English Bill: New Zealand Productivity Commission Bill — First Reading 
English Bill: New Zealand Productivity Commission Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:665;Page:12631] 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 I move  
That the New Zealand Productivity Commission Bill be now read a first time. 
 This legislation is another step in the Government’s active programme to lift New Zealand’s economic performance in both the public and the private sector. In the long run productivity is the biggest determinant in wages and living standards of New Zealanders. 
At the appropriate time I intend to move that the New Zealand Productivity Commission Bill be referred to the Commerce Committee that the committee report finally to the House on or before 22 November 2010 and that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 187 and 190(1)(b) and (c). 
The New Zealand Productivity Commission Bill is designed to establish a New Zealand Productivity Commission that will have a very broad mandate to investigate productivity-related matters in order to lift the overall well-being of New Zealanders. The commission’s role and functions are modelled closely on the Australian Productivity Commission which has an impressive track record in providing high-quality public policy advice. 
The Productivity Commission will have three key functions on referral from responsible Ministers. Firstly it will conduct inquiries into productivity-related matters. Secondly it will conduct one-off reviews of existing regulatory regimes and agencies and this process will include reviewing their efficiency and effectiveness. Thirdly it will undertake regulatory impact analyses of specific regulatory proposals. 
The terms of reference provided by responsible Ministers will provide the details of work to be undertaken and all will be made publicly available. These terms of reference will cover the scope of the inquiry the due date of the commission’s final report and consultation requirements. The last point is that there will be a general expectation that the commission will consult widely with stakeholders. 
Productivity has a broad definition that includes any productivity-related matters in the whole economy in both the private and the public sectors. This will enable the commission to investigate a range greater than its Australian counterpart. To give a few examples the commission would be able to investigate issues as diverse as disability care and support or the contribution of the not-for-profit sector in the same way that the Australian productivity commissioners looked into these topics. In addition to its inquiry functions the Productivity Commission will be able to on its own initiative undertake and publish research about productivity matters in order to develop its own knowledge and to assist its operations it will also be able to promote public understanding of productivity-related matters. 
The New Zealand Productivity Commission will be able to undertake joint inquiries in research with overseas agencies such as its Australian counterpart. It makes sense for the two commissions to cooperate given the Government’s strong commitment to a single economic market between New Zealand and Australia. We also expect strong informal links to develop between the two commissions. The commission will be an independent Crown entity similar to the Law Commission and the Commerce Commission. This will allow important policy issues to be examined at arm’s length from the Government of the day. It will have three to four part-time commissioners and it is expected to have approximately 21 full-time staff to support them. To give effect to its independence the commission will be able to determine its own procedures for its statutory functions and have access to statistical information like other Government departments under the Statistics Act. To ensure transparency the commission’s work programme will be publicly available and the commission’s reports must be tabled in the House of Representatives as soon as practicable after they are received by the responsible Minister. 
Once fully operational the commission will have an annual budget of approximately $5 million by 2012-13. No additional Crown funding will be needed to fund the commission as funding will be sourced from existing budgets of 29 Government agencies. 
The establishment of the Productivity Commission is a concrete step that the Government can take to help to lift the living standards of New Zealanders. In introducing this bill I acknowledge the contribution of my ministerial colleague the Hon Rodney Hide and his particular focus on this issue. I also acknowledge the contribution of the Labour Opposition in particular Lianne Dalziel who in her capacity as a Minister in the previous Labour Government did quite a bit of hard work in respect of improving a regulatory reform process. 
We see this Productivity Commission as an additional tool available in the service of public policy to help to lift the level of debate around what are increasingly complex issues. The days when it was possible for politicians to say that the answer was always to deregulate are over and many of the regulatory issues impinging on productivity that are dealt with now are quite complex. So this commission is intended to create a higher level of debate and an institution that is at arm’s length from the daily political hurly-burly of Government. In that respect I commend the New Zealand Productivity Commission Bill to the House.