Penk ChrisCHRIS PENK (National—Helensville): Thank you very much Mr Chair. I have a hard act to follow I fear. On the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Amendment Bill I do have a couple of questions for the member in the chair Dr Parmjeet Parmar which I'm confident she'll be able to answer but I think it's worthwhile to go through a couple of them. My ability to ask the questions is probably more in doubt at this stage but we'll see how we get on. I think it's probably worth noting just by way of introduction that the significance of this bill is actually pretty serious for worthy organisations—charitable organisations with a capital c"—including the Surf Life Saving Northern Region many of whose members are in my electorate the wonderful electorate of Helensville as it currently is and are soon to be in the New Lynn electorate in the case of some of those. Now these people do a wonderful job for the community and I don't want to miss the opportunity to give a shout-out to them and so my question to the member in the chair first of all is whether she anticipates that the effect of this bill will make their life easier or harder. If I were to be a little bit—I don't wish to be blasé about such a serious subject but it occurs to me that for organisations that currently drown in red tape it would be appropriate for the Surf Life Saving Northern Region to spend a bit more time in the waves in the whitecaps and less time in the red tape in terms of the activities that a volunteer organisation is able to undertake. So that's my first question: will this in practical terms make a difference for life on the ground or indeed in the water for such organisations as that? My second question for the member in the chair again would be about the retrospective aspect. Obviously there's a general rule in this House that we don't legislate retrospectively except that we tend to apply that rule in the criminal law sphere and this is obviously not a criminal-type matter and secondly we're generally happy to retrospectively validate if that's going to be to the advantage of those who are most directly affected. So can the member please assure us that what's going to happen now isn't that we impose on these organisations a requirement to go back and add extra burden again by asking them to redo their calculations albeit in a more straightforward way. So if there's any comfort that she can give us along those lines that would be helpful. Finally—he said looking at the clock—my other question to the member at this stage would be whether she's comfortable with the recommendation that the Governance and Administration Committee has made about the transitional arrangements. That's where we're looking at the fact that the bill will come into effect a day after the Royal assent I believe—he said checking it—but obviously there are pretty complicated arrangements whereby there might be a financial year that's under way at the time that the bill passes into law and becomes an Act. So I'm just wondering if she's happy that this legislation now is going to come in in a way that's pretty clear—CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): I'm going to interrupt the member and just tell him we're debating the preamble. He's asking questions that will be addressed in later clauses. CHRIS PENK: Yes sir. CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): I suggest the member ask those questions at that stage and my ruling to the member in the chair is not to answer them until then. So the preamble. CHRIS PENK: Yes thank you Mr Chair. I should have been much more explicit that recital (5) within the preamble talks about the amendment to the Charities Act. So essentially my question was around the point at which that amendment would become effective. I should have been clearer about that so I apologise to you and indeed the committee for not being more up front about that point. So—Simon O'Connor: Start again. CHRIS PENK: I'll start again—that's the suggestion of the member of Parliament for Tamaki. I don't think I could do that to myself let alone anyone else so perhaps I'll leave it there. But as I say I look forward to the feedback on those points from the member in the chair: (a) whether it makes life easier or harder (b) whether we're going to run into any unanticipated difficulties or unintended consequences indeed with the retrospective element and finally just around the transitional arrangements at least to the extent that they are referred to at recital (5) of the preamble."