edithatogo/nz-hansard-corpus huggingface dataset:
2. Question No. 2—Prime MinisterCHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 2—Prime Minister2. CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he have confidence in all of his Ministers?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Prime Minister): Yes.Christopher Luxon: Why did Michael Wood fail to disclose his ownership of shares in Auckland Airport despite being responsible for major decisions impacting the airport?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: My understanding is he did disclose it to the Cabinet Office—in fact the Cabinet Office have verified that to me. In terms of whether it was disclosed in the register for pecuniary interests that's not a matter for me as Prime Minister.Christopher Luxon: When did Michael Wood first disclose his shares in Auckland Airport to the Cabinet Office?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: My understanding was when he became a Minister.Christopher Luxon: Why doesn't Michael Wood's ownership of Auckland Airport shares therefore appear on the Cabinet Office's register of ministerial conflicts of interest?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I've indicated that was declared to the Cabinet Office. The Minister indicated to the Cabinet Office at the time that he was in the process of disposing of the shares.Christopher Luxon: Has Michael Wood been involved in any Government decisions with potential financial implications for Auckland Airport?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: In the broad conversations that I've had with Michael Wood we have not identified any issues that that would be relevant to. Christopher Luxon: Why didn't he stand Michael Wood down as Minister of Transport as soon as he was informed last week that he had failed to disclose his shares in Auckland Airport?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Because I believe in natural justice.Christopher Luxon: What new information has he therefore received between Friday when he was first informed about Michael Wood's shares in Auckland Airport and today when he finally stood him down?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I've had the opportunity to meet with him and have a conversation about that. I do believe in a process of natural justice.Christopher Luxon: Why is Michael Wood still the Minister for Auckland when Auckland Council is actively considering the sale of its shares in Auckland Airport?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As Minister for Auckland Michael Wood will have no role in those conversations.Christopher Luxon: Why does he always wait for his Ministers to be caught out publicly before he reluctantly takes action?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I completely reject that.
Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Bill — Third Reading
White Helen; Dean JacquiHELEN WHITE (Labour): I just want to give one example as a contribution to this debate as to a business that might be affected. Take a small building enterprise. They're actually probably riskier than the big ones in a lot of ways. People are closer to the action. They don't necessarily have someone to turn to in that situation who is apart from the situation because it might be the owner who is working alongside them and so it is really important that they are able to go through such a process. And all it does—all it does—is make this business safer and that's good for productivity and it's good for the health and the welfare of everyone in that business and the business itself. That is where we should be landing in New Zealand. We need a culture change which involves workers in growing a healthy New Zealand economy and this is going to help do that. It isn't the biggest thing in the world but it is a good thing. I'm proud of being part of a Government that brought in this change. I commend the bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Members this debate is interrupted and set down for resumption next sitting day. The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. tomorrow.The House adjourned at 9.58 p.m.
Boyack RachelRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Thank you Madam Speaker. I just want to take a short call on this important bill and begin by coming back to some first principles. There are two that I want to mention in particular. The first is around the Employment Relations Act which stipulates very clearly the inherent inequality that exists between employer and employees. That is at the heart of this bill in terms of ensuring that workers have a voice and that that inherent inequality is addressed.The second principle I want to just note is that those of us who have studied accounting at university as I have will know that part of doing business you have two parts of your ledger: there's revenue and there's cost. And there are costs that are part of doing business. And people on the other side tonight have talked about the cost of this bill. Expenses are fundamental parts of doing business. On this side of the House the Labour Government believes that paying the cost of ensuring that workers are safe at work so that inherent inequality is addressed and so that workers can go home safely to their families at the end of the night is an important principle that we proudly stand by.Part of my study at university was also in employment relations. And one of the particular pieces of research that is very well understood by those of us who've worked in health and safety as I have is that if you have proper robust worker participation schemes operating within your business it does actually lead to a lower number of incidents a lower number of injuries and a lower number of deaths. The Labour Government's commitment to the working people of New Zealand is that we want less people injured at work. This bill will help with that will help address New Zealand's lax approach to health and safety and I commend it to the House.
Sosene Lemauga Lydia; Dean JacquiLEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour): It gives me great pleasure to take a short call on this bill the Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Bill. As we have heard from other speakers the current legislation limits worker access to health and safety representatives and that support especially receiving education from a health and safety representative or a committee member especially if the employer has 20 or less workers. Because currently as we've heard a business does not have to initiate elections for that education from a health and safety representative. This bill fixes that with this small change. It would remove the thresholds so that all businesses are required to hold elections if requested by workers. There are a number of colleagues that I have known—one in particular—who has lost their life in a workplace situation because as a Pacific Islander they were too whakamā they were too embarrassed to talk about their personal situation.This bill as we've heard in the first reading and the second reading the objective of this bill is to contribute to improved health and safety outcomes in all New Zealand workplaces—specifically to reduce that work-related harm. I was not a member of the committee at the time but now I am a member of the Education and Workforce Committee. I'm very pleased to be a member and to see this legislation go through the third reading.As we have heard in the current legislation a person conducting a business or undertaking aka a PCBU can make a decision not to have an election so it takes that right away from current workers in the workplace. So New Zealand has fatalities—it's just too high in the workplace. We need specific abilities to ensure that health and safety measures are in place and that the members of the public the members in workplaces specifically under 20 workers this change will enable and protect our workers giving them that ability to make that request. It is important that the fundamental of improving worker representation and participation to reduce work-related harm will go through tonight. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): I call Chris Penk—five-minute call.
Omer IbrahimIBRAHIM OMER (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to speak on the Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Bill. This is yet another commitment another delivery from the Labour Government in protecting New Zealand workers. It's not a secret that New Zealand has one of the highest rates of workplace harm—every day we see in the media workers dying workers being severely injured. This is something that can be easily avoided by putting legislation like this in place but unfortunately the Opposition over there keep failing to see the simple things because all it takes is to just go out and talk to these workers and they will tell you everything you need to know. Since bringing in WorkSafe as a regulator things have improved but we still have the high rate of workplace injuries compared to other like-minded countries. And this could again easily be avoided by just legislating and putting something like this in place. We are a world-class country we are a First World country effectively but some of the legislation that we have is not fit for purpose and this is one of them. Whether you work in a workplace that employs less than 20 or more than 20 it doesn't matter—it's all human life and they all matter equally and they all have a right to go to work and come back their whānau to their families safe. This legislation is just going to help to do that. It's good legislation; it's a good bill. I commend it to the House.
Belich CamillaCAMILLA BELICH (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to take a call on the Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Bill. This is an excellent piece of legislation and I'll tell you why: because it makes New Zealand workplaces safer. Be they big workplaces or small workplaces you will be able to have a health and safety rep after this piece of legislation is passed tonight.We've heard a few comments from the other side about the value of this legislation about the cost of this legislation to businesses. I would ask I proffer the question: what is the cost of going to work and coming home safely? What is the cost to an individual of being safe at work? I would say that that's worth a lot.When you survey small businesses they constantly say that the most valuable thing in their entire business is there workforce. This is what this bill protects: it protects their workforce.Why would a health and safety representative be requested in a workforce? The reason that one person would request it is because they have a concern about health and safety. I say to them: good on you. Thank you for putting your hand up to be a health and safety representative. Thank you for taking that step to making our workplaces safer. The National Party doesn't care about your individual concern but we in the Labour Party do. That's why we're passing this excellent piece of legislation in order to look after you and your health and safety.Just a point on Pike River: the National Party will know because they passed the primary piece of legislation that the Health and Safety at Work Act is based on a fundamental principle of a PCBU—or a person conducting a business or undertaking. At Pike River there were many many PCBUs. Different contractors big ones small ones lots of different ones. I don't know if all of those would have been over 20 people and I can guarantee you that those on the other side wouldn't know either. This means that every single business or person undertaking work at a place like Pike River could have a health and safety representative.I think that's worth something. This Government will stand up for every single worker whether they're a big workplace or a small workplace to make sure that they stay safe.
Lorck AnnaANNA LORCK (Labour—Tukituki): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise to take the final call on the second reading of the Deposit Takers Bill. The purpose of this debate is to talk through what happened at select committee.One of the most important things that happens in select committee is when we hear from the little guys from those that don't have the big voice like we have from the big banks that are you know Australian-owned; so to have under this process the opportunity for credit unions from across the country to come and talk to us about what they saw were the challenges in this bill where they felt they didn't have the capacity to cope with the large amount of regulation and also for those customers who want to have the access and diversity of banking.So in reporting this back to the House it is important to acknowledge the work that they've done to help us form the next stage of this bill. Through that we have put in a proportionality clause that will have the framework that will be worked through in consultation. Then what is even better that consultation work the proposed framework will come back to the select committee in the next Government and have the opportunity through the Finance and Expenditure Committee to be reviewed. I think that that is something that we can say thank you to the little guys thank you to the credit unions as something that as a select committee we listened to. With that I commend this bill to the House.
White HelenHELEN WHITE (Labour): It's a pleasure to talk on this bill because I feel that it's a bill where as a select committee a difference was made and I think it's a difference which aligns with the values of this Government. This is a bill that's about securing the financial system in a way that has been—it's a device that was used in America in 1933. It's long been a feature of other jurisdictions that we guarantee deposits like this to stop runs on banks and it is one that is funded by levies from those banks. But what we didn't want to see happen here—and it is what we listened to submitters about—was the upending of our smaller cooperatives and our building societies etc. I belong to one of those and I belong to it because the profit comes back to me. It's a cooperative and I'm very proud of belonging to it. I really wanted to see those littler competitors to the big Australian banks come through and thrive and they have a much lower risk rate than the big banks do. We have built into this law principles of proportionality which means that when the Reserve Bank is setting the framework it will consider the plight of those banks and the need for it because those banks really give access to a lot of people in our society who otherwise wouldn't have as much access as they are given. So I'm really proud of that particular addition because I think that speaks to a value that is growing in our society—that kind of value of access and the need to do that—but I think it also speaks to the big banks about our support for the little alternatives. I commend this bill to the House.
Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour—Hamilton East): Madam Speaker thanks for the opportunity to take a brief call on the Deposit Takers Bill. I'd also like to pick up where the member Sam Uffindell left off and give my generous praise as well to the Finance and Expenditure Committee. I was a member of the committee in the last term and I'm sadly not in this term. You won't have the pleasure of my company in this term but I'd like to acknowledge all those members. I'd like to acknowledge the Minister of Finance for bringing this bill to the House and also the submitters. It's an important process we have here in terms of our democracy. The committee received written submissions from 32 stakeholders—I'd like to acknowledge and thank those stakeholders—and heard oral evidence from 12 of those during its hearings.As we've heard before from previous speakers at the heart of this bill is financial stability and the fact that financial stability is a public good. It's a very important part of our country and particularly our economy. If we want to continue to have investment here in New Zealand it's important that we do have financial stability and the Government has a role to play in that. Particularly as a small economy it's certainly vital that the Government sort of steps in at times to make sure that that stability stays. The bill also clarifies the importance of separation between the Reserve Bank and the Government so ensuring that the Reserve Bank is at arm's length and not open to some of the politics that we see in this House. It's important that the Reserve Bank is separate. It's an important part of our democratic set-up here. I commend this bill to the House.
Rosewarne DanDAN ROSEWARNE (Labour): It's my pleasure to take a call on the Deposit Takers Bill. I just want to add another layer to what has already been said and not being from a legal or finance background I tend to look at this slightly differently.This bill is particularly important in the era of social media. Social media is now a new force in the banking crisis. You know we look at Facebook it began in 2004 and Twitter began in 2006 but they were not yet global and all-pervasive during the 2008-09 global financial crisis. Social media connections clearly fuelled the run on Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank earlier in the year.One thing in my mind as a member of Finance and Expenditure Committee is to understand how the likes of Credit Suisse private banking clients around the world got the message to flee. What if in the future a similar run starts on complete falsehoods about a solvent bank for example? It would be plausible for a Facebook flee scenario to play out here in New Zealand. One way that we can safeguard against this is to give consumers upfront confidence that their deposit takers are regulated and that the consumers' cash is safe. That's why there's a crisis management function to this bill.This bill will force the Reserve Bank to supervise more actively to prevent moral hazard and the temptation of deposit takers to take more risk than they would otherwise. This is a good bill. It providers a good handrail for our deposit takers and also our consumers as well. So I commend this bill to the House.
Clark DavidHon Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin): Thank you Mr Speaker. On this side of the House we are supporting the bill for some of the reasons outlined by the previous speaker Nicola Willis. Ultimately financial stability is a public good that supports the prosperity and wellbeing of New Zealanders. Financial stability is something that is critical to a central banking regime. This is a long-identified gap in the system and I want to thank those members of the Finance and Expenditure Committee from across the House who turned up regularly to these hearings for the contributions that they made because I think it was a really good select committee process—at least the parts that I was privy to. And particularly Andrew Bayly I want to acknowledge on the other side for the work that he did in making sure this was a better bill and Ingrid Leary as chair along with her predecessor from Dunedin Rachel Brooking. In fact there were four members from Dunedin on the committee at one point—not half the committee in numbers but certainly spiritually and morally at least half of the committee—driving forward this excellent piece of legislation.I do want to quickly touch on what the previous member spent three of her first five minutes talking about which was the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act just to correct a couple of anomalies. DEPUTY SPEAKER: No you won't Mr Clark. Having now pointed out the error of the previous speaker you will stick to the bill.Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: I won't point out the anomalies then Mr Speaker—DEPUTY SPEAKER: No you won't. You will stick to the bill.Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: I will say that we support this bill. It is a bill that will make a real difference in addressing a gap in legislation. We have a low proportion of New Zealanders who are non-banked and that's the way we want to keep it. We want New Zealanders to be confident in their banking. We want a banking system which supports the welfare and wellbeing of New Zealanders. We want adequate Reserve Bank supervision to remove moral hazard and the kinds of changes proposed in the proportionality framework which are there to ensure that we have a wide range of banking services available including those that are more approachable for those who might not traditionally access banking services.An excellent process. Thank you to those who submitted and thank you to the committee. I believe this is a better bill as a result of the process and I also want to credit our finance Minister the Hon Grant Robertson for the tremendous work he has done across these three pieces of legislation. The banking system will be a better one at the end of it and a good deal of that is due to his consistent endeavour in this area. I commend this bill to the House.
Leary IngridINGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri): At the heart of this bill is stability as we've seen after the bank Credit Suisse experience overseas but also the confidence that that provides to consumers. That's very clear in the purpose but I just want to pick up on the point around inclusion which is something the committee took very seriously.We started off by hiring an independent adviser with a specialty in financial inclusion Vijay Kumar and I really want to thank him for his input into our thinking. When we looked at financial inclusion it's quite a vague term but we were able to dissect it and come up with elements that lead to inclusion including access and diversity.As the Minister mentioned there are two elements to the diversity that we've imbedded with our recommendations. One is around diversity of deposit-taking provider or bank; the other is around the diversity of the clientele and of access for all New Zealanders. These are indeed really important principles particularly on this side of the House where we appreciate that different people have different needs at different times.The second thing really that I wanted to speak about was the proportionality—which again has been alluded to by the member opposite Andrew Bayly—taking into account governance capital and liquidity and so on. I would like to say that the Reserve Bank is the one that will be creating that proportionality framework. We were really mindful that the Reserve Bank were also the advisers to the bill. We wanted to see some accountability we tossed this around and we have recommended very strongly in the commentary that we would like to see the Reserve Bank come back to brief the committee of a future Parliament before that framework is finalised.Now that's something that I cannot stress enough and it's something that we as a committee took very seriously and we expect to happen. If the proportionality is not as we expect it to be then we would like to be able to have some oversight of that or have a future committee do that to ensure that the proportionality that will make this bill workable will not have a chilling effect on the sector when it comes into play. I am really wanting to put that on the Hansard to ensure that the Reserve Bank does come back and report back prior to the finalisation of that proportionality framework.Otherwise it's fantastic to be working in such a collegial committee. It's a great bill and I commend it.
Allan Kiritapu; O'Connor GregInstruction to the Justice CommitteeHon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Justice): Point of order Mr Speaker. I move That the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill be reported to the House by 11 July 2023 and that the committee have 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 and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 193 195 and 196.DEPUTY SPEAKER: There's no requirement for a point of order Minister. The question is that the motion be agreed.Motion agreed to.
Kanongata'a AnahilaANAHILA KANONGATA'A (Labour): Thank you e te Mana Whakawā. It's my honour to score the final try the winning try on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill. I just want to acknowledge the last speaker Ian McKelvie. You should have given him a penalty Mr Speaker for comparing rugby to racing. But anyway you didn't do that. I'm taking a short call on this because I know if I go over time the whip's definitely going to give me a drop kick. Anyway this basically means that the Rugby World Cup 2023 when it kicks off in France—and I just want to take us to the Tongan game because I'm not biased by anything not biased at all so when Tonga plays Ireland on 16 September at 7 in the morning it means retailers can open up at 5 in the morning you know to welcome all the Tongans and all their flags into the pub. And we will be there until we win the game against Ireland and half an hour after the final whistle—we'll be there. So that's what this bill really means. And I want to actually take us to 6 October; that will be Tonga versus South Africa at 8 a.m. It means pubs can open up at 6 a.m. to welcome the Tongans to you know look at that final winning try by the Tongans. Last but not least it means that on election day—the first quarter-final is on election day 14 October the first game's at 8 in the morning. It means that publicans can open at 6 a.m. to welcome people in on election day before they cast their vote. Anyway I don't want to go over time. What we want in this bill is that we want the line-outs on the field not the line-up at the police station. And I commend this bill to the House. Malo.
Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's my pleasure to also take a short call on this bill the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill. First of all it would be remiss of me not to congratulate our local Ruahei Demant who is a former Mahurangi College student for receiving the New Zealand Order of Merit in the recent King's Birthday Honours round for her services to rugby. Most recently of course she co-captained the Black Ferns to win the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2022. My congratulations on the record for that.This particular piece of legislation is very straightforward as has been mentioned before. It basically fixes something that was previously fixed in 2015 and 2019 so that licensed premises can stay open during the Rugby World Cup matches later this year when they kick off in France in September. I do acknowledge some of the hesitation that has been mentioned by the Green speaker previously Chlöe Swarbrick but for people to come together and enjoy a game sitting in front of a big screen and having that facilitated in a very confined temporary measure is I think a good thing. I commend this bill to the House.
Coffey TāmatiTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): Let's not talk about airport shares. Let's not talk about fiscal holes. Let's talk about none of that stuff. We're here to talk about rugby. Can I just say that the purpose of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act is all about the management of intoxication of people. It's all about reducing the harm to society. This bill in that context is incredibly safe.Can I give a little bit of an acknowledgment to those on-licence holders out there spread all across the country that it is their daily business to run a bar to run a restaurant and alcohol is sold. Those people the ones that have to apply for their licence and have to maintain the conditions of their licence have to monitor intoxication they have to provide food they have to provide non-alcoholic beverages and they have to provide water on-site as well and that's exactly what's going to happen. Despite the fact that we are freeing up a bit of legislation those places that are going to apply to be able to view the game have punters come and watch the game at all hours of the night will be doing what they always do which is monitor the intoxication levels within the premises and also reduce the harm to society.I think it's a safe piece of legislation. We've put the belt and braces around it and it's good to hear that it's mostly supported around the House. I commend it.
Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. The National Party as has been said before supports this piece of legislation the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill. It is so good to be able to work at a bipartisan level on this issue and so often the House comes together to work together on these matters with the exception of the Greens who very much cleave to the principle that it's not good for you unless it hurts and that fun is to be discouraged. That's the approach they have and that's a pity but most New Zealanders I think hold to the view that it's nice to be able to celebrate the Rugby World Cup once every four years. It doesn't fit with the normal licensing requirements for bars—often the games are early in the morning—and so some flexibility is required.You could have a very large pile of applications for all sorts of special licences or what we've found in the past is that it's simpler to pass some legislation to deal with this issue. We support them in doing that and in doing so we stand here I'm sure all people in the House wishing our rugby players all the best in the competition that they'll do well and that they'll do this country proud. I don't feel like there's anything more that needs to be added here other than to say—Hon Member: Go another round!Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Well—no I won't say anything about shareholdings or anything like that; I'll just say in a moment of cross-party unity that we support this bill and we want to get on with it.
Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Good on Chlöe Swarbrick. That was a difficult speech to give after consensus and joyfulness had burst out in the House and we'd just given a round of speeches about how good rugby is. Is rugby good?Hon Members: Yes!ARENA WILLIAMS: Is getting together in the clubrooms good? Yes. And we support that all around this House. But that was a difficult speech to give because it is about balancing access to alcohol in those clubrooms in a sport we all love and in the community organisations that we all support in this House and so I commend her for what was a measured approach to her speech. I don't agree with her though; I think this a good bill because this is a bill which is pragmatic. It extends those powers that we have extended before to make sure that the game we love and the clubrooms that we love continue in the way that we love to enjoy it as New Zealanders.This bill extends those powers and it introduces some new controls that give police powers to make sure that those records are kept well and that we can continue to enjoy this in a way which is fun for everyone. That's how we should continue to make alcohol policy—we should continue to make it fun for everyone and be able to enjoy it in our communities so it's not harming people. This is a bill that does that that's why it's good. I commend it.
Allan Kiritapu; O'Connor GregHon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Justice): Point of order Mr Speaker. Thank you Mr Speaker. Look I didn't want to interrupt the member whilst she was in full flow but I just wish to correct the record. I said that the Government kicked the ball to touch but of course we didn't. It was a field goal with that three points getting us over the line to get to this point here—a mighty touchdown. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Minister for that enlightenment.
Henderson EmilyDr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei): Kia ora e te Māngai o te Whare. Now it is something that I really feel quite strongly about—we have had such a triumphant following for women's rugby. It has been truly tremendous and we all rallied around that. Therefore it is time. It is time that we supported the men's game as we have supported the women's game. It is time that we gave that sort of gender equity to it. Although we are unable to have the privilege of the games taking place in New Zealand we need to encourage people to follow the male game as we have done the women's game and therefore I do really support the changes in this legislation the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill.As previous speakers have said we have a template that has worked in the past and it is one that we are able to take and better. In particular we are making a few changes. We are enabling one hour open before the game begins; if you notify that the game is going to start within two hours of another game then you will be allowed to continue that on; you have to stop serving alcohol within 30 minutes after the game; and a few small amendments are going to make this work better. I really do however want to commend the Minister of Justice for taking this on because I know how important gender equity is to her and I really want to support her for supporting the men's game as we are now doing.As a child I played absolutely no rugby—in fact any game involving balls. By the time I was 15 I was in fact exempt from all physical education and was allowed to read a book on the sidelines. But that being so I acknowledge the need for diversity and for the encouragement of cultural activity. Therefore I commend this bill to the House.
O'Connor SimonSIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): Thank you Mr Speaker. Just acknowledging the last member's contribution Vanushi Walters to put on the record that it was Paul Foster-Bell actually—a fine National MP—who put through the bill which allowed what they called the gunfire breakfast" now on Anzac Day. So a bit of a shout out to Paul Foster-Bell and to continue to put his name into Hansard. As has already been said this side of the House the National Party supports this bill. I mean part of the reason and my own thinking is we've been here before. I think 2019 and 2015 we have passed pretty much the same if not near similar legislation. I think the Minister outlined the reasoning is sound. This is an exceptional law change for an exceptional event—and you can use the word "exceptional" in two different ways if you wish. But we are talking about the men's Rugby World Cup—so that's in September this year. It's very obvious that people will want to watch this. It's at a time of night when most trading places are closing. So the idea put forward is sensible. I think it's one that Kiwis will be quite happy with.Importantly for me this is about existing licence holders. These are people who already operate alcohol licences—by and large very very well. The bill as set down as well means that these licence holders will have to engage with police notify them of what they're doing—obviously noise control measures and so forth.But I return to my second point. The first point of course is Paul Foster-Bell just to put his name in Hansard again. But the second point rather was that this is something that we've done before in 2019 and 2015 and we didn't have any problems. So I see this as a very prudent piece of legislation a very good piece of legislation. And I add as others have done which seems to be the way I am even happy that we have a shortened report-back period. With that I commend the bill to the House."
Walters VanushiVANUSHI WALTERS (Labour—Upper Harbour): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's also a pleasure to take a call on this bill the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill. I am not the tallest or broadest in stature so it may surprise some to know that at primary school my lunchtimes were spent playing wing in schoolyard rugby at Thorndon Primary School just down the road. I'll tell you it was a real sense for me of community and camaraderie when we got together and watched the All Blacks play or I watched the All Blacks with my dad. It is a very strong part of our culture here in Aotearoa.I am a fan of rugby but I am also a fan of ensuring that we do have sound regulation in the alcohol area as well. But I must say I do believe one of the best places to ensure good regulation is with licensed premises owners because they do have those obligations to ensure that they are not selling to minors that the people there are drinking responsibly and that if anything turns they alert the police or have a conversation with people. So when you are working with great licensed providers it is possible to go out enjoy a beer and watch a game.I think we also need to think about who we're talking about when we're talking about extending the time lines for licence holders. I go to the local RSA on Anzac Day and they open the bar after the Anzac Day service. Again it's a real sense of community and camaraderie and up until April 2016 those RSAs used to have to apply for special licences. At the time it was recognised that actually all of these RSAs were applying for licences and all of them were presumed to be granted them in due course so it was really a matter of streamlining things to say that they could have access to extended hours over that Anzac Day service period. There are a lot of similarities in terms of what this bill is trying to do.To my mind what we need to make sure of is that we are being responsible in terms of providing the safeguards around those extended licences. I won't speak to those because the Minister the Hon Kiritapu Allan has covered those very well. I know we have a shortened time period to hear from submitters on this but as the chair of the Justice Committee I am looking forward to hearing submissions from those interested parties. I commend this bill to the House.
Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's with great pleasure that I stand and take a call. This the first reading of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill. Look the Minister Kiritapu Allan covered it off very well as you know it was an amazing experience for us as a country to get behind and support our Black Ferns in winning the Women's Rugby World Cup. I was lucky enough to be at the ground watching the final. It's probably one of the tensest games I've ever watched when of course the English had very good forwards and were keeping it in the forwards and mauling the ball and were sort of using that tactic and all of a sudden our Black Ferns came alive and started the ball moving out wide. They never gave in. They dug in and the country was extremely proud of the result that they delivered for us. Rugby is essentially a very important game. It's part of our culture here in New Zealand. And of course the next Rugby World Cup is going to be played in France. I see the Hon Peeni Henare across the way there one of our top midfield backs in the Parliamentary Rugby Team a hard-running and hitting back and a very strong defender who has been part of the Parliamentary Rugby Team over many years—he played for defended and won the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup. Unfortunately neither of us are going to be there this year because we are in the regulated period for a general election. But I wish our team all the best for travelling to France and defending the cup. So look we're very happy to support the bill. I do want to acknowledge too our shadow Leader of the House the Hon Michael Woodhouse who has agreed to a shortened report-back period. We've agreed to that obviously because time is of the essence and we have to get this bill passed. It's not a new bill. We did this in 2019. It's a good practical bill and we're very happy to support it in the House. Thank you.
Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill — Introduction
SpeechSALE AND SUPPLY OF ALCOHOL (RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 EXTENDED TRADING HOURS) AMENDMENT BILLIntroductionCLERK: Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Rugby World Cup 2023 Extended Trading Hours) Amendment Bill introduction.
Brownlee Gerry; Dean JacquiHon GERRY BROWNLEE (National): Isn't it interesting that we've just had a bill where speaker after speaker referred to the just transition" and spoke about how we were "racing towards a fossil fuel - free future" and then immediately after passing that bill on to a select committee they're here in the House talking about a bill that is going to encourage competition in the delivery of fossil fuels to New Zealanders.This just points out the complete confusion that the current Government has in their energy policy. On the one hand big big raps a few years ago for shutting down the oil and gas industry offshore in New Zealand; then creating a circumstance where oil refinery was disposed of; talking constantly about how we had this "just transition" going on mentioning things like hydrogen fuel etc.; and then suddenly realising that actually even with all the work that's been done in hydrogen we don't have it available just yet so what is there?We had one member talking about how his car broke down in the 1970s inside the Mount Victoria Tunnel. Well every car will be broken down if these guys keep going the way they are.This is a nonsense bill. It will have absolutely no effect. It's designed to fool New Zealanders into thinking that somehow the market study that the Labour Party did using the Commerce Commission is having some effect. It's not. There will always be the fact now because of their policy we are so dependent on foreign oil supplies that determines the price that New Zealanders pay for fossil fuels. It's a ridiculous bill and while we were happy to see it perhaps discussed with a select committee—Matt Doocey: No we'll oppose it I think.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: Oh we're opposing this? OK I think we should because it's complete rubbish. It's a filler; it's just the Labour Party filling up time to get to a little bit more of an appearance of actually doing something. It's unreal. So we're not going to support that.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Members the time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break. The House will resume at 7 p.m.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m."
Lorck AnnaANNA LORCK (Labour—Tukituki): I stand to take a call on the Fuel Industry Amendment Bill. As my colleague Tāmati Coffey has just spoken it will provide help all across the country. When I was reading through what this bill is going to do what interested me is that we are going to have a wholesale spot price that is published and after a certain period of time if there is a concern around it the Commerce Commission can step in and have the power to take a look at what is happening. I think that this is something for everybody who puts fuel in at the pump—and we look at what is actually happening with petrol prices across the country. What you pay can depend on where you live and even in a region like Hawke's Bay there are a number of different places you can buy petrol and yet it is different across the region.By having this new legislation it's going to make sure that we all keep everybody in check. And I think it's also something that we can do when you look at the good how we have monitored the drop in the 25c a litre tariff on fuel when we have been reducing it during this period of time of the cost of living crisis. I don't think that we will see petrol companies wanting to be investigated so I think that this is sending them a strong message. And we should see over this period of time competition improve and the price of fuel become more competitive. So on that I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.
Dean JacquiFUEL INDUSTRY AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingDebate resumed from 1 June.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Members when this debate was last interrupted we were up to the split calls. So—Tāmati Coffey: I'd like to take it Madam Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): I call Tāmati Coffey.TĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Can I say that the work that's been done on this particular bill is going to help New Zealanders all across the country.We know that as we're facing rampant cost of living pressures. New Zealanders are going to the supermarket they're going to the gas pumps and they are hurting in the pocket. So we need to do as much as we can to relieve the pressures that New Zealand families are facing.By small amendments like what is being suggested in this bill we're going to not only help them at the pump to hopefully achieve a better and more competitive market when it comes to fuel but also be able to implement some of the recommendations from the Commerce Commission's market study which is something which this Government were really passionate about enabling the Commerce Commission to be able to do.Now in 2019 they released their fuel market study. They said that the engine fuel companies have been making higher profits than what would be expected in a normally competitive market and for that reason this bill has ended up in the House. The Act is going to include a terminal gate price regime which promotes new entry and expansion by existing players into the wholesale fuel market. The Commerce Commission also recommended the development of a regulatory backstop to the terminal gate price regime which would be implemented by this bill. Hopefully the settings are right for us to open up competition in the market so that fuel users New Zealanders all across the country with their cars will be able rock up to their local station and be able to get hopefully the best possible price.What we're doing is trying to create a fair market because the market we believe on this side of the House hasn't been as fair as it could be to date. We thank the Commerce Commission for its market study we thank the people that have submitted into this as well and I commend it to the House.
Edmonds BarbaraInstruction to Economic Development Science and Innovation CommitteeHon BARBARA EDMONDS (Minister for Economic Development) on behalf of the Minister of Energy and Resources: I move That the Fuel Industry (Improving Fuel Resilience) Amendment Bill be reported to the House by 10 August 2023 and that the committee have 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 and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 193 195 and 196. It is important that this bill is passed quickly with shortened select committee and report-back periods. Fuel resilience is clearly a significant matter as it is essential to keep our people connected and our businesses running. Recent jet fuel issues in Auckland late last year and Wellington earlier this year have highlighted the importance of having a resilient and robust fuel supply chain and the impact that a disruption can have on the wider economy. We need to provide assurance to fuel consumers that the fuel companies are managing their fuel stocks and supply chains properly. The insight that this bill affords the Government over fuel company stockholdings is critical for providing that assurance that consumers need. The stockholding itself is another critical aspect that serves to provide customers with added reassurance that when an incident affecting fuel supplies occurs there will be adequate fuel stocks in New Zealand to manage the incident. The bill is a key tool for the Government to keep clear oversight of the fuel companies' stockholding levels and contingency plans and it should be passed as quickly as possible.