Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill

We come first to Part 1. This is the debate on clauses 3 to 7, “Amendments to Electricity Act 1992”. The question is that Part 1 stand part.

Thank you, Mr Chair, and thank you to the Minister for Social Development and Employment for being in the chair for this bill, acknowledging that she has taken—actually, I’m not aware if she has conduct of this bill, but the Minister with conduct has changed, so thank you to the new Minister for taking this on.

I do have some questions around Part 1, in relation to the Electricity Act, specifically in relation to WorkSafe and their functions. It’s a particular interest of mine through my work as our spokesperson on workplace relations and safety. Obviously, these bills are not particularly controversial, many of them. We just had the second reading yesterday, so we should all be very familiar with them. They do seek to make pragmatic changes to existing legislation that should, in general, be bipartisan. In fact, I do believe—I could be corrected, but I do believe it did attract support of the majority of the House yesterday, so I won’t attempt to filibuster any of these questions, but just to ask some genuine questions that the Minister may be able to answer in relation to some of these sections and parts.

The first question I have is in relation to new section 169E, inserted by clause 7, in relation to the Minister’s delegations in this section. I understand, and it’d be helpful if the Minister could provide clarity, that these types of delegations are relatively common to WorkSafe. I just wanted to know of the Minister, in respect of this new delegation, what kind of checks and balances there are to make sure that that has been conducted to the Minister’s satisfaction by WorkSafe. We have had WorkSafe in front of our select committee—the Education and Workforce Committee. We are currently due to shortly put forward our report on the annual review that we did, which is of course not public yet, so I won’t go into any of those details, but I think I can safely say that there has been a number of concerns around the way that WorkSafe has been able to discharge its functions in the recent future.

One of the ways that that is seen is through the unfortunate high levels of fatalities that we do have in New Zealand. I know that this isn’t a wide-ranging Act that looks at the functions of the workplace in its entirety, but if the Minister has, as she has outlined in this clause 169E, decided to ask WorkSafe to do a job that otherwise the Minister would have to do herself, I just wondered if there were any particular checks and balances that she had brought to put in place in order to satisfy herself that those duties that have been delegated will be done with the utmost care and with the utmost expertise.

I should probably say that it is in all of our interests that this is done in the best possible way, and I believe it is in all of our interests that WorkSafe functions effectively, so I do hope that the Minister has been able to satisfy herself and I do hope that the answer was that it’s been done to the best of their abilities. In relation to the scrutiny of this Act, I’m just wanting some commentary or assurances from the Minister on that particular point.

I seek leave for all provisions to be taken as one question.

Leave is sought. Is there any objection? There is no objection. The question is that Parts 1 to 8, the Schedule, and clauses 1 and 2 stand part.

Parts 1 to 8, the Schedule, and clauses 1 and 2