Select Committee Business
From 14 May to 21 May 2004

Committee meetings

Fourteen committee meetings were held this week, all in the parliamentary complex.

Reports presented
(available at http://www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz/Publications/CommitteeReport)
Government Administration

Petition 2002/44 of Dr George Paterson Barton Vaitoa Sa and 100,000 others (I.5C)

Social Services
-Briefing on the work of Parentline

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

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

This week the committee met to consider the 2002/03 financial review of Industry New Zealand. It also furthered its consideration of the Electricity and Gas Industries Bill.
The committee next meets on 27 May to further its consideration of the 2002/03 financial review of Industry New Zealand and the Electricity and Gas Industries Bill.

Education and Science (Kirstin Lambert, SC-ES@parliament.govt.nz)

The committee met on 19 May, when it heard evidence on the Education (Export Education Levy) Amendment Bill, and on the 2002/03 financial review of the New Zealand Teachers’ Council. It also considered the Petition of David Tranter and 852 others, the Petition of Nicola Wong and 600 others and the Petition of Deborah Coddington and 480 others.
The committee next meets on 26 May, when it will further consider the Education (Export Education Levy) Amendment Bill, and the 2002/03 financial review of the New Zealand Teachers’ Council.

Finance and Expenditure (Peter Hurndell, SC-FE@parliament.govt.nz)
The committee met this week to consider the Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill.

The committee is scheduled to meet next week on 27 May to consider the 2003/04 Supplementary Estimates of Appropriations and the 2004/2005 Estimates of Appropriations.

The committee is currently calling for public submissions on Supplementary Order Paper 210 relating to the Taxation (Annual Rates, Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. Closing date for submissions on the SOP is 4 June 2004.

Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation (Miles Reay SC-MA@parliament.govt.nz,)

On 18 May the committee considered both the Maori Fisheries Bill and the Seabed and Foreshore Bill. The committee will continue consideration of the Maori Fisheries Bill on 25 May.

The committee is inviting public submissions on the Foreshore and Seabed Bill. Copies can be purchased from Bennetts Government Bookshops, and information on the bill can be obtained from www.beehive.govt.nz/foreshore/home.cfm
Submissions close on Monday, 12 July 2004.

The bill establishes a new comprehensive framework for recognising rights and interests in the foreshore and seabed, clarifies the status of those areas, and provides for the recognition of customary rights and interests. The main elements of the bill are:

-vesting in the Crown the full legal and beneficial ownership of the public foreshore and seabed, to enable it to be preserved in perpetuity for the people of New Zealand

-providing for general rights of public access and recreation in, on, over, and across the public foreshore and seabed, and a general right of navigation

-recognising ancestral connection of Mâori groups with particular areas of the public foreshore and seabed, and providing the opportunity for more effective participation in decision-making processes

- recognising customary activities of the public foreshore and seabed, and protecting them under the Resource Management Act 1991

- enabling a group to seek a finding by the High Court that it would have been entitled to hold territorial customary rights to the public foreshore and seabed, had ownership not been vested in the Crown.

For further guidance on making a submission, our publication Making a Submission to a Parliamentary Select Committee can be found on our website at www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz
Please direct inquiries to Miles Reay (04) 471 9043
Submissions should be addressed to the Clerk of Committee
Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation Committee
Room 9.12a
Bowen House
Parliament Buildings
WELLINGTON

Government Administration (Lesley Ferguson, SC-GA@parliament.govt.nz)
This week the committee continued to hear evidence on the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Amendment Bill and further considered the Building Bill. The committee will consider these items and the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 4) at its next meeting on 27 May.

On 20 May the committee presented its report on the 2002/44 Petition of Dr George Paterson Barton Vaitoa Sa and 100,000 others requesting the repeal of the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 and a return of the law to its state as declared by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Lesa v Attorney-General on 28 July 1982.
After careful consideration of the petitioners’ request, the committee found that:

- The 1982 Act was consistent with relevant international law principles, including international human rights law.

- The effect of the 1982 Act was to place Samoan residents, as far as citizenship of New Zealand was concerned, in the same position as the inhabitants of other comparable League of Nations mandated territories that had become independent, and of other newly independent States.

- A repeal of the 1982 Act would be inappropriate from an international law perspective.

However, the committee understood that the Privy Council’s judgment occurred at a time when the Samoan community perceived New Zealand’s immigration policy as discriminatory and contrary to the spirit of the 1962 Treaty of Friendship between New Zealand and Samoa. In acknowledging that these events had left a lingering sense of grievance in the Samoan community, which was manifest in the petition, the committee recommended to the Government that New Zealand, in consultation with the Samoan Government, revisit, review, and renew the 1962 Treaty of Friendship between New Zealand and Samoa.

Health (Catherine Parkin, SC-Health@parliament.govt.nz)
This week the committee continued its consideration of several items of business, including the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill. The committee received a briefing on Mobile Surgical Services, which provides elective day surgery in rural communities.
On 26 May the committee will hear further evidence on the agreement for the establishment of a joint scheme for the regulation of therapeutic products. This will be open to the public from 10.30 am to 10.45 am in room G.010, Parliament House.

Justice and Electoral (Angela Van Dam, SC-JE@parliament.govt.nz)
The committee met on 19 May to consider the Care of Children Bill, the Parole (Extended Supervision) and Sentencing Amendment Bill, and the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill.
The committee next meets on 26 May, when it will consider the Parole (Extended Supervision) and Sentencing Amendment Bill and the Lawyers and Conveyancers Bill.

Law and Order (Tracey Rayner, SC-LO@parliament.govt.nz)
The committee met this week where it continued consideration of the Police Complaints Authority (Conditional Name Protection) Amendment Bill, the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill, and the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2). It also heard evidence from the New Zealand Police and the petitioner on the petition of Ross Edward Nichol and 1133 others, which requests that the House of Representatives urge the Government to reverse the decision which has been made by the New Zealand Police to replace the existing four wheel drive crucial to the rural community of Lawrence with a two wheel drive vehicle unsuited to meeting local needs and conditions.
Next week the committee will hear more evidence on the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2). This will be open to the public from 9.30 am to 11.45 am, in room G.005 Parliament House. The committee will also continue to consider the Ross Edward Nichol petition, and will begin to examine an international treaty, the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts, Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.
The committee is calling for submissions on the Crimes (Drug Rape) Amendment Bill. The bill amends section 128A of the Crimes Act 1961, and inserts a new section 129B into the Act, to provide a specific statutory position relating to consent in cases of drug-facilitated rape, by including under matters that do not constitute consent to sexual connection the fact that a person is prevented from physically resisting by an intoxicating, anaesthetic, controlled or illegal substance, or hypnotic drug.
Copies of the bill 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. For further guidance on making a submission, our publication Making a Submission to a Parliamentary Select Committee can be found on our web site at www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz.
Submissions should be addressed as follows:
Tracey Rayner
Clerk of Committee
Law and Order Committee Secretariat
Parliament House
WELLINGTON

Contact for further details:
Martin Gallagher (Chairperson) on ( (04) 470 6591 or
Tracey Rayner (Committee Clerk) on ( (04) 471 9530 or
SC-LO@parliament.govt.nz

Local Government and Environment (Beth Watson, SC-LGE@parliament.govt.nz)
The committee met on 20 May to consider the Local Government Law Reform Bill (No 3), its inquiry into the alleged accidental release of genetically engineered sweet corn plants in 2000 and subsequent actions taken, and the 2002/03 financial review of ERMA.

The committee is scheduled to meet next week on 26 May to further consider the Local Government Law Reform Bill (No 3). The committee is also meeting on 27 May to hear evidence and consider the inquiry into the alleged accidental release of genetically engineered sweet corn plants in 2000 and subsequent actions taken.

Primary Production (Bob Bunch, SC-PP@parliament.govt.nz)
The committee met this week to consider the Meat Board Restructuring Bill, and consider and hear submissions on the Fisheries Amendment Bill No 3. The committee’s next meeting is on 27 May when it will further consider the Fisheries Amendment Bill No 3.

Regulations Review (Michael Wilkinson, SC-RR@parliament.govt.nz)
The committee will meet next week to continue with its scrutiny of new government regulations.

Social Services (Graham Hill, SC-SS@parliament.govt.nz)
The committee did not meet on 20 May. The committee will meet next on 27 May to continue hearing evidence on the Social Security (Long-term Residential Care) Amendment Bill.

Transport and Industrial Relations (Kath Henderson, SC-TI@parliament.govt.nz)
The committee met on 19 May to consider the Local Government (Auckland) Amendment Bill. On 20 May the committee met to consider the Railways Bill and hear further submissions on the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill.
Next week the committee will meet on 26 May to consider the Local Government (Auckland) Amendment Bill. On 27 May the committee will hear further submissions on the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill. The meeting will be held in room G.002, Parliament House and will be open to the public from 10.00 am to 12.50 pm.

During the adjournment period the committee will meet in Wellington on 2 and 3 June to hear submissions on the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill. The meeting will be open to the public and the times will be approximately 9.00 am to 8.20 pm on the first day and 9.00 am to 6.00 pm on the second day. The committee room venue will be notified closer to the time.
Closing dates for submissions
Committees are receiving submissions on the following items with the closing date shown:

Finance and Expenditure
-Taxation (Annual Rates, Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill (21 May 2004)
-Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 210 (4 June 2004)
Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation
-Foreshore and Seabed Bill (12 July 2004)
Law and Order
-Crimes (Drug Rape) Amendment Bill (9 June 2004)
Social Services
-Charities Bill (3 June 2004)
-New Zealand Superannuation Amendment Bill (2 July 2004)
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:
Louise Sparrer
Senior Parliamentary Officer
ph: 471 9569, fax: 499 0486, or at louise.sparrer@parliament.govt.nz
Compiled in the Select Committee Office, Office of the Clerk, 21 May 2004

ENDS

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