Williams Andrew: Regulatory Reform Bill Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill — Second Readings 
Williams Andrew: Regulatory Reform Bill Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill — Second Readings 
[Advance Copy - Subject to minor change before inclusion in Bound Volume.] 
ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First) 
: 
 I would like to take a call on behalf of New Zealand First in relation to both the Regulatory Reform Bill and the Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill the two of which are run conjointly. Firstly can I say that New Zealand First supports the Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill as we always support reform that is good for the country. We believe that this bill delivers some cost savings in some areas and some sensible repealing of a number of Acts that are no longer applicable. Perhaps people who may be listening out there to Parliament this evening may not have caught up with this because this legislation has come back after being in the House a few weeks ago but in terms of the Acts that are being repealed it is interesting that some of them go right back to 1885. 
For instance one Act that I was looking at earlier the District Railways Purchasing Act 1885 which this legislation is proposing to repeal refers to: “Whereas on the thirtieth day of October one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four the House of Representatives resolved ‘That the Government be requested to come to the best arrangements they can with the district railway companies with a view to the acquisition of the lines by the colony; such arrangements to be subject to the ratification of Parliament:’ ”. That was back in 1884 when this House approved the negotiations with some of the different railway operators to acquire the lines and essentially create the network for the base of the railways in New Zealand. 
That was a long time ago. It is no longer applicable. We have gone through many many changes over the last 130-odd years. Railways have been bought railways have been sold and railways have been bought back again. Depending on the Government of the day who knows where they will be in the future? Certainly under the present Government we are never safe when it comes to State assets and knowing where our assets will be—where the nation’s assets will be. But in this particular case we are repealing that old historical Act going back to 1885. However in doing so we do acknowledge the wisdom of the parliamentarians back then in the 1800s who saw the sense in having the railways acquired through the District Railways Purchasing Act. 
Similarly when you look at many of the other Acts that are here some also go back into the 1800s such as the New Zealand Shipping Company (Limited) Empowering Act 1884. There are others from the 1910s and into the 1960s and 1970s many of which are no longer applicable and are basically redundant. So it is good to be bringing the Regulatory Reform (Repeals) Bill to the House to repeal many of those Acts which basically are sitting on our statute book no longer have application and therefore are clutter. In many cases they are clutter and they are sitting there simply because they have not been repealed before now. 
It is good that we are moving on in this. I commend the Minister for Regulatory Reform. I understand that the Minister the Hon John Banks has carried this legislation through from his predecessor and it is good to see that the ACT Party is working on things such as reforming and reviewing things from the 19th century. It is certainly up with the play and the fact that the ACT Party is concentrating on looking at Acts from back in the 1880s is an indication of where it is at. I am sure that when the honourable member has his caucus meetings in a phone box somewhere on Lambton Quay these sorts of issues are raised regularly—that they should be looking at Acts going back to the 19th century and reforming them. Good on him and I hope he continues in that vein in the future. 
Similarly the other bill that is before the House tonight the Regulatory Reform Bill—they are both being actioned in tandem—is basically to amend 13 other Acts. For many of those again it is just paperwork and it is a case of tidying them up. As with some of the previous speakers we support that bill as well in terms of just tidying up some of the irregularities. 
I too was going to mention the Films Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993. There are significant savings to be had because of this bill providing flexibility to either print labels directly or physically affix separately printed labels for films and videos. This is just bringing things into the modern age of modern techniques. That saving for the industry is estimated to be in the order of $1.3 million in the first year rising to $2 million in year 5. Again that is good. That helps our companies and it helps the various industries involved. That is a good thing and New Zealand First certainly supports the likes of that. It also supports some of the other pedantics in terms of changing some of the other wording such as that regarding the Director-General. The Animal Products Act refers to “the Ministry” and “the Ministry” is referred to under the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act. These are some of the issues where it simply is just a change of wording to tidy it up and make it more applicable in the year 2012. 
This is a sensible move. We in New Zealand First have said that we will support Government policy where it is good policy. We believe in the case of these two reform bills that they are sensible and that they will have a positive effect in terms of some savings for different industries companies and sectors and also in terms of some of the companies friendly societies credit unions and various other organisations. It does make sense. 
Can I just say that it is however disappointing that it has taken so long. In the case of many of these Acts perhaps this should have been addressed decades ago not in the year 2012. Hopefully this House will move in the same direction to amend or repeal other Acts that are no longer applicable in 2012 to make New Zealand a much more competitive place. If we are going to compete in the world markets as a global player and if we are going to compete with our trading partners around the world we do have to be competitive in all respects and regulation is one area that can hamper us and can hold us back. I believe that the more that all members in this House can work towards improving the legislation that this House provides and also updating past legislation that may not be up to modern-day requirements the better. So New Zealand First will support both of these bills. Thank you.