Statutes Repeal Bill passes third reading
Regulatory Reform Minister Paul Goldsmith has welcomed the Statutes Repeal Bill passing its third reading in Parliament
tonight.
The Statutes Repeal Bill will repeal or partially repeal 137 pieces of legislation, and will reduce the total number of
laws on the Statute Books by 128.
“With this Bill we are reducing the number of public Acts on the New Zealand law books by more than 10 per cent,” says
Mr Goldsmith.
“Removing redundant law is just one small part of this Government’s wider work programme to improve the quality of the
law that governs New Zealanders’ lives. The Government signalled this work in its response to the Productivity
Commission report on Regulatory Institutions and Practices.
“I would like to thank members of the public who made submissions on the Exposure Draft of the Bill or on the Bill when
it was before the Select Committee. This input was invaluable in identifying additional Acts for repeal and in ensuring
that no repeals in the Bill had unintended consequences.
“More Acts of Parliament are likely to be redundant and others will outlive their original purpose and become redundant
over time. These will be included in future Statutes Repeal Bills,” says Mr Goldsmith.
It is the Government’s intention to include a repeal of blasphemy in a Crimes Amendment Bill later this year, giving the
public and political parties the opportunity to have their say, and for the relevant agencies to properly assess the
impacts of the repeal.
The Statutes Repeal Bill can be found at HERE.