Urgency

I move, That urgency be accorded the introduction and first reading of the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill and its referral to a select committee, the introduction and first reading of the Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Bill and its referral to a select committee, the second reading and Committee stage of the Criminal Procedure Legislation Bill, the second reading and Committee stage of the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (Continuation and Reform) Amendment Bill, the second reading and Committee stage of the Land Transport Management Amendment Bill, the introduction and passing of the Trustee (Public Trust) Amendment Bill, and the first reading of the Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Amendment Bill and its referral to a select committee. This is a very important suite of bills that the Government wishes to make significant progress on. I will just work back through them.

The Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Amendment Bill is about ensuring that in the event of insurance company failure there is capacity for the Reserve Bank, which is effectively the regulator, to ensure that there is an orderly run-out of insurance services. We know that in the environment in which we live at the moment the prospect of distressed insurers getting into trouble is very real. We have seen three companies in that position so far. We need to be prepared for the worst if it were to happen.

The introduction and passing of the Trustee (Public Trust) Amendment Bill is necessary in order for the House to take a position ahead of the High Court deciding some matters in the Capital + Merchant Finance case, effectively ensuring that it is not the Public Trust that becomes the default trustee in circumstances of finance company failures. Once again, we have seen some pretty awful stuff in that regard in recent times.

The Land Transport Management Amendment Bill deals with a significant issue that is on the Order Paper of the House as a discontinuance allowance. Without this there would be no clear ability for people who operate off-road vehicles to in fact escape the road-user charge regime. There are a number of other measures that go into that bill that are extremely important and relate to the road-user charge and excise calculations on vehicles.

The Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (Continuation and Reform) Amendment Bill is one that the House has dealt with on a number of occasions. There have been several extensions of that legislation. It is now time to have a position that will take us forward.

The Criminal Procedure Legislation Bill is one that the New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Justice are very, very keen to see progressed, and one that I believe has widespread support from the House. It is one of those bills that will make a difference to the way in which prosecutions are able to be brought in a timely and speedy fashion.

The introduction of the Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Bill, with its referral to a select committee for a 4-month period, is one that clearly deals with a number of issues that have been topical in recent times.

Finally, as to the introduction of the first bill that we will deal with today, the first reading of the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill, this bill clears up a number of matters that were brought to light in the recent inquiry, so that the operations of our security services can be carried out in a fully lawful way.