1. RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) Link to this
to the Chairperson of the Commerce Committee
What progress has the committee made on considering the Regulatory Responsibility Bill?
GERRY BROWNLEE (Chairperson of the Commerce Committee) Link to this
The select committee received this bill some time ago and went through an extensive process of listening to the points that were made by various submitters. In the course of hearing those submissions the overwhelming feeling was that this was a good bill with an intention that was much required inside the New Zealand regulatory environment. A number of submitters suggested ways in which the bill might be made to even further enhance the opportunity of ensuring regulatory responsibility in New Zealand, and so the select committee has embarked on a process of informing itself of how the bill, which will come back to the House, might best achieve that.
Is there any other matter of this most extraordinary committee that this most able chairman would like to bring to the attention of the House at this time?
Madam SPEAKERThat question is fine, as long as members know that the member who responds is to talk about questions of process, not the substance of matters that are before the committee.
It would certainly be a rare thing in this House for anybody to answer a question with substance in it. My answer to the member is yes. The work of the select committee involved a housing inquiry, as the member will know. The preliminary results of that inquiry were so alarming that Helen Clark was moved to take one of our committee members and put her in Cabinet—