SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) Link to this
I rise to take a brief call on the Statutes Amendment Bill. I want to draw people’s attention to the submission put forward by Chapman Tripp, which opposed the amendments to clauses 32 and 33 of the Statutes Amendment Bill. The reason for the opposition is that Chapman Tripp felt that the proposed amendments to the Companies Act were unnecessary and would result in onerous additional compliance costs for amalgamating companies, in terms of both time and money. Perhaps the Minister in the chair, the Hon Clayton Cosgrove, might like to take a call and give us his views on the concerns Chapman Tripp raised about the proposals to change the Companies Act. The Chapman Tripp submission goes on to state that in the Act’s current form a company that is amalgamating with another company must give secured credit or a copy of an amalgamation proposal—
The CHAIRPERSONOK, clauses 3 and 4 only. Right, I shall go to clauses 3 and 4 only—I am not quite sure where we are up to on this bill. [ Interruption] The Animal Products Act! Well, do we know a lot about the Animal Products Act! What is happening with the Animal Products Act? There are huge changes there: “Section 167(1)(ja) is amended by omitting “section 59A” and substituting “section 60”.” That is a hugely significant change to the legislation.
Steve ChadwickWell, that is a good question from the member. Perhaps she might like to take a call and answer that very question. Perhaps the Minister might like to answer the question and enlighten the House and the New Zealand public about what those particular clauses actually mean. We have some briefing papers from the officials about all these different clauses. I am sure the Minister has those to hand and can give us a very enlightened précis of the changes to those particular clauses.
There are, of course, a number of Acts that are being changed by this legislation, and the Animal Products Act is just one of the Acts that is being amended in the Statutes Amendment Bill.
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) Link to this
With regard to the Statutes Amendment Bill, one could give either an 8-hour speech or a 3-minute speech.
Hon Harry DuynhovenCHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON Link to this
I have opted, indeed—as my friend Harry Duynhoven said—for the 3-minute speech. In the second reading I addressed some of the provisions that dealt particularly with the question of the appointment of environment commissioners and with various other minor amendments—for example, Part 18, which concerns the Family Courts Act.
The purpose of the Statutes Amendment Bill—as is well known—is to introduce provisions of a very minor nature that tidy up legislation in order to bring various pieces of legislation into line with other legislation, and so it is here. This legislation need not detain the Committee at all. It is all fairly sensible stuff. The National Party has no problem with the various parts of the bill, with the exception of the particular parts that are referred to in the report from the Government Administration Committee. National supports the legislation.
The Committee divided the bill into the Animal Products Amendment Bill, the Armed Forces Discipline Amendment Bill, the Biosecurity Amendment Bill (No 2), the Broadcasting Amendment Bill (No 2), the Building Societies Amendment Bill, the Care of Children Amendment Bill, the Charitable Trusts Amendment Bill, the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Amendment Bill (No 5), the Civil Union Amendment Bill, the Companies Amendment Bill (No 3), the Cook Islands Amendment Bill, the Corporations (Investigation and Management) Amendment Bill, the Defence Amendment Bill (No 2), the Education Amendment Bill (No 2), the Electricity Amendment Bill (No 2), the Energy (Fuels, Levies, and References) Amendment Bill, the Engineering Associates Amendment Bill, the Family Courts Amendment Bill, the Fencing of Swimming Pools Amendment Bill, the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Amendment Bill, the Friendly Societies and Credit Unions Amendment Bill (No 2), the Gas Amendment Bill (No 2), the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Amendment Bill, the Health and Disability Commissioner Amendment Bill, the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Amendment Bill, the Human Rights Amendment Bill, the Industrial and Provident Societies Amendment Bill, the Land Transport Amendment Bill (No 3), the Lawyers and Conveyancers Amendment Bill, the Legal Services Amendment Bill (No 3), the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2), the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Amendment Bill (No 2), the Niue Amendment Bill, the Personal Property Securities Amendment Bill (No 2), the Privacy Amendment Bill (No 2), the Racing Amendment Bill (No 2), the Radiocommunications Amendment Bill (No 3), the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill (No 2), the Resource Management Amendment Bill, the Retirement Villages Amendment Bill (No 2), the Securities Amendment Bill (No 2), the Securities Transfer Amendment Bill, the Social Welfare (Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill, the State Sector Amendment Bill, the Status of Children Amendment Bill, the Tokelau Amendment Bill, the Trade in Endangered Species Amendment Bill, and the Volunteers Employment Protection Amendment Bill, pursuant to Supplementary Order Paper142.