Bond RiaRIA BOND (NZ First): I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak to this package of three omnibus bills regarding regulatory systems. The purpose of this package as presented for first reading in October last year is to make and progress small regulatory fixes in a timely and cost-effective way. These bills are a response to the New Zealand Productivity Commission's report that was dated June 2014. It noted at the time that it can be difficult to find time on the parliamentary calendar for in their words repairs and maintenance of existing legislation". Not finding the time to address the raft of minor legislative changes as identified in these three bills means that any flow-on benefits to businesses and the wider community are not delivered as intended.There are too many mistakes cross-referencing errors unintended consequences or overreaches when legislation in the form of these three bills comes before the House. I would however like to commend the three separate select committees that reviewed all three of these bills. New Zealand First will continue to support these bills and the recommendations made by the Local Government and Environment Committee the Commerce Committee and the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee.I would like to make one or two statements about each individual bar 2 bill on their return to the House. Firstly with regard to the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Bill New Zealand First is happy that employees undergoing a 90-day trial period will now be covered under the personal grievance grounds already available to other employees—for example when compensation is not paid when shifts have been cancelled or when employers contravene health and safety regulations. We are also pleased to see the clarification within the bar 2 bill that the ability to recover overpaid parental leave payments applies only to paid parental leave. New Zealand First also congratulates the committee on correcting the unintended consequences for primary carers of pre-term babies. We also note the select committee's comments on giving businesses time to prepare for these changes and giving the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) the time to communicate the required changes to employers and employees.I turn to the Regulatory Systems (Building and Housing) Amendment Bill. Part of this bill proposes amendments to the Unit Titles Act 2010. The Local Government and Environment Committee noted that the MBIE has been consulting on a wider review of this Act and that the changes proposed in the first draft of the bill pre-date those discussions. The committee received submissions outside of the scope of this bill and asked the officials to invite submitters to contribute to the ministry's review.The committee also recommended adding a "status of examples" provision to avoid any further confusion. The Law Society advised that clause 20 is inconsistent with similar provisions in the Unit Titles Act as this is the part where there is a wider policy issue outside the scope of the bill. The committee expressed its intention to make that clause as clear as possible and to reduce any confusion or inconsistency.The clauses that deal with bodies corporate and extraordinary general meetings sit more appropriately as regulations so the bar 2 bill amends those clauses as MBIE intends to provide new regulations addressing these time frames and notices for extraordinary general meetings.I turn to the Regulatory Systems (Commercial Matters) Amendment Bill. New Zealand First is actually really heartened to finally see changes within the Construction Contracts Amendment Act (CCAA) that broaden the way retention money for subcontractors is protected. The committee proposed several changes that would make it quite clear how to apply the retention obligations. From the end of this month the Construction Contracts Amendment Act 2015 requires retention money withheld under commercial construction contracts to be held in trust. This bill must be enacted by the end of the month to ensure that these provisions are aligned and enforced at the same time. This ensures that developers and head contractors must protect retention money for the benefit of subcontractors or payees rather than using it as working capital. However some submitters advised that it would be expensive and difficult for some payers as the CCAA requires retention money to be held in the form of cash or liquid assets.New Zealand First supports the committee's proposed amendments which would give payers two options with the second being an insurance or a payment bond as an instrument to provide third-party protection of retention money. The committee made it clear that any financial instruments obtained must meet strict requirements. Subcontractors must be able to claim from banks or insurers when head contractors fail to pay them retention money when it is due. New Zealand First supports this set of omnibus bills."