Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House) Link to this

I move, That the Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill be now read a first time. This legislation happens on an annual basis. It is, in fact, designed to bring together a number of matters that need to be dealt with by the House by way of confirming or validating provisions of other bills and regulations. At the conclusion of the first reading debate I will move that the bill be referred to the Regulations Review Committee, with an instruction that the bill be finally reported to the House by 23 November 2009.

This is a routine annual bill to confirm and validate items of subordinate legislation that, in accordance with the confirmation and validation provisions of the Acts under which the various instruments are made, lapse at stated times unless earlier validation is achieved by Act of Parliament. This is what we are setting out to do. This year, the bill provides for Parliament to confirm, or validate and confirm, 20 Orders in Council and one set of regulations made under 10 separate Acts. To avoid the subordinate legislation lapsing, this bill must be enacted by the end of 2009. The report-back date of 23 November will allow time for the select committee to receive explanations on the contents of the bill from the departments that administer the various orders and regulations, while still leaving time for the bill to be passed through its remaining stages before the end of the year.

Two of the 13 Orders in Council apply to movements of consumer price indexes and relate to the Social Security Act and to New Zealand superannuation and the war pensions of New Zealanders, effective from 1 April 2009. There are several Orders in Council made under the Customs and Excise Act 1996. Three of these Orders in Council involve rates of excise and excise-equivalent duties, with two applying movements in the CPI to duties on alcohol and tobacco products and one providing for an increase in the duty on motor spirits. Another three of the orders under the Customs and Excise Act continue prohibitions regarding the import and export of toothfish, and the importation of specified offensive weapons and motor vehicles with inaccurate odometer readings, or, in fact, no odometer at all.

The seventh Order in Council under the Customs and Excise Act continues export prohibitions of specified goods such as unprocessed pounamu, which is also known as greenstone, and all toheroa, and introduces controls on the electronic transfer outside of New Zealand of specified software and technologies and of goods and technologies that may be intended for end-users contrary to New Zealand’s interests. These Orders in Council are made under the Tariff Act 1988. One of these restructures the breakdown of the tariff relating to certain alcoholic beverages. The other two remove or reduce tariffs, and make changes to the new biofuels tariff structure as a result of the New Zealand - China Free Trade Agreement.

Seven of the Orders in Council deal with commodities levies. Six of these replace similar Orders in Council and impose levies relating to milk solids, non-proprietary and uncertified herbage seeds, passionfruit, satsuma mandarins, summer fruit, and wheat grain.

Hon DARREN HUGHES (Labour) Link to this

The Labour Opposition will be giving its full support for the Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill. As Mr Brownlee has said, this is a bill that is required once or so a year in order to give effect to regulations that would otherwise lapse. The general policy statement in the bill reads: “The bill confirms and validates certain subordinate legislation that, in accordance with confirmation and validation provisions in the Acts under which it is made, lapses at a stated time unless earlier confirmed or validated by Act of Parliament.”

This is a technical measure. It will be referred to the Regulations Review Committee, as is proper, to make sure that the respective clauses do indeed set out to do what the House requires. We will be supporting its passage through the House this afternoon. Thank you.

RAHUI KATENE (Māori Party—Te Tai Tonga) Link to this

The Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill is the type of bill that is probably of most interest to lawyers. In essence, this bill is all about confirming or validating specific orders and regulations. It is often all about the issue of timing: without the passage of further legislation, the provisions of certain subordinate legislation would no longer be valid. Today’s bill is a mixed bunch, in more ways than one. There are orders to amend the commodity levies for passionfruit, summer fruit, and satsuma mandarins. There are prohibition orders around exports and imports, around toothfish and tobacco, and a set of fees, charges, and levies around animal products. There is an indexation for alcoholic beverages, and the non-grape wine levy. In short, there are all the ingredients here for a party, and I am not talking about a party of the political variety. This is where the Māori Party has a particular interest in the regulations and validating provisions that are under debate.

Let me look in particular at the impact of this legislation on the excise duties for tobacco products. I have spoken before in this House about the concerns I have around the overuse and misuse of substances such as alcohol and tobacco. I come to this from a number of sources. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I am of course influenced by the Word of Wisdom code of health that we practise, which tells us to avoid substances such as tobacco and alcohol. It is a personal position that sits very comfortably alongside the policy position we are advocating within the Māori Party.

The facts are overwhelming. Just a month ago the Ministry of Health told the Māori Affairs Committee that Māori women have the highest prevalence of smoking of any group, at 49.3 percent, followed by Māori men at 41.5 percent. The ministry also reminded the committee that young Māori are more likely to smoke than other young people, and that second-hand smoke exposure is higher amongst Māori than non-Māori. As a walk amongst our family urupā would tell us, tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death amongst Māori and is known to cause cancers, heart disease, strokes, and respiratory illnesses. Of course, it is not just those with a cigarette in their mouth who have a problem. Tobacco products also harm non-smokers through exposure to second-hand smoke. Ministry of Health statistics show that smoking is a major issue for Māori in terms of health, equity, economic status, and cultural identity.

Given all of that, the Māori Party is delighted to support the amendment in this legislation that makes a CPI inflationary increase to the rates of excise and excise-equivalent duties on tobacco products. This means that the annual adjustment in the excise duty on tobacco will ensure that the excise duty proportion of the price of tobacco does not become cheaper over time, in real terms. In plain English, tobacco products will not become cheaper to consumers, in real terms, as their income levels rise.

The House will be aware that the Māori Party has successfully negotiated a select committee inquiry into the impacts of smoking on Māori. That inquiry will review the historical actions of the tobacco industry, which promoted tobacco use amongst Māori, and it will note the impact of tobacco use on the health, economic, social, and cultural well-being of Māori. The inquiry will address the impact of tobacco use on Māori development aspirations and opportunities, as well as including a range of policy and legislative measures to address any findings that may come out of that. The Māori Party will also introduce a member’s bill to ban the importation, manufacture, and sale of tobacco products in Aotearoa. But that is not all that we are doing. My colleague the Associate Minister of Health Tariana Turia is also doing everything possible to invest in the right people, programmes, products, and processes to successfully support our people to quit the deadly habit of smoking.

I wanted to look in some detail at the tobacco products indexation, because I think it demonstrates that subordinate legislation can be of fundamental importance in supporting vital Government activities that must be mandated by legislation such as this.

Another key aspect of the legislation is the changes to the Social Security (Rates of Benefits and Allowances) Order 2009. The effect of this part of the bill is to make CPI inflationary increases to benefit payments. As the House will be aware, all benefits are indexed for movements in the CPI. This increase is done through the annual general adjustment, which increases benefits, pensions, allowances, and some other assistance thresholds. Some of the increases, such as those to New Zealand superannuation, are due to legislation, whereas others, such as those to core benefits, are done by convention. As I understand it, the CPI increases to benefits were not locked in by the previous Government. We are pleased that the changes are included in this bill, which will ultimately mean an increase in benefits.

Although of course we support this increase to benefit payments, the key issue for the Māori Party is to really understand whether the current level of benefits is sufficient to support whānau well-being. The Māori Party has consistently advocated for benefits to be set at a level that enables families to meet their basic needs, including their housing and food costs. We have been concerned at the way in which low benefit levels are contributing to child poverty and the conditions that thwart healthy child development. We know that benefit levels are too low and are a major contributor to the disturbing levels of poverty. Although we support the changes to the rates of benefits and allowances, we want to place on record again our resounding call, as articulated in our confidence and supply agreement, that we will see what we can do to achieve significant outcomes in whānau ora through eliminating poverty and advocating for social justice. Lest this be unclear, I say we expect to see these advances made not just in our lifetime but in the term of this Parliament. There is no time to wait for all people to enjoy the state of well-being that they are entitled to. In respect of this fundamental goal, we support this bill at its first reading. Kia ora.

KEVIN HAGUE (Green) Link to this

I will take just a brief call. I note the comments of my colleague Rahui Katene to the effect that this type of legislation is normally of interest to only a particular kind of lawyer. I endorse that comment, and note that I am no lawyer. I express my admiration for her response to that situation, and, indeed, express my support for many of the measures that she advocated in her address.

The Green Party is confronted with a dilemma with this kind of omnibus bill. It covers many measures that we find unobjectionable and support, but several that we oppose. I have taken a brief call just to note that the Green Party is steadfastly opposed to the free-trade agreement with China, and therefore has qualms about that set of provisions in the bill, and also disagrees profoundly with the Government’s approach to biofuels, so has some problems with the provisions of the bill in that respect. In that situation, we have a choice: ought we to oppose the legislation because we oppose some provisions within it, or ought we to support it going to the Regulations Review Committee, while noting our opposition? In this case, we take the latter course and we will support the bill going to the select committee.

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House) Link to this

I move, That the Regulations Review Committee consider the Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill , and that the committee report finally to the House on or before 23 November 2009.