Wagner Nicky: Standards and Conformance Bill — In Committee 
Wagner Nicky: Standards and Conformance Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:634;Page:5462] 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 The title of this bill is the Standards and Conformance Bill and one cannot have much argument with a bill that is designed to make sure that the Standards Council which develops standards for goods and services and the Testing Laboratory Registration Council which makes sure those standards are being met both conform to international standards norms and practices. But we can have an argument about how much this legislation will cost—what my colleague Jacqui Dean has just been talking about—and we can oppose it because of the costs and level of compliance it demands. 
The business compliance costs statement accompanying the bill—which my colleague also referred to—lacks detail but it does show significant increases in costs particularly in the fees of the new certification body. In fact there is a huge increase in those fees as was explained by Pansy Wong last night. She calculated it as being nine times— 
Pansy Wong 
: Ten times. 
NICKY WAGNER 
:—10 times the existing cost and the worst thing is that the increase is for no discernible improvements in service. I have to say that for someone who comes from a background in small business compliance costs especially any huge increases in compliance costs are like a red rag to a bull. 
New Zealand businesses believe that regulation and increased costs of red tape are their biggest problems. We can look at the latest findings of Grant Thornton’s international business owners survey 2006 which shows that companies in New Zealand rate red tape as the most significant constraint to business expansion—at a 42 percent rating. These results are reflected in a global trend. Australia with a 32 percent rating and Ireland with 30 percent were among those countries that fretted less about red tape but the least concerned was Singapore which is at the foot of the global worry league. In fact only two Asian nations Malaysia and the Philippines rated above 30 percent. Of course the worry for New Zealand manufacturers and service deliverers is that increasingly we are competing with those Asian markets. 
The Grant Thornton survey was conducted among more than 7000 owners of medium-sized businesses—businesses with between 10 and 50 employees—around 30 countries. Its chairman Warwick Jones said that he was not surprised at the New Zealand results from the survey. He said that New Zealand business is strongly wrapped up inside regulations rules and bureaucracy. The situation here is in stark contrast with our competitor State in the shape of Singapore which many people perceive as being authoritarian but which clearly has a much more open view on making it easy to do business. 
It is also a concern that for our neighbour Australia red tape is very much second among concerns about constraints—well behind its concern about the availability of skilled workers. That is not good news for New Zealand for two reasons. One reason is that it could further encourage New Zealand businesses to relocate their operations to Australia and the other is that it could mean that Australia will lure more skilled workers across from New Zealand in order to alleviate its chief block to expansion. 
So because of the costs and the increased demands of certification National opposes this bill. We also oppose it because New Zealand business does not want and does not need any more red tape. Thank you Mr Chairman.