Statutes Amendment Bill

Members, we come now to Part 16. This is the debate on clauses 68 and 69, “Amendment to Employment Relations Act 2000”. The question is that Part 16 stand part.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is another one of my favourite pieces of legislation to look at, so I’m pleased to see it here. I have to say, though, that I’m struggling a wee bit to work out exactly what the change will be in clause 69. That is partly because when I look at the primary legislation which is amending section 233B(6)(g), I look at that section and I try and look for the parts where it says, “replace ‘section 28B of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992’ with ‘section 191 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015’.”, and it might be the website I’m looking at, but it seems like that change has already been made in the legislation I’m looking at. Maybe I’m totally wrong—probably, that’s the most likely thing—but I was just trying to work out what the change was, and I couldn’t. I don’t know if the Minister could look at that.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We’re replacing the reference to section 28B of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 because it’s been repealed. It was repealed and replaced with section 191 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. We’re updating the Act so it doesn’t refer to a repealed piece of legislation and, instead, we’ve put in the new piece of legislation.

Thank you to the Minister for that explanation. It was just that in the version that I looked at, it appeared like the change that’s in this legislation was already made on the New Zealand Legislation website. I know that’s not a perfect website, and I know that if I was a better lawyer or if I was still a lawyer—I actually can’t call myself a lawyer, because I don’t have a practising certificate—I’d go and get the statute book out, and I’m sure that that would be correct. I just wondered, maybe, as we move on from this part, if officials could just check that that’s the case. Obviously, it’s no big deal if it’s already been made and the change is exactly identical, but it’s maybe just something to note.

Thank you to the member for looking at that and for raising it. Officials will have a look at it, but even if there’s a word that’s different in what you’re looking at, we need to make sure that there’s consistency. I back my officials with the information, but what I will say is if there is something different, they will bring it to my attention while we’re in the chair, and I will stand up again—even if we’re past this—to explain further if there’s anything else to add to that.

Part 16 agreed to.

Part 17 Amendment to Heretaunga Tamatea Claims Settlement Act 2018