Sharples Pita: Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3) — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSharples Pita: Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3) — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 October 2007. Volume:642;Page:12325. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Māori Party): There are two remarkable points of relevance to this debate on the Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3) that the Government motion No. 1 debate brought to our attention. The first is to acknowledge the debt the House owes to David McGee and tohis excellent service as the Clerk of the House for some 22 years. As part of that service he has defined the value of bills such as this Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3).In the third edition ofParliamentary Practice in New Zealand on page 410 he describes the need for such bills as being purely and simply about confirming regulations that might otherwise lapse. These lapsed regulations are commonly brought together in a single piece of legislation—a regular baker’s dozen of bits and pieces.True to form in this one bill as has been said already we have the vital order to ensure that passengers can import duty-free into New Zealand three 1125 millilitre bottles of spirits instead of one alongside commodity levies orders for apples pears fish southern scallops vegetables fruits avocados mussels oysters and salmon. Indeed if we took all these requisite components apart we are faced with a virtualhākari of regulation—a feast of provisions—that we are encouraged to accord the greatest priority to.The second tasty morsel that arose from the Government motion No. 1 debate was the vexed issue of the speed of lawmaking. David McGee has evidence of a dramatic reduction in the number of minutes allocated to passing each single page of legislation identifying that the total of 12.3 minutes per page awarded in the 2002-05 Parliament was the lowest amount of time recorded over the previous 50 years. I am aware that the defence for this speed will be to attribute it to the quality work that occurs in the select committees. Having experienced partisan select committee behaviour I have my doubts.As we come to debate this riveting piece of regulatory readjustment I also raise the issue of the unseemly haste in the placing of items on the House programme at this point in time. It would not have gone unnoticed that the Order Paper has been completely reshuffled overnight. Although yesterday’s top 10 items included just one first reading of a bill the Protected Disclosures Amendment Bill suddenly today’s top 10 includes a whopping seven first readings. Where did they all come from—and why the sudden placement of priority on the Order Paper?I wonder whether the combination of Treaty settlement legislation and the political numbers has anything to do with these sudden overnight changes. Funnily enough the TeRoroa Claims Settlement Bill which yesterday was No. 7 on the Order Paper dropped 12 places overnight down to No. 19.For those members who burn the midnight oil or set the alarm to watch the breaking news of prime television onTeKarere it would also have been noted that there is growing speculation that the Government lacks the numbers to pass controversial settlement legislation for either the TeRōroa or Te Arawa affiliate groups. The legislation is controversial because the settlements are wrong. The behaviour by the Government in respect of these two bills is about winning. It is not about justice. It is not about fairness. It is not about doing what is right. It is about winning at all costs.I raise these matters in the context of our deliberations on the Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3) because I think it is critical that members maintain a watchful eye on the checks and balances against stacking the parliamentary agenda. This is not to say that there are not crucial matters to be dealt to in the context of this current bill but more to make the statement about how priorities are determined and agendas set.One of the significant issues that concerns us in this bill pertains to the War Pensions (Rates of Pensions Lump Sum Payments and Allowances) Order. The bill validates and confirms the war pensions regulations set out in the 2007 order. The House will recall one of the last acts of courage demonstrated by the late ArchbishopWhakahuihuiVercoe who made a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal in support ofMāori Viet Namveterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange. The claim was presented by the Vietnam Veterans Action Group representing about 2000Māori Viet Nam veterans and their families.The claim estimates that 65 percent of those New Zealanders serving in Viet Nam wereMāori. Veterans have spoken repeatedly of their concern that the current system of compensation does not give justice to veterans. On 21 August Viet Nam veterans marched on Parliament grounds in protest against what they described as “the Crown’s consistent and despicable rejection of Viet Nam veterans’ health and welfare concerns.”Pita Paraone: What part is this?Dr PITA SHARPLES: The member should read it. We would hope that the honour of the late archbishop and these Viet Nam veterans might be respected enough in subsequent stages of this bill to address the discriminatory impact of the differences in pension payment and compensation available for Viet Nam veterans as opposed to other injured soldiers.Another issue in which discrimination appears to be manifest is the Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order. Although the intention of the bill is to increase the rate of New Zealand superannuation to 66 percent of the net average wage we have to bring to the table again the following questions. What about the other benefits? What about the 250000 children who are discriminated against by virtue of the fact that their parents are on income support and therefore restricted in the levels of support available from Working for Families? What about the levels of deprivation that continue to be experienced by our most vulnerable: the poorer poor?As we think of those who are currently facing the highest levels of deprivation one cannot help but think of the adverse impacts that gambling has on the lower socio-economic communities. The Gambling (Problem Gaming Levy) Regulations 2007 deal with the concept of building capacity to deliver the strategy on problem gambling. We in theMāori Party are completely in support of any initiatives that seek to eliminate gambling harm. We know that the accessibility of machines in low-income communities increases the risk of those living locally having a problem with gambling. We are also aware that for every dollar that a community group receives as a community grant through pokie machines $3 has been taken.Gambling creates an enormous strain on community resources and bumping up the levy to fund a problem-gambling strategy must not be seen as the be-all and end-all. As a starter we are interested in proposals for legislative change to the Gambling Act 2003 that would giveMāori a clear role in deciding the place of gambling in Aotearoa and would also empower communities to have the authority if they wish to remove gambling venues and pokie machines.Another of the proposals lumped into the Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 3) is a set of schedule changes associated with freshwater eel stocks Otago cocklespāua fisheries and other items included within the total allowable commercial catch. We simply make the statement that with such amendments to the Fisheries Act consultation and negotiation over the finer print must proceed with mana whenua—theMāori fishing industry—as key players in the sector.We of course support the bill. We support the opportunity for the detail of legislation as included in this bill to come before the scrutiny of Parliament. We support this bill at its first reading but we will also continue to ask why some bills are slipping down down down the Order Paper with the risk that they may never see the light of day. Thank you.