Wall Louisa: Radiation Safety Bill — Third ReadingText is subject to correctionWall Louisa: Radiation Safety Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 03 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9392. Text is subject to correction.]LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. I too would like to acknowledge the passing of Martin Crowe—an amazing New Zealander an incredible sportsperson and somebody who I think was one of the critical factors in inspiring New Zealand’s performance at the Cricket World Cup. So I think we all collectively mourn his passing and pass on our condolences to his whānau.It is my pleasure to speak in this third reading of the Radiation Safety Bill as a previous member of the Health Committee. I think we are 51 years from this law reform coming to fruition today as it replaces the Radiation Protection Act of 1965. I do want to state for the record that if we had our way this would be the “Ionising Radiation Safety Bill” because it applies only to ionising radiation and not non-ionising radiation but that is really all I will say about that.This law reform actually completes New Zealand’s domestic implementation of firstly the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. We actually signed that convention on 14 September 2005 so today we will actually join 101 other nations to now ratify this convention in our domestic legislation. It also completes our commitment to the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material which was adopted on 8 July 2005 and again that ensures that our domestic legislation now puts us in that group of countries that have taken the convention seriously and our domestic legislation now reflects that commitment.This law reform enables us to meet our international obligations relating to radiation protection radiation safety and security and non-nuclear proliferation. So rather than google about ionising and non-ionising radiation what I have been doing here is googling about the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material which was actually adopted on 26 October 1979 in Vienna. The convention is actually held with the International Atomic Energy Agency which was established on 29 July 1957. That agency’s mandate is to promote peaceful use of nuclear energy to stop the production of nuclear weapons and I guess I have been trying to look at the interface between the whole nuclear energy focus and the relationship with radiation which is what this bill is all about. Nuclear radiation is energy rays given off from a radioactive element such as uranium—which this bill will apply to—as it decays. So the whole reason it all traces back to that particular convention is that I guess there is universal acceptance that radiation causes harm.In our particular bill what we have said is that radiation use occurs and should occur only where the expected benefits outweigh the risks that exposure must be kept as low as reasonably possible to achieve the results that are wanted and that the doses must not exceed the limits. This piece of legislation really is about the safe use of ionising radiation in New Zealand and I think we have ensured that this is a best-practice piece of legislation.I want to take the time to thank the 14 submitters on this piece of legislation and three of them made oral submissions. The Regulations Review Committee also helped clarify the separate roles that codes of practice and regulations will play under this piece of legislation and I too want to highlight that the codes of practice now written into this legislation will ensure that these are reviewed at least once every 5 years. So we can be reassured that there will be a regular update in terms of the regulations that are relevant to this piece of legislation.I would like to take the opportunity to thank the officials. I think they were incredibly helpful and patient with some of the members of the select committee during the passage of this legislation who were fixated at times on this whole issue of ionising and non-ionising radiation so that we actually understood the relevance of the focus on ionising radiation. As I have tried to explain the background and the context have been about this focus on nuclear energy non-proliferation and actually the protection of the world against the drastic consequences when nuclear energy is used as a weapon of destruction.I would also like to take the time to congratulate the Health Committee on the way that it always works. I think it is the most collaborative select committee. I have been on a few and I am on another one now but I think there is something really special about the Health Committee because of the subject area. Our job is to protect the health and safety of New Zealanders and I think that as a committee we are all incredibly committed to that task. So I just want to commend the select committee on that work and as always I am really willing to take a call on any bills that are before the Health Committee.Just finally we support this bill. The passage of this bill actually is about time and so I commend the bill to the House. Kia ora tātou.