Hon Steven Joyce
Minister for Economic Development
18 October 2016
Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill passes first reading

A Bill that will clarify and update statutory provisions in a range of micro-economic legislation has today passed its first reading in Parliament, Economic Development Steven Joyce says.

The cognate Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill now splits into three separate omnibus Bills that contain amendments to 20 Acts administered by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

“These Amendment Bills will improve laws that affect business, building and housing, energy, communications, commerce and consumer affairs and workplace relations regulatory systems,” Mr Joyce says.

“The changes are small and do not warrant stand-alone bills but together they will ensure greater effectiveness and efficiency of the regulatory systems affected.

“They will address regulatory gaps and errors, remove unnecessary compliance costs, and update these laws to meet public expectations.”

The Amendment Bills are the vehicles for smaller regulatory fixes to be progressed in a timely and cost-effective way in order to deliver the flow-on benefits to business and the wider economy.

“The use of Regulatory Systems Bills responds to the challenge of finding time on the Parliamentary calendar for “repairs and maintenance” of existing legislation. Being able to gather so many small changes into a collection of improvements supports better regulatory performance”, says Mr Joyce.

The Amendment Omnibus Bills are:
• Regulatory Systems (Building and Housing) Amendment Bill – will be considered by the Local Government and Environment Committee
• Regulatory Systems (Commercial Matters) Amendment Bill – will be considered by the Commerce Committee
• Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Bill – will be considered by the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee

The three Amendment Bills are part of MBIE’s commitment to its regulatory stewardship role. Details of the regulatory strategy are available here.

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