the issues carefully. I make that point because at this particular stage as I say I am still not too certain about the numbers; I think we will just agree that lots and lots of substances have to be processed. 
Given that lots and lots of substances have to be transferred from the various different Acts into the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act it is equally clear that the current transfer provisions are inefficient and are causing increased costs to Government and to business. It is for that reason that New Zealand First is supporting this legislation. We believe that something has to be done. Back in 1996 what was drawn up on paper looked good but when it was put into practice and tested it did not show up very well. The regulation process was obviously just too slow. So New Zealand First will be supporting this legislation on that particular basis. 
However questions have been raised about the regulatory framework in which this whole hazardous substances and new organisms process is operating and some very strong positions were taken on that. In fact I think it was agreed that significant work has to be done on those regulations. I ask the Minister for the Environment whether she can assure the Committee that the work that needs to be done is being done. Some people have suggested that we do not need this legislation but New Zealand First is not convinced; we believe that the legislation is needed but that significant work also needs to be done on the regulations. I ask the Minister to take a call to confirm for us that that work on the regulations which underpin all of this is actually being done. For example the tank wagon and compressed gas regulations are supposed to be in force by March 2004. If this legislation is to do what it is meant to do those deadlines have to be met. I ask the Minister to guarantee that those deadlines are being met. 
I would like to point out some of the impracticalities in the Act as it stands. One is that the controls change on the day a transfer takes place. On one day a business or an entity is acting under one regime and on the next day it is operating under another regime. It is pretty obvious from the field in which I and the Minister have more experience—education—that when we start doing that sort of thing we turn things into a nonsense. So this legislation in fact provides a means by which there can be a much more sensible transfer from one particular regime to the next regime. 
The next point I would like to make relates to something that once again came out of the select committee process—that is the issue over compressed gases. The committee became aware that a gas in itself is not a dangerous or hazardous substance. Oxygen in its natural form is not exactly hazardous; otherwise we would all be dead. But once a gas is compressed regardless of its natural form it becomes hazardous per se. The bill in the way it was drawn up did not accommodate that reality but as it has progressed through it has accommodated it. 
Also some other issues were raised that this bill does not cover but on which further work needs to be done and I think they need to be mentioned. One example is whether a company that becomes bankrupt can just say that it is getting rid of all its hazardous substances and that it is no longer responsible for them. Certainly as a result of this legislation further work will be done on that particular issue. 
New Zealand First believes that this legislation is necessary. We would have hoped it would be processed in a far better fashion but we believe that what is suggested in it is a far more sensible approach to the whole issue. The bill gives greater flexibility and gives the Environmental Risk Management Authority greater powers of delegation to local decision-making. Therefore New Zealand First will support it. However we hope the Minister will answer some of those pressing questions on the development and the fixing up of the regulations as they stand.