By Paul Melville, FFNZ Principal Advisor, Water & Environment Strategy
The dangers of urgency were put in the spotlight this month following the passing of Eugene Sage’s amendment to entrench provisions in the Three Waters Entities Bill that prevented four new regional water entities from divesting water assets.
But Parliament has been busy with more than just entrenching Three Waters provisions. In just the time since the last edition of Feds News, a whopping 34 Bills have gone through at least one stage of the law-making process in Parliament.
The longest of these, and perhaps most significant, is the Natural and Built Environment Bill, intended to replace the Resource Management Act. At over 800 pages long, it is no wonder some politicians miss some of the details of what they’re voting on. Submissions are due February 5, which hardly seems like enough time for such a major reform. (More on this, page 6.)
If politicians aren’t reading all the bills it’s unlikely farmers are having the time, so we thought we’d give a brief overview here of just a few things that have passed through the House.
The Crown Minerals Amendment Bill had its first reading and is now at Select Committee. This Bill changes the law so that the Government is more easily able to say no to new mines.
Through its final reading was the Electoral Amendment Bill. This tightens the rules for political donations, including increasing the reporting requirements for political parties and reducing the threshold for public disclosure of donations from $15,000 to $5,000.
More obscure, but with potentially major implications for rural businesses, the Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment Bill was read for the first time and sent to Select Committee. It proposes to change the Companies Act so that, rather than simply acting in “Good faith and in best interests of company,” a director of a company may “Take into account recognised environmental, social and governance factors such as… the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, reducing adverse environmental impacts (and so on).”
This one may need some scrutiny. Submissions are due January 8 so if you are looking for something to do while camping, get writing!
Unfortunately, the list goes on. The Sustainable Biofuel Obligation Bill will push up petrol prices as fuel supplies are forced to use a portion of biofuel in their mix. The Spatial Planning Bill will allow new Regional Planning Committees to map out what farms can go where (See Mark Hooper’s article on page 6). The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill guarantees the ability for small workplaces to elect a health and safety representative.
Its not all bad news, the Arms (Licence Holders’ Applications for New Licences) Amendment Bill allows holders of expired firearms licences to continue to use their guns. But of course, this is only needed because the new system hasn’t been stood up in time to allow people to actually renew their licences.
While the staff here at Feds are wishing farmers and rural communities a well-earned Christmas break, we know you won’t all get one, as cows still need to be milked. But rest assured that Feds staff are in there with you, spending our summer reading the thousands of pages of new legislation and working out how we will try and respond to even half of these new laws.
Merry Christmas to all!
