Select Committee Business

From 20 June to 27 June 2003

Committee meetings

There were 17 committee meetings, including two subcommittee meetings, all in the parliamentary complex.

Reports presented

(available at http://www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz/Publications/CommitteeReport)
Commerce

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Communications and Vote Consumer Affairs

Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Customs

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Official Development Assistance

- 2003/04 Estimates for Votes Veterans' Affairs

Law and Order

- Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill (221-2)

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Corrections

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Courts

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Police

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Serious Fraud

Primary Production

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Agriculture and Forestry

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Fisheries

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Food Safety

- 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Lands

- 2003/04 Estimates for Votes Biosecurity

Bills referred to select committees

The Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bill was referred to the Law and Order Committee.

The Business Law Reform Bill was referred to the Commerce Committee.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill was referred to the Government Administration Committee with a report due by 15 August 2003.

The Taxation (Annual Rates, GST, Trans-Tasman Imputation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was referred to the Finance and Expenditure Committee.

Committee notes

(for further information on an item, please contact the committee staff noted in brackets)

Commerce (Michelle Malyon, SC-Commerce@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met on Thursday, 26 June to further consider the Consumer Credit Bill and the Status of Redundancy Payments Bill. The committee also heard evidence on the Copyright (Parallel Importation of Films and Onus of Proof) Amendment Bill. This was open to the public.

The committee will next meet on Thursday, 3 July between 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm to further consider the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Economic, Industry and Regional Development and Vote Commerce.

Education and Science (Angela Van Dam, SC-ES@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met on Wednesday, 25 June to hear evidence on the New Organisms and Other Matters Bill. The committee heard evidence from:

- Malaghan Institute of Medical Research

- Toi te Taiao: Bioethics Council

- Royal Society of New Zealand

- New Zealand Institute of Patent Attorneys

- Derek Wilson

- Federated Farmers of New Zealand

- Researched Medicines Industry Association of New Zealand

- New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and the Nathaniel Centre - The New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre

- McGuinness & Associates Limited

Next week the committee will meet on Wednesday, 2 July to consider the 2003/04 Estimates of Appropriation for Vote Education, Vote Education Review Office, and Vote Research, Science and Technology.

Finance and Expenditure (Peter Hurndell, SC-FE@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met this week to consider the 2003/04 Estimates of Appropriations Vote Revenue, Vote Energy, Vote State-Owned Enterprises, and Vote Immigration. The Minister of Immigration appeared before the committee.

Next week the committee will meet on Wednesday, 2 July in Room G.006 Parliament House, to further consider the 2003/04 Estimates of Appropriations, Vote State-Owned Enterprises. This meeting will be open to the public between 8.00 am and 9.00 am.

Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (David Sanders, SC-FD@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met this week to consider the Estimates for Vote Foreign Affairs and Trade, Vote Customs, Vote Official Development Assistance, Votes Veterans' Affairs, Vote Defence and Vote Defence Force. The committee also made a site visit to the New Zealand Defence Force's Joint Force Headquarters in Trentham.

Government Administration (Lesley Ferguson, SC-GA@parliament.govt.nz)

This week the committee met with the Minister of Tourism, Hon Mark Burton, to hear evidence on the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Tourism. The committee also heard evidence from Local Government New Zealand and the New Zealand School Trustees Association on the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 3).

During the week, the House gave leave to refer a local bill, the Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill, to the committee. Otherwise all local bills stand referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee. The bill seeks to repeal the Auckland Institute and Museum Site Empowering Act 1918 and empower the leasing of land within the Auckland Domain for the Auckland War Memorial Museum, including an extension to the present site. The purpose of extending the area of land leased to the Auckland Museum Trust Board is to accommodate the construction of a new underground car park outside and to the south-east of the existing buildings of the museum. The committee has called for submissions, with a closing date of 18 July 2003.

The committee next meets on Tuesday, 1 July to continue its examination of the 2003/04 Estimates.

Health (Catherine Parkin, SC-Health@parliament.govt.nz)

This week the committee heard further evidence on its inquiry into the proposal for a trans-Tasman agency to regulate therapeutic products. The committee also continued its examination of the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Health and consideration of its inquiry into the health effects of cannabis.

Next week the committee will hear further evidence on its inquiry into the proposal for a trans-Tasman agency to regulate therapeutic products and continue its consideration of other items of business.

The committee is inviting public submissions on the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill and the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill. The committee is particularly interested in receiving submissions that consider the proposals contained in Supplementary Order Paper 80. The closing date for submissions is 7 July 2003.

The committee is also inviting submissions on its inquiry into the health effects of Agent Orange on New Zealand defence personnel who served in the Vietnam War. The closing date for submissions is 21 July 2003.

Further information on these items of business is available at http://www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz/Programme/Committees/Submissions/

Justice and Electoral (Louise Sparrer, SC-JE@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met on 25 June to consider its inquiry into the 2002 General Election, the Supreme Court Bill and the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Parliamentary Counsel and Vote Attorney-General.

The committee intends to meet next week to progress its consideration of its Estimates.

The committee's subsequent meeting will be on 16 July, when it will consider the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Bill, the Clean Slate Bill and the Supreme Court Bill. The meeting will be held in Room G.003 in Parliament House. It will be open to the public from 11.00 am to 12.00 noon for a hearing of evidence on the Supreme Court Bill from Ngati Porou (by videoconference) and from 12.00 noon to 1.00 pm for a hearing of evidence on the Supreme Court Bill from Sir Ivor Richardson (former President of the Court of Appeal).

Law and Order (Tracey Rayner, SC-LO@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee presented several reports in the last week. On 23 June the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill was presented, and on 27 June the committee presented its reports on the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Police, Vote Corrections, Vote Courts, and Vote Serious Fraud.

The committee has had two bills referred to it and is calling for submissions. The first of these is the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill. The bill aims to improve the effectiveness of the Department for Courts' fines and civil enforcement activities and contains various amendments to a number of statutes impacting on these activities. The powers of the Department for Courts to gather information about fines defaulters and enforce fines were significantly extended by the Summary Proceedings Amendment Act 1988. This bill makes further improvements in these areas by:

- extending the scope of information that the department can seek through information-matching programmes with, and requests for information from, other government departments

- clarifying certain statutory provisions to remove confusion and better reflect Parliament's original legislative intention

- extending additional protections to the public to ensure they are informed of their rights and responsibilities, and are not unduly penalised as a result of outstanding fines.

The committee has also had the Second Hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bill referred to it. The bill provides for the replacement of the Secondhand Dealers Act 1963 and the Pawnbrokers Act 1908 by legislation that:

- regulates secondhand dealers and pawnbrokers, and individuals acting as either directors or agents of secondhand dealers and pawnbrokers

- specifies record-keeping requirements for promoters of markets and fairs with respect to secondhand dealers and pawnbrokers operating at those markets and fairs, and requires promoters to allow the Police to inspect those records.

The reforms envisaged are aimed at making it harder for criminals to dispose of stolen goods through secondhand dealers and pawnbrokers, and to make it easier for the Police to recover stolen goods and solve property crimes.

Submissions for both of these bills close on 6 August 2003. Copies of the bills can be purchased from Bennetts Government Bookshops. The committee requires 20 copies of each submission. Those wishing to include any information of a private or personal nature in a submission should first discuss this with the Clerk of Committee, as submissions are usually released to the public. Those wishing to appear before the committee to speak to their submissions should state this clearly and provide a daytime telephone contact number. Submissions should be to Tracey Rayner, Clerk of Committee, Law and Order Committee Secretariat, Parliament House, Wellington.

The committee is not meeting next week.

Local Government and Environment (Marie Alexander, SC-LGE@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met on Thursday, 26 June to consider the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Conservation, Vote Environment and Vote Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. The committee also further considered its inquiry into the alleged accidental release of genetically engineered sweet corn plants in 2000 and subsequent actions taken. The committee will meet on Wednesday, 2 July and Thursday, 3 July to further consider the Estimates. These meetings will not be open to the public.

Maori Affairs (Miles Reay, SC-MA@parliament.govt.nz)

A Subcommittee set up to consider the inquiry into the Crown Forestry Rental Trust met on Tuesday, 24 June. The whole Committee met on Thursday 26 June to consider the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Treaty Negotiations and Vote Maori Affairs, and to also consider the inquiry into the Crown Forestry Rental Trust.

The committee will next meet on Thursday, 3 July to consider the Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Bill, and to further consider the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Treaty Negotiations and Vote Maori Affairs.

The committee is calling for submissions on the Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Bill. The closing date has been extended until 30 June 2003. Submissions should be addressed to Miles Reay, Clerk of the Maori Affairs Committee, Parliament Buildings, Wellington. Information about making a submission can be found on our website.

Primary Production (Bob Bunch, SC-PP@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met on Thursday, 26 June to give further consideration to a range of items of business. It considered the Horticultural Export Authority Amendment Bill (No 2) and the Wine Bill, the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Agriculture and Forestry, Votes Biosecurity, Vote Fisheries, Vote Food Safety and Land and the inquiry into the administration and management of the Scampi fishery.

The committee reported on all of the above votes 27 June.

The committee next meets on Thursday, 17 July to give further consideration to legislation and the inquiry.

Regulations Review (Michael Wilkinson, SC-RR@parliament.govt.nz)

At its meeting on Wednesday 25 June, the committee heard evidence from the Privacy Commissioner on the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code 2003.

The committee will next meet on Wednesday, 2 July to continue its regular scrutiny of new government regulations.

Social Services (Graham Hill, SC-SS@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met on 26 June to hear evidence on Vote Community and Voluntary Sector from the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector. The committee also continued hearing evidence on Vote Employment. At the next meeting the committee will continue considering all the votes allocated to it.

Transport and Industrial Relations (Kath Henderson, SC-TI@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met on Thursday, 26 June to hear evidence on the 2003/04 Estimates for Vote Labour and further evidence on Vote Transport.

The committee will next meet on 10 July to consider Estimates Vote ACC, Vote Labour and Vote Transport. It will consider the Road Traffic Reduction Bill and will begin hearing submissions on the Holidays Bill and the Holidays (Four Weeks Annual Leave) Amendment Bill.

Closing dates for submissions

Committees are receiving submissions on the following items with the closing date shown:

Commerce

Inquiry into the New Zealand electricity industry (31 July 2003)

The Business Law Reform Bill (7 August 2003)

Government Administration

The Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill (18 July 2003)

Health

Inquiry into the exposure of New Zealand defence personnel to Agent Orange and other defoliant chemicals during the Vietnam War and any health effects of that exposure (21 July 2003)

Assisted Human Reproduction Bill (7 July 2003)

Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill (7 July 2003)

Law and Order

Courts and Criminal Matters Bill (6 August 2003)

The Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Bill (6 August 2003)

Local Government and Environment

Christchurch City Council (Robert McDougall Gallery) Land Vesting Bill (27 June 2003)

Wellington City Council (Te Aro Reclamation) Amendment Bill (31 July 2003)

Maori Affairs

Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Bill (30 June 2003)

Social Services

Families Commission Bill (11 July 2003)

General

You can find further information about select committees on our website at www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz. If you require additional information or have any feedback on the contents, please contact:

Carol Rankin

Senior Parliamentary Officer

at carol.rankin@parliament.govt.nz

Compiled in the Select Committee Office, Office of the Clerk, 27 June 2003

© Scoop Media