Salesa Jenny: Third Readings —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSalesa Jenny: Third Readings —[Sitting date: 24 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2511. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JENNY SALESA (Labour—Manukau East): I am honoured to take a call today on these bills arising from the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4). I would like first of all to acknowledge all of our parliamentary colleagues who have worked on this legislation and in particular the chair of the Government Administration Committee the Hon Ruth Dyson for all of her work and for all of the work of her committee. This Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) has been proposed because it amends 34 other pieces of legislation. Its purpose is to fix previous mistakes. We acknowledge the need to fix and update legislation that is out of date as well as the need to bring legislation into line with other laws and at the same time fix any technical problems it may have. The Labour Party supports the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) including all of the amendments contained in it.As a new MP this is my first time making a statement on an omnibus bill. One of the things I have to learn is how to pronounce that term properly—“omnibus”. I just found out as part of reading and researching this bill and as is covered in our Standing Orders that this is one of the very few pieces of legislation that every single member of Parliament has to agree on before it progresses any further. I agree with this legislation so I will not be that one member today who disagrees with it. But for me as a new member it is fascinating to learn that there is a bill that every single member must agree with. It is also very pleasing as a new MP to find out that there are certain pieces of legislation like this one where we come together as representatives of our electorates—those who have been elected by the people of Aotearoa New Zealand—and find out that we can indeed work together. We can indeed work alongside each other to come to an agreement on amending 34 different Acts. I find it very very pleasing that we can actually work together on something like this.One of the changes that I want to cover and it is not one that has been covered by many of the other speakers previously is the change proposed in what was Part 31 of the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) that will amend the Tokelau (Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone) Act 1977. Amending that Act is very important to the people of Tokelau one of our neighbouring Pacific countries. Indeed it is important because they are a realm country so every Tokelauan person is a New Zealand citizen. Tokelau and some of our other Pacific neighbours do not have very many natural resources. The fisheries in the vast Pacific Ocean are one of those resources so may I state that it is incumbent on Aotearoa New Zealand to ensure that we get this right for the people of Tokelau.I would also like to quote from Part 31 of this legislation where it relates to penalties that are currently applicable to fisheries offences in Tokelau. These penalties have not been amended since 1977 and they are out of step with the penalties in the New Zealand legislation. In contrast the penalties that are applicable to fisheries breaches in the New Zealand exclusive economic zone have been amended several times since the 1970s. I would also like to say that the Government of Tokelau has approved the amendments that are proposed in this legislation. Clause 107 of Part 31 amends the maximum penalty in section 6 of the Act for foreign fishing craft fishing in the territorial sea of Tokelau from $100000 to $250000 and in the case of an unlicensed foreign fishing craft clause 108 amends the maximum penalty in section 8 of the Act from $100000 to $500000. It is my sincere hope that if and when any of these clauses are breached these fines are imposed to discourage illegal fishing in the territorial waters of Tokelau.One of the other changes discussed at the select committee concerns Official Information Act requests. This is important especially to members of the public who lodge Official Information Act information requests. At the select committee one of the amendments proposed would have made it possible for those who are not accustomed to writing or handling formal requests to have their Official Information Act applications made orally. The committee has allowed this but it is possible however on the condition that people do so only when it is necessary to clarify their request. Part 17 of the legislation also removes section 2(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 in clause 49 and section 7 in clause 51. In Part 23 which amends the Official Information Act 1982 it amends section 2 in clause 70 and section 9 in clause 71.This is non-controversial legislation. We fully support all of the amendments that the bills divided from the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) propose. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.Bills read a third time.