English Bill: Third Readings — 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
English Bill: Third Readings — 
[Sitting date: 03 August 2010. Volume:665;Page:12943. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister for Infrastructure) 
: 
 I move  
That the Utilities Access Bill the Infrastructure (Amendments Relating to Utilities Access) Bill the New Zealand Railways Corporation Amendment Bill and the Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities Act Repeal Bill be now read a third time 
. These four bills formerly comprised the Infrastructure Bill and represent a significant step forward in facilitating infrastructure. 
These bills cover three areas. The first and second bills improve the arrangements for managing access by utility operators—such as electricity gas telecommunications and water operators—to road and rail corridors. The current arrangements are inconsistent across utilities which creates uncertainty disputes and inefficiencies. That leads to higher costs for operators and local authorities. The third bill amends the New Zealand Railways Corporation Act to remove some of the statutory restrictions that affect the running of the Railways Corporation’s business and to bring the entity’s governance arrangements more in line with the Crown Entities Act. This is directly relevant to the ongoing operation of KiwiRail. The fourth bill is a repeal of the Affordable Housing Enabling Territorial Authorities Act 2008 retaining an amended prohibition on restrictive covenants affecting social housing. 
The Utilities Access Bill establishes a framework for a national code of practice that governs how utility operators and corridor managers coordinate their activities. To enable industry participants to develop and take ownership of the code the bill allows anyone to prepare a code but the code must meet certain requirements before the responsible Minister can approve it. The code must have broad agreement between stakeholders and must include operational and dispute resolution processes. A code approved by the Minister under this legislation will be deemed to be a regulation. The approach the bill takes is that there is no requirement for a code but if industry participants see value in having a code one can be developed. 
The Infrastructure (Amendments Relating to Utilities Access) Bill amends the Telecommunications Act the Electricity Act the Gas Act and the Local Government Act 1974. The bill provides for consistent provisions across the Acts around reasonable conditions of access to corridors allocation of costs when utility operators are required to move assets and time periods for notification and response. The Government has a particular interest in the passage of this bill as it contemplates the roll-out of broadband around the country. Amendments to the Railways Act and the Government Roading Powers Act provide time frames for responding to requests for access to rail corridors and motorways and require corridor managers to publish criteria on which they will base decisions to grant access. 
The New Zealand Railways Corporation Amendment Bill brings many of the provisions of the New Zealand Railways Corporation Act in line with the Crown Entities Act. The changes proposed in the bill include normalising the appointment and dismissal of directors changing to a simple majority the number of directors who can call a meeting the power to appoint a deputy chairperson and streamlining arrangements for changes to the Railways Corporation’s capital. It is probably the most important of the changes suggested given the need for KiwiRail to access considerable capital and the Government’s commitment to provide some of it. The bill also removes the limit on how much the Railways Corporation can expend in 1 year and permits the corporation to effect insurance cover for a director or employee. It brings the corporation’s ability to grant easements and impose conditions on the rail corridor more in line with the powers of other companies. 
The Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities Act Repeal Bill removes a potential impairment to increasing the housing supply which we believe is a vital issue in determining housing affordability. At the same time it retains an amended prohibition on restrictive covenants affecting social housing. The original Act was intended to provide local authorities with regulatory tools to address problems of housing affordability. In fact Local Government New Zealand and territorial authorities who made submissions on the bill suggested that rather than improving affordability it would increase the cost of housing in the current market. The building sector also raised concerns about increased complexities and delays as a result of the Act. That is why we are repealing it. Moves to encourage the building of new housing need to ensure that regulatory and other costs are contained and opportunities for increases in supply are enhanced. The repeal will assist in this regard. It will also be assisted by the Government’s thorough review of the Building Act and the recent change in building consent processes which by some estimates will reduce the costs of a mid-priced house by around $20000. 
The bill provides for a modified version of the prohibition relating to certain restrictive covenants and that will be included as an amendment to the Property Law Act. This addresses growing concern about the use of covenants to exclude social housing when new subdivisions are set up which unfairly discriminates against some of our most vulnerable people. 
The Transport and Industrial Relations Committee received submissions from a wide range of organisations interested in the Infrastructure Bill. The majority of the submissions focused on the proposed changes to arrangements for access to transport corridors. Most submissions were very supportive of the aims of what are now the first two bills. They offered constructive suggestions and the provisions of these two bills were accordingly amended. Currently utilities operators have no right of access to the rail corridor. The amendments to the Railways Act in this legislation recognise that the corridor is underutilised and that the current Act does not go far enough towards enabling greater use of the rail corridor by utilities. 
In summary these four bills will contribute to a smoother pathway for infrastructure development in New Zealand. They address a number of issues related to enhancing infrastructure investment enabling better operation of rail infrastructure and taking a step in the direction of cleaning up the regulatory tangle that has prevented the development of affordable housing. 
I thank those who have been involved in developing this legislation including the Opposition for its support and for the work that Labour began while it was in Government. I think that it recognised the same problem: in a country where the investment in infrastructure was picking up we needed to take the opportunity to clear up some of the regulatory fog that our local bodies our Government agencies and our infrastructure businesses have been working in. 
These bills have had constructive consideration in both the select committee and the House. Although there is cross-party support for the first three bills I recognise that there is not cross-party support for the bill related to affordable housing. That just reflects a difference of view. Labour believes that legislating for affordable housing might work when all the evidence pushes in the opposite direction. Housing affordability is gradually on the improve but it will take a number of further changes in the regulatory environment to ensure that affordable housing again comes within the reach of those who are on average pay in New Zealand. I commend these four bills to the House.