1. Question No. 1—RegulationMARK CAMERON (ACT) to the Minister for RegulationQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Regulation1. MARK CAMERON (ACT) to the Minister for Regulation: What initiative if any is the Ministry for Regulation working on to improve the quality of regulations in New Zealand?Hon DAVID SEYMOUR (Minister for Regulation): Thank you. The Government can really do three things. One is to spend the other is to own things and the final thing is to regulate all the property it hasn't already taxed and doesn't own. The Government has a Minister and Ministry for Regulation to improve that third area that is adding costs to things that people do making people forego opportunities because it costs too much to get through regulation and deadening our culture as people who try get beaten down by excessive red tape. In response to this the Ministry for Regulation is working in three areas: carrying out sector reviews on the stock of existing regulation preparing a revised regulatory standards bill to uphold standards for new regulatory initiatives and also improving the culture and workforce of regulatory agencies so that those who apply rules to people in their workplaces are better equipped to help them rather than hinder them go to work and get home safely.Mark Cameron: What initiatives has the Minister announced to improve the quality of regulation in the agricultural and horticultural sector?Hon DAVID SEYMOUR: The agricultural and horticultural products regulatory review will identify opportunities where farmers and growers could have improved access to new agricultural and horticultural products in a timely manner while also maintaining an appropriate balance between access to these products and managing risk. We think of ourselves as the leading-edge agricultural and horticultural nation in the world and it was a great shock to me to realise that often New Zealand farmers and horticulturalists find themselves without products that their competitors overseas are accessing simply because the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Environmental Protection Authority can take years to approve products that would be helpful for them raising their productivity.Mark Cameron: What initiatives has the Minister announced to improve the quality of regulation in early childhood education (ECE)?Hon DAVID SEYMOUR: I recall prior to becoming a Minister attending a meeting of over 500 ECE operators completely beside themselves with the level of red tape and regulation that often subjects them to absurdities takes up their time and prevents them from doing the real work of helping the youngest New Zealanders learn and grow into confident and competent citizens. As a result the Ministry for Regulation has been out and about talking to people in the sector hearing about the regulatory roadblocks and red tape they face as they try to rear the next generation of confident and inquisitive New Zealanders. They will soon be reporting a set of initiatives to slash that red tape so people can get on to the very important job of running early childhood education centres that young people are happy to go to who learn and where their parents can be confident that they're safe and well looked after.Mark Cameron: How will the regulatory standards bill improve the quality of new regulations?Hon DAVID SEYMOUR: Well in days gone by in this Parliament you would see spending and money printing completely out of control in a sort of politicised wild west of fiscal and monetary policy. Since then the Public Finance Act and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act have led to some certainty and some consistency in the way that the Government spends and the Reserve Bank operates. We have no such statutory base for the way that the Government regulates people's private property and its use and exchange. The regulatory standards bill will ensure that when Governments regulate they identify what problem we're trying to solve what the costs of a solution are if they are they less than the benefits who wins and who loses and if private property rights are impaired. That kind of standard will be a major improvement not just to laws made today but for New Zealand's long-term future as a regulator.