Hipkins ChrisCOVID-19 RESPONSE (FURTHER MANAGEMENT MEASURES) LEGISLATION BILLFirst ReadingHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): In accordance with a determination of the Business Committee I move That the COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill be now read a first time. I nominate that the bill be referred to the Epidemic Response Committee. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported back to the House by 12 May 2020.The bill follows the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Act which this House passed on 25 March 2020. That Act canvassed a wide range of issues that were considered necessary to effectively respond to COVID-19 and to aid our recovery from it. Altogether this bill amends or modifies the application of 45 different statutes. It will better equip New Zealand businesses and charities to ride out the impact of COVID-19. It will ensure that essential workers are able to contribute their skills to the recovery effort without being disadvantaged. It will provide an equal opportunity for people to participate in local government by-elections and it will address a range of potential problems that regulators and regulated parties might encounter administering and complying with statutory requirements in the context of the COVID-19 response. There are two tiers of amendments that are included in this bill. The first tier are more significant amendments that will enable businesses civil society organisations local government and others to more effectively manage the immediate impacts of the response to COVID-19 and to mitigate unnecessary and potentially longer-term impacts on society. Changes to insolvency and corporate law will increase the prospects of businesses surviving the COVID-19 response. Changes include the addition of a business debt hibernation regime that will allow companies and other entities to enter into agreements with their creditors in relation to existing debt and adding safe harbour for insolvency-related directors' duties. Other changes include giving registrars the ability to issue exemption notices in relation to compliance with statutory obligations and relief for entities that cannot comply with rules in their constitutions because of COVID-19. Changes to commercial property law will support commercial tenants and borrowers to manage situations where businesses are unable to pay their rent or to meet their mortgage obligations. The amendments extend the notice period before landlords can cancel commercial leases for non-payment of rent and they extend the notice period before mortgagees can exercise their rights to sell or repossess a property. Changes to parental leave will allow essential workers to temporarily return to work to assist in the response to COVID-19 without being disadvantaged by losing certain leave entitlements and payments. Changes to local government by-election timing adjust the timing requirements for local government by-elections. The bill enables key stages of these by-elections to be postponed until COVID-19 movement restrictions are no longer in effect. They're temporary changes that will ensure that COVID-19 doesn't prevent New Zealanders from being able to have a reasonable and equal opportunity to participate in local government by-elections as and when they arise. The first change postpones the start of voting for the current Ōtorohanga District Council by-election if significant movement restrictions are still in place by the time this bill is enacted. The second change establishes an Order in Council mechanism to make further by-election timing adjustments if these are necessary. The final amendment enables council chief executives to postpone any further by-elections if public health concerns mean that holding a by-election to fill an extraordinary vacancy isn't appropriate due to COVID-19. Changes to the Gambling Act will allow for a period of 18 months for the Heart Foundation Coastguard and Countdown Kids Charitable Trust to send and receive forms and take payments for their lotteries online or by phone. This provides these organisations with the ability to operate their existing lotteries despite social restrictions and the continuing impact of COVID-19 on face-to-face sales. The second tier of changes in the bill concern 22 minor amendments considered necessary to respond and recover from COVID-19. Rather than outlining each of these amendments individually I'm going to highlight the general policy parameters of these changes in their groupings. Three amendments are proposed to defer new regulatory requirements in circumstances where Government agencies or businesses would have difficulty implementing the new legislation or requirements that are due to come into force while New Zealand is responding to COVID-19—for example delaying the commencement of a new regime to regulate financial advisers. This is necessary as the requirements under alert level 4 in particular made it difficult for the sector to prepare for the regulation while at the same time responding to an increase in demand for financial advice services. Four amendments are proposed to defer existing statutory deadlines and other minor exemptions where compliance would not be possible or would be unnecessarily burdensome—for example extending the duration of firearms licences and dealers licences that are expiring in a situation where COVID-19 restrictions have resulted in deferred processing of licence renewal applications. This is necessary to avoid situations where people are non-compliant with the Act through no fault of their own. Seven amendments are proposed to mitigate impracticality issues that have arisen through the COVID-19 response—for example amending the Coroners Act 2002 to enable a coroner to direct a pathologist to take swabs to test for COVID-19 as part of a post-mortem examination in a situation where the deceased is suspected to have had COVID-19. Finally eight amendments have been proposed to mitigate problems with legislative compliance that have arisen due to the physical presence requirements or other technological reasons—for example to allow for clinical examinations and reviews taking place under the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 to be undertaken by audiovisual link rather than in person.In closing I'd like to acknowledge the support of colleagues in the development of this bill. The bill cuts across quite a large number of portfolios and it does demonstrate the wide-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic and I commend the bill to the House.