Phil
Smith
Editor: The House
It was a long and
grinding week at Parliament. The government is running out
of time to complete the vast agendas of its three coalition
partners, so the government put parliament into urgency to
stagger through 36 debating stages on 23 different bills – a
gargantuan effort.
For MPs, daily debating began at
breakfast and ended at midnight, and continued well into
Saturday, but also consider the precinct staff, who arrive
before and depart after the MPs lest the heating fail or the
lights go out. The overtime bill for a week of urgency like
this must begin to add up.
Of the 23 bills debated,
below are brief descriptions of the ten bills that were
finalised and will become law after Royal assent. Also, six
brand new bills beginning their legislative journey which
are open (or are soon to open) for public
feedback.
Ten laws finalised during this week’s
urgency
The Antisocial
Road Use Legislation Amendment Bill aims to deter (or at
least punish) what the government describes as antisocial
road use. It creates a new “frightening or intimidating
convoy” offence, allows the impoundment and even destruction
of vehicles for a range of offences, and creates fines for
excessive noise including from mounted speakers.
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The
Health
and Safety at Work Amendment Bill has been highly
contentious. It reworks health and safety laws for workers,
in a desire to minimise compliance costs for employers. For
smaller companies (fewer than 21 employees), the new focus
of requirements is on critical risks – things at the death
and dismemberment end of the injury scale. While the bill
has passed all readings, New Zealand First forced a delay in
implementation until November, which may keep it from being
an election issue.
The Offshore
Renewable Energy Bill describes itself as proposing “a
framework for selecting and managing commercial offshore
renewable energy developments – from permitting to
decommissioning.” The bill is not contentious, and has been
in development for a long period.
The Healthy
Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill is contentious. The
select committee report on the bill described it as revising
“the purpose, functions, and governance and monitoring
arrangements of Health New Zealand”. Within that scope, it
requires from health staff the level of political neutrality
currently required of public servants (which could stop
medical staff from being able to complain about policy and
outcomes). It also reduces Treaty obligations, removes the
Health Charter and reduces the number of health strategies,
but sets numerical targets into law.
The Regulatory
Systems (Primary Industries) Amendment Bill is an
omnibus bill, making changes to 19 different laws that
relate to primary industries. Laws that cover things as
varied as rural walking access and biosecurity. According to
the minister, the bill includes more than 250 substantive
changes. The changes are mostly administrative though and
the bill is not contentious.
Regulatory
Systems (Tribunals) Amendment Bill and the Regulatory
Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill are
associated bills partly debated together that tweak laws
related to the regulation of real estate agents,
conveyancing lawyers, and tribunals.
The Mental
Health Bill replaces the Mental Health (Compulsory
Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992, which set out when
people could be subjected to compulsory psychiatric
assessment and treatment and provided for their rights. The
new bill aims that compulsory treatment will be the least
restrictive application possible to achieve a therapeutic
purpose while being both supportive and responsive. Wording
choices can indicate intent, and in this bill a ‘patient’
becomes a ‘person under compulsory care’.
The Plain
Language Act Repeal Bill repeals the Plain Language Act
which sought to mandate state agencies to use accessible
language in their public communications.
The Constitution
Amendment Bill sounds monumental, but is not. This bill
is about transitions between governments. It makes small
fixes to laws that relate to the odd, interregnum period
between an election (when a government becomes only a
caretaker government) and the creation of a new
government.
New bills sent to Select Committee this
week
The Building
Amendment Bill makes a wide array of changes that aim to
make building faster, cheaper and more efficient. This
includes things like a 10-day turnaround for council
approval of roof solar panels, easier off-site construction
of small dwellings, and proportionate liability for
defective building work.
The Climate
Change (Tort Liability) Amendment Bill is contentious.
In what has become a theme recently, it kills a court
action, creating a prohibition against the legal action of
arguing liability against climate-change related emitters.
If passed this bill would also rule out the current Mike
Smith court action.
The Community
Magistrates Legislation Amendment Bill, expands the
powers of community magistrates, with the intention of
easing pressure on judges.
The Environmental
Reporting Amendment Bill changes aspects of government
environmental reporting, including shifting the overarching
State of the Environment reports from triennial to every six
years.
The Health
Practitioners Competence Assurance Amendment Bill is
likely to be contentious. It seeks to “align health
workforce regulation with patient needs, health system
policy, and Government priorities.” The roadhump is likely
to be the third of that trio of motivations.
In the
bill’s description it acknowledges that “current regulation
has been effective in ensuring high standards for
practitioners” but that regulators being “independent” and
“siloed” might inhibit the health system in the future.
Therefore, this bill enables “the Minister of Health to
direct [health practitioner] authorities to give effect to a
Government policy that relates to their functions.
As
an example, directions could relate to relevant policies,
administrative processes, or procedures of a responsible
authority.”
The Regulatory
Systems (Social Security) Amendment Bill (No 2) makes a
wide range of small administrative changes to various
welfare and benefits systems.
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