Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 11 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:12011. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National):First of all I would like to reiterate that National will be voting for the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Amendment Bill. I acknowledge the contribution made by Raymond Huo who was on the Government Administration Committee for this business.Raymond Huo: I was.KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: Yes you were there. I am acknowledging that you were there. I am acknowledging that to the House.The primary objective of this bill is to legislate to ensure the protection of public safety and most important for reassurance that when you call a plumber or a gasfitter to your property you can expect a qualified skilful and professional job to be done. This bill tidies up the legislation around the funding of the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board so that it can effectively do its job of protecting public safety.The bill validates the board’s disciplinary levy which funded the investigation and the prosecution of plumbers gasfitters and drainlayers. The bill tackles anomalies of the funding of this and tidies up any irregularities around the funding of the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board so it can effectively carry out its job of safeguarding the public and impose the offences fee for the prosecution of people working illegally. The board is funded entirely from the fees and levies charged under this legislation. The funds are collected from only people who are registered under the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act. One such levy is the disciplinary levy which is set out by the board to fund the cost of complaint and disciplinary actions against such people. There is also the offences fee which the board collects in order to fund prosecution against non-registered persons working illegally in the industry.The validity of the disciplinary levy and the offences fee has been the subject of complaint to the Regulations Review Committee and to the Office of the Ombudsmen. The board was established under the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 1976 and it has continued to exist under the current Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 2006. The board is responsible for protecting the health and safety of people by regulating and ensuring the competency of the people carrying out sanitary plumbing gasfitting and drainlaying work. One function of the board is to prosecute those who are working illegally in the industry—non-registered persons performing work that only registered persons are allowed to do.The Government is determined to bring about safety measures throughout the building sector and improve skills and capability within it—to “build it right first time”. As a result of the Regulations Review Committee’s recommendation that the House review the disciplinary levy imposed by the board from July 2010 to January 2012 the board changed its fee and levy structure removing the part of the levy relating to non-registered persons and in January 2012 it set an offence fee to fund prosecution instead. This would affect the safety and the well-being of New Zealanders and the professional reputation of the sector. It is clear that the Government’s intention was always that the board’s prosecution function would be funded by the industry because all its statutory functions are funded through these fees and levies charged under the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 2006. I commend this bill to the House.