Adams Amy: Disputes Tribunals Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Adams Amy: Disputes Tribunals Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 I am pleased to take a call on Part 1 of the Disputes Tribunals Amendment Bill. I have had the opportunity luckily to speak on this bill at previous stages through the House and I have already expressed to the House my firm view of the benefits of this bill. 
The National-led Government is very keen as we have said on many occasions to help businesses by taking the sharp edges off the recession. We are keen to get behind anything that will make their processes easier faster and lower in cost. We certainly see this bill as part of that approach by making it easier not only for businesses but for anyone with a dispute to use the services of a disputes tribunal. It will be considerably less onerous for them to access the tribunal. 
In this speech I will reflect on the lengths some people will go to in order to avoid having to go to court for their disputes to be settled because they know how onerous the court system is. In thinking about the changes in Part 1 I will recount an example I am aware of. It concerns two quite experienced business people and two very large companies that had a commercial dispute involving the sort of money we are talking about. Faced with the prospect of going to court to resolve the dispute both of them having been down that road before and having seen where it led decided they would settle their dispute by an arm-wrestle. This story is quite genuine. That is the sort of lengths they would go to. They said that rather than go to court they would just arm-wrestle. 
It turned out to be a very successful endeavour. The marketing they got as a result was worth millions—and good on them. As it turned out the chap who came up with this brilliant solution to avoid going to court found he lost the arm-wrestle and therefore the dispute but in any event he got a great deal of coverage. The funny thing was that this situation really piqued the interest of people worldwide. If there is one thing that I think people in every culture share it is a hatred of having to throw good money after bad when trying to settle a dispute where the sums involved are not big. 
This bill then which reviews the limits on the disputes tribunal for the first time in 11 years is really significant. While I was waiting to take this call I started to do a back-of-an-envelope calculation —to use an infamous phrase—of what has happened to the real level of access to the tribunal over the 11 years that the limits were not reviewed under the previous Government. One would have to say that access to justice has been severely limited over that time as inflation ate significantly into the value of the $7500 limit since the National Government reviewed it in 1998. One would have to say that under Labour access to this tribunal in real terms was going steadily backwards over the last 9 years. 
I am very pleased that Minister Power has taken it upon himself to very quickly get an amendment into the House to ensure that the limits are increased. We know that about 3500 extra cases a year will now have access to this tribunal. One of the big benefits of the tribunal which I will just touch on quickly in finishing is its informality. We know that lawyers are not allowed but the other thing I have not heard mentioned is that it is not just about time and cost; it is also about making justice available to people who would be intimidated by the court process and find it a bit daunting. Not everyone is articulate and confident enough to go to a court or to see a lawyer. 
In the disputes tribunal people can rock up with very low levels of skill business knowledge or eloquence and put their case in the best way they can and the referees have the flexibility to work with them to get justice. That is something we need to reflect on and support. I commend the Minister for bringing this bill before us. Part 1 is obviously where the real work in this bill is done and I am very pleased to support it. Thank you Mr Chair.