Sharma GauravDr GAURAV SHARMA (Labour—Hamilton West): I rise today in the House to take a call on the Companies (Limited Partnerships Identical Names Prohibition) Amendment Bill. The bill amends the Companies Act 1993 and the Limited Partnerships Act 2008 in relation to identical or nearly identical names across entity types. The Companies Act 1993 does not prohibit the registration of a new company with a name that is identical or nearly identical to that of an existing limited partnership. By contrast the Limited Partnerships Act 2008 does prohibit the registration of a new limited partnership with a name that is identical or nearly identical to that of an existing company." The bill amends a "section of the Companies Act 1993 stating the basis on which the Registrar of Companies may approve the reservation of a new company name." Now just a few minutes before my colleague Jamie Strange was talking about the same topic and I just wanted to give a few examples about what's in the name as the member Simeon Brown on the other side was saying. Well talking about names Hamilton East and Hamilton West are two electorates where the names are very similar yet we go on with our business without too much trouble and I'm sure Jamie Strange would agree with that. In addition to that I've got a first name and a last name which is very common and if you search for it the first three people are actually not myself. But as Dr Duncan Webb was saying minor adjustments to the name can help you get past this problem. I use the term "Dr" in front of it and that just means that it's easier to find my name compared to the other three people three of whom were actually in the news for all the wrong reasons. Yeah so it's not that hard to bypass this. Another example I wanted to give was recently the National Party's cannabis referendum bill which was actually just "Bill (No 2)". So you know it sort of goes to show that there is a lack of creativity on that side when they're numbering their bills just "Bill (No 2)" copying the No. 1 bill the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill which was proposed by the Green Party and then talking about bringing in this bill which prevents people from using identical names. So maybe you know charity should start at home. But anyway the only substantive provision of this bill is an amendment to the section of the Companies Act 1993 stating the basis on which the Registrar of Companies may approve the reservation of a new company name. The section as amended will refer to the names of limited partnerships and overseas limited partnerships registered under the Limited Partnerships Act 2008. The problem here is that it's a very minor change. It might affect businesses but it is a very minor change and the Government is considering including this change as part of an omnibus regulatory systems amendment bill which will be introduced later this year. Now the regulatory system bills (RSBs) provide "a vehicle to maintain the effectiveness and efficiency of regulatory systems and to reduce the chance of regulatory failure … The bills address regulatory duplication gaps errors and inconsistencies within and between different pieces of legislation and aim to remove unnecessary costs of compliance and doing business … The [RSBs] are moved through the parliamentary process"—as we all know—"as omnibus bills and can therefore make effective use of parliamentary time." This is generally preferable to occupying a disproportionate time of the House going through the select committee stage and passing a very small amendment as proposed by the Opposition. So in summary it is a small change. It might make a bit of difference but as Hamilton East and Hamilton West would agree there are other ways of doing business without worrying too much about what side of Hamilton you're on or which one of the Gaurav Sharmas you're talking to or even which one of the cannabis referendum bills "Bill (No 1)" or "Bill (No 2)". In summary I oppose this bill and I look forward to the Government bringing through a regulatory systems bill later on in the year. Thank you."