Sio William: Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sio William: Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8566. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Su’a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 Talofa lava Mr Assistant Speaker. I want to say to the member who just spoke Chris Auchinvole is this it? Is this all we have? On this Thursday we are debating plumbers drainlayers and gasfitters? Is that all there is from this Government? What about unemployment? What about the 16 percent of Pacific Island people who are unemployed? It would not be so bad if we were talking about injecting money to create more jobs. It would not be so bad if we were injecting money for the education of young people so that we would have more plumbers drainlayers and gasfitters. But is this it? 
I say that because earlier this week we had a petition of the people—boxes and boxes of thousands of petitions signed by over 390000 people who are saying to this Government: “Stop the sale of assets.” And yet on Thursday instead of debating that we are having to debate the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Amendment Bill— 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: This will lead the news. This will lead the news. 
Su’a 
 WILLIAM SIO 
: Ha ha! I would say I think it is the wrong priority for this Minister for Building and Construction to introduce this bill. It may be important and it may be necessary but in so far as the New Zealand public are concerned this is not the priority—this is not the priority. 
As my colleague Raymond Huo has outlined it is unfortunate that the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act of 2006 after so long now requires amendment in order to correct some anomalies that have occurred. I suppose to be fair the board protects the health and safety of the public by regulating and ensuring the competency of persons carrying out sanitary plumbing gasfitting and drainlaying work. The board is funded entirely by the fees and levies charged to plumbers gasfitters and drainlayers registered under this Act and it is very similar to other occupational licensing boards. 
But the board made a mistake. Although I am not a member of that particular select committee I have to ask why it was that the board did not recognise the mistake that it had made. If it were not for the vigilance of the Regulations Review Committee which in 2011 picked up on what had occurred and concluded that the board appeared to have made an unusual or unexpected use of the levy power it would not have been picked up I suspect. 
In so far as Labour is concerned there are some issues in this bill that we have reservations about but we will support this bill going to the select committee because I think the select committee is probably the more appropriate place for those who are directly going to be affected by the bill those who are in this industry and all other interested parties to raise their concerns to raise their questions and to allow members of that select committee to critique analyse and make appropriate recommendations with regard to making sure that the bill achieves its particular purpose. 
I understand that the purpose of the bill is to get rid of the uncertified practitioners in the industry. I am sort of surprised that whilst collecting moneys from the plumbers gasfitters and drainlayers solely for the purposes of prosecuting them that the board also started using this particular money to prosecute those who are not registered. That is of concern. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Well every other profession does that. Architects do it. Electrical workers do that. This only brings them into line with everyone else. 
Su’a 
 WILLIAM SIO 
: Yes. I understand that the board imposed a disciplinary levy to fund the enforcement of its activities against those who breached the law but it went outside that law and began to then also look at those who were not registered. 
So I think it is a good thing that we do bring it in and ensure that the industry maintains its credibility. It is about ensuring that the New Zealand public are protected—and we see it on television time and time again. In fact I have had some dealings in my own personal situation where one plumber came in and carried out some work and a few months later I had to call another plumber and that particular plumber raised the fact that the first plumber had been using the wrong materials. So in terms of making sure that we have got protection for our consumers and our communities I think that is particularly important. 
I think what needs to be made clear though is that Labour is not uncritically sanctioning the board’s conduct—that it acted ultra vires or beyond the scope of its levy power. Rather I think it is going to be particularly important that this bill goes to a select committee and that anybody and everybody who has an interest in this ought to be given an opportunity to submit. 
In essence one thing that really I have difficulty with—and I made this point earlier—is that what this bill does is takes actions that were previously thought lawful and have since been found unlawful and tries to make them lawful again. There are some other cases around this country that I think will cause some serious concerns in local communities. 
I think that the work the Regulations Review Committee did when it first considered the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board fees notice in 2010 ought to be commended. The select committee considered that the board had made “an unusual or unexpected use of the levy power in section 143 of the Act.” as the board used the disciplinary levy to fund enforcement action against non-registered persons. I note that section 143 provides for the board to set a levy to fund only the cost of complaints and discipline in relation to registered persons. I also note that the disciplinary levy validated from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 inclusive is $25. Look at how this quickly picks up. From 1 April 2008 to 30 July 2010 inclusive it becomes $50 and then from 31 July 2010 to 11 January 2012 it is $266. 
Regarding those who are in the industry and those who are practising their craft I would call on all of those organisations to make sure they have a say because I think that they would be seriously concerned about the quick movement of those particular levies particularly when there is such high unemployment currently in our country. Despite the job opportunities that this Government attempts to spin to the media the fact remains that we still have high unemployment. It is the highest in 13 years. In fact for Pacific communities it is 16 percent. 
But as I said is this all that this Government has for us to debate? Is this it—that despite the worst economic history in 51 years we are here tonight debating the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Amendment Bill? I think the public listening in to this will be saying to every member of that Government there: “Is this what we put you in there to do?”. It is tweaking all around these plumbers and gasfitters these little things that the board itself should have taken care of. Instead we are here on Thursday debating this when there are the more serious issues of families struggling to make ends meet. This Government should have made that the priority rather than plumbers gasfitters and drainlayers. How sad is it that this Government is debating this when there are so many people looking to it for leadership. I think that they will be very very disappointed not only in this Minister but in the entire Government on that particular side.