Four new members’ bills

The bills drawn from the ballot were:

Education (Restoration of Democracy to University Councils) Amendment Bill – Hon David Cunliffe

This Bill repeals the changes makes by Parliament earlier this year to reduce the size of university councils and sets minimum quotas for different sector groups to be on the Councils.

As it seeks to reverse a change made by Parliament just a few months ago it is a waste of time and should be defeated.

Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration (Preventing Name Change by Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Bill – Dr Jian Yang

This Bill seeks to protect vulnerable members of society from child sex offenders by preventing those individuals convicted of a child
sex offence(s) from changing their name. This will ensure that the appropriate agencies can properly manage these offenders to assist
in their rehabilitation and to maintain public safety.

I’m unsure how much of a problem this is, but it certainly is worth supporting at least to select committee.

Electricity Transparency Bill – David Shearer

This Bill amends the Electricity Industry Act 2010 to require that every electricity bill sent to domestic consumers includes a list
itemising the amount and percentage for each of the different components comprising the bill. At present, consumers have no way of knowing what part of their power bill goes to the generator, transmitter, distributer, and retailer, and what part is accounted for by GST and other Government levies. This state of affairs allows different parts of the sector to blame price increases on other industry participants.

This seems a reasonable bill worth supporting to select committee. However it may be impractical as the ratio of costs may vary from month to month, or even day to day with spot prices.

It also requires bills to state the percentage of electicity used which is renewable and again I am not sure how practical that is, as this could change constantly

Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill (No 2) – Andrew Little

This Bill amends the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 with the purpose of ensuring that every rental home in New Zealand meets minimum standards of heating and insulation. The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment is to set the standards and landlords are to meet the standards.

The Speaker has ruled this bill is in beach of standing orders as it is near identical to a bill already defeated in Parliament this year. It is unlikely to pass first reading (as happened to the previous one) but if it does so this calendar year, it will be ruled out or order.