Parmar ParmjeetDr PARMJEET PARMAR (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I am taking this call on behalf of ACT in support of this bill in the first reading. As we have heard this is an omnibus bill. It looks at various legislation that has components of insurance in that it brings those components together and also modernises it. So looking at the various legislation that this bill is going to bring the insurance components from it is the Life Insurance Act 1908—yep 1908; very old legislation—the Law Reform Act 1936 the Insurance Law Reform Act 1977 and 1985 the Insurance Intermediaries Act 1994.It's really important to note that insurance policies actually play the role of safety net in people's lives and not just individuals' lives but also for businesses. People actually rely on insurance because they believe that if something goes wrong in their life or in their business then they have this insurance and they can rely on that insurance so that they are covered for that financial risk that might come because of that problem. But then sometimes what happens is if they end up in that kind of situation where they have to make a claim they realise that actually they are not covered by the insurance policy that they have been paying for.So it becomes really important that we address this issue. We make it very clear that New Zealanders understand and also the insurance companies understand that it needs to be a fair relationship both ways and. It needs to be a fair relationship both ways and we really hope that that is what this bill will deliver.In this bill we have seen that it does make it clear what the duties are of both parties. These are individuals or businesses and also the insurance companies on the side of individuals and businesses and the bill intends to make it very clear that there should be no misrepresentation or there should be fair presentation of the facts that are needed for insurance companies to provide the right kind of insurance. Also on the other hand it says that insurance companies should be providing policies that are quite easy and simple for people to understand. But what does that mean? Those are the kind of things we would like to explore in the select committee process. I am not a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee but I'm sure the Finance and Expenditure Committee will ask all those questions and will come up with a solution there.The other thing that this bill does is that if there is misrepresentation the consequences should be proportionate to that and it's not like the whole policy becomes invalid and it is important to understand what that misrepresentation is and what those proportionate consequences would look like. Again something that we would like to understand after we have heard from submitters and the advisers and I really hope that it's not only the insurance companies who will submit on this legislation but hopefully we will hear from businesses and individuals as well those who have experienced dealing with situations like this.This also is going to adjust the insurance specific exemptions from unfair contract terms so that is important as well. Reasonable time: again the insurance companies should respond within a reasonable time. That is a factor that we have heard. Dr Duncan Webb raised that issue of 12 months and we would like to understand what that reasonable time" looks like and then it is about making sure that the intentions of this bill are clarified so that there is no misunderstanding of what that actually means.So this kind of intervention I believe is needed. But all these topics or the components of this bill we need to explore a bit more to make them a bit clearer to make sure that this bill is very clear on what it wants to achieve and how it would achieve those intentions. So we are supporting this bill in the first reading. Thank you Mr Speaker."