Kuriger Barbara: Land Transfer Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKuriger Barbara: Land Transfer Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 15 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9697. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): It is a pleasure to take a call on the Land Transfer Bill’s first reading. I really do want to note that the last speaker David Parker spoke of it being clearly housekeeping law which is really quite contradictory to some of the conspiracy theories that we have heard earlier in the day from members of his own party. It seems to me like they are using a very simple piece of process legislation to try to beat up on the Government around the dairy industry. The words that I did just hear from the previous speaker about the dairy industry being bust—well actually the dairy industry is having a hard time but it is definitely not bust.In terms of this bill let us not try to make a crisis out of process. There are three pieces of legislation the Land Transfer Act 1952 the Land Transfer Amendment Act 1963 and then a very long-named one the Land Transfer (Computer Registers and Electronic Lodgement) Amendment Act 2002. This bill is bringing them all together and it is trying to actually make something quite simple out of three pieces of legislation that are currently difficult to tie together.The Land Transfer Act is over 60 years old and some provisions as others have said date back over 100 years. Much of the language is archaic it is complex and it is difficult to understand. It is focused on paper-based transactions and we all know that we are not using paper for many things any more—although the paperless office seems to be more of a dream than a reality for many people. But it is at odds with modern reality and the legislative framework is really difficult to navigate for property owners. It is really important that they are able to navigate it in a very simple way so I really support that this piece of legislation is going to help do that.It is important in this piece of legislation also that limited judicial discretion has been included. In the current legislation an owner who is an innocent victim of third-party fraud can lose their home to a registered purchaser. So if an outcome—under the new planned legislation—would be manifestly unjust the court would have the power to order ownership to be restored to the previous registered owner. Another measure aimed at improving security of property rights and addressing mortgage fraud is the new requirement for financial institutions to take reasonable steps to verify the identity of customers taking out mortgages. It is really hard to believe that this currently does not happen or is not a legal requirement—I guess it happens most of the time but legally it should be happening and that is absolutely the right way to go.I would like to note that at this point no stakeholder groups in the process of bringing this piece of legislation to the House have opposed it. Land Information New Zealand has extensively consulted the New Zealand Law Society the Auckland District Law Society the New Zealand Bankers’ Association and the Financial Services Federation and they have all supported bringing this good piece of legislation to the House. Thank you.