Mitchell Mark: Third Readings — 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mitchell Mark: Third Readings — 
[Sitting date: 23 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4759. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney) 
: 
 I am happy to take a call on the regulatory reform legislation. I would like to commend the Minister for Regulatory Reform the Hon John Banks for making sure that this legislation got the attention that it needed and that it is in the House now for its third reading. 
I would have to say that really this legislation is about helping our business community and our businesses—the private sector. The future for my kids the future for our kids and the future for the next generations in New Zealand does not lie in the growth of our public sector; it lies in the growth of our private sector. It lies in the growth of our tradable and export sector. Anything that this Government can do to make those sectors more competitive and to give them a competitive advantage we should be doing and this regulatory reform legislation is about that. 
I myself have been holding business forums for the last 8 months in my own electorate of Rodney and the common theme that is coming through from all my local businesses—whether they be small business medium-sized business exporters or retailers—is that we need to reduce red tape and regulation. This is exactly what this legislation is doing: it is reducing red tape and regulation. 
High-quality regulation is a source of competitive advantage. We might scoff—and I have heard scoffing from the other side—at small gains in some areas but every gain matters. A thousand dollars on the bottom line of a small business means something to it. It has an impact on its business. We might scoff at small gains but let us remember that the overall impact of this legislation is maybe a $200 million saving within the economy annually. That is a fairly significant saving to our private sector. The growth in this country and the future of this country lie with our private sector as I have said and anything that we can do to help it we must do to help it. 
 We believe that better regulation and less regulation is essential to assist New Zealand to become more internationally competitive and a more attractive place to live and do business. We hear every day in this House—week in week out—from Labour members talking about people having to leave New Zealand. Well you know what? Let us support a bill that actually goes some way towards making more jobs and making more opportunities available to New Zealanders and Kiwis to come home to come back to New Zealand to get involved in business to get involved in the economy to bring their kids home and to do something about the future and the growth of New Zealand. 
We have made improvements among others to the Resource Management Act the electricity sector the transport and communications sectors and ACC. We are all aware that the Resource Management Act is something that can have a profound effect on businesses. I am sure that they all welcome the changes that are being made to ensure that they are more competitive. 
The 2009  
Government 
Statement 
on Regulation 
 made two major commitments: we will introduce new regulation only when we are satisfied that it is required reasonable and robust and we will review existing regulation in order to identify and remove requirements that are unnecessary ineffective or excessively costly. This is another great thing that is happening through this regulatory reform legislation: we are getting rid of unnecessary ineffective and excessively costly regulation. 
This legislation slashes red tape and it makes life easier for businesses. It contains amendments to 13 Acts removing duplication getting rid of unnecessary requirements and clearing up inconsistencies with the aim of reducing compliance costs and regulatory burdens to businesses. New Zealand businesses face enough challenges without having to grapple with compliance costs caused by unnecessary regulation. I am very happy to commend this legislation. Thank you.