APPENDIX TO THE JOURNALS OF THE House of Representatives OF NEW ZEALAND 2011–2014 VOL. 3 I—REPORTS AND PROCEEDINGS OF SELECT COMMITTEES IN THE REIGN OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND Being the Fiftieth Parliament of New Zealand 0110–3407 WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND: Published under the authority of the House of Representatives—2015 ARRANGEMENT OF THE PAPERS _______________ I—Reports and proceedings of select committees VOL. 1 Reports of the Education and Science Committee Reports of the Finance and Expenditure Committee Reports of the Government Administration Committee VOL. 2 Reports of the Health Committee Report of the Justice and Electoral Committee Reports of the Māori Affairs Committee Reports of the Social Services Committee Reports of the Officers of Parliament Committee Reports of the Regulations Review Committee VOL. 3 Reports of the Regulations Review Committee Reports of the Privileges Committee Report of the Standing Orders Committee VOL. 4 Reports of select committees on the 2012/13 Estimates VOL. 5 Reports of select committees on the 2013/14 Estimates VOL. 6 Reports of select committees on the 2014/15 Estimates Reports of select committees on the 2010/11 financial reviews of Government departments, Offices of Parliament, and reports on non-departmental appropriations VOL. 7 Reports of select committees on the 2011/12 financial reviews of Government departments, Offices of Parliament, and reports on non-departmental appropriations Reports of select committees on the 2012/13 financial reviews of Government departments, Offices of Parliament, and reports on non-departmental appropriations VOL. 8 Reports of select committees on the 2010/11 financial reviews of Crown entities, public organisations, and State enterprises VOL. 9 Reports of select committees on the 2011/12 financial reviews of Crown entities, public organisations, and State enterprises VOL. 10 Reports of select committees on the 2012/13 financial reviews of Crown entities, public organisations, and State enterprises VOL. 11 2012 Reports of select committees VOL. 12 2013 Reports of select committees, Vols 1 to 3 (see also Vol. 13) VOL. 13 2013 Reports of select committees, Vols 4 to 6 (see also Vol. 12) VOL. 14 2014 Reports of select committees J—Papers relating to the business of the House VOL. 15 Government responses to select committee reports Inter-parliamentary relations reports VOL. 16 Inter-parliamentary relations reports Responses under Standing Orders 156–159 Reports by the Attorney-General pursuant to section 7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and Standing Order 262 Document tabled under the authority of the House of Representatives by Hon Shane Jones Summaries of annual returns to the registrar of pecuniary interests of members of Parliament Prime Minister’s Statements to Parliament Notification by the Prime Minister of the 2014 General Election date ______________________ CONTENTS VOLUME 3 Shoulder Date Number Title Tabled I.16E Activities of the Regulations Review Committee in 2012, 19 Mar 2014 March 2014, Report of the Regulations Review Committee I.16F Activities of the Regulations Review Committee in 2013, June 27 Jun 2014 2014, Report of the Regulations Review Committee I.16G Complaint regarding the Exclusive Economic Zone and 16 May 2014 Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects—Permitted Activities) Regulations 2013 (SR 2013/283), May 2014, Report of the Regulations Review Committee I.16H Inquiry into oversight of disallowable instruments that are not 11 Jul 2014 legislative instruments, July 2014, Report of the Regulations Review Committee I.16I Activities of the Regulations Review Committee in 2014, 08 Aug 2014 August 2014, Report of the Regulations Review Committee I.16J Briefing on regulation-making powers that authorise 15 Jul 2014 transitional regulations to override primary legislation, July 2014, Report of the Regulations Review Committee I.17A Question of privilege concerning the defamation action 11 Jun 2013 Attorney-General and Gow v Leigh, June 2013, Report of the Privileges Committee I.17B Question of privilege regarding use of intrusive powers within 03 Dec 2013 the parliamentary precinct, December 2013, Interim report of the Privileges Committee I.17C Question of privilege regarding use of intrusive powers within 11 Jul 2014 the parliamentary precinct, July 2014, Report of the Privileges Committee I.17D Question of privilege concerning the agreements for policing, 11 Jul 2014 execution of search warrants, and collection and retention of information by the NZSIS, July 2014, Report of the Privileges Committee I.18A Review of Standing Orders, July 2014, Report of the Standing 21 Jul 2014 Orders Committee I.16E Activities of the Regulations Review Committee in 2012 Report of the Regulations Review Committee Fiftieth Parliament (Hon Maryan Street, Chairperson) March 2014 Presented to the House of Representatives ACTIVITIES REPORT 2012 I.16E Contents Activities of the Regulations Review Committee in 2012 1 1 Introduction 5 2 Examination of regulations 6 3 Deemed regulations 16 4 Regulation-making powers in bills 17 5 Complaints 22 6 Bills 24 Appendix A 26 Appendix B 27 Appendix C 29 Appendix D 30 Appendix E 31 Appendix F 33 3 ACTIVITIES REPORT 2012 I.16E 4 ACTIVITIES REPORT 2012 I.16E 1 Introduction Recommendation The Regulations Review Committee recommends that the House take note of this report. Purpose of this report Each year, by convention, the Regulations Review Committee produces a report on those of its activities that it has not reported separately to the House. This report is about the work completed by the Regulations Review Committee of the 50th Parliament between February and December 2012. The presentation of this report draws the House’s attention to our work and demonstrates our approach to the scrutiny of delegated legislation. Functions of the committee The Standing Orders of the House of Representatives set out the powers and functions of the committee, and allow us to bring matters within our mandate to the special attention of the House.1 The committee scrutinises all regulations considers draft regulations referred by Ministers of the Crown and reports back to them examines regulation-making powers in bills investigates complaints about the operation of regulations conducts inquiries into matters related to regulations. We met 25 times from February to December 2012, and presented three reports to the House. These reports are printed separately and will be included in the Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives. They are listed in Appendix D. In 2012 we made thirteen reports to other committees about regulation-making powers in bills, and dealt with many other matters that did not culminate in separate reports to the House. Acknowledgment of staff We wish to acknowledge the vital role of committee staff in ensuring we can complete our scrutiny functions. We particularly value their clear, professional advice on all aspects of our business. 1 The relevant Standing Orders are attached as Appendix B. 5 I.16E ACTIVITIES REPORT 2012 2 Examination of regulations Standing Order 314(1) empowers us to examine all regulations. In 2012, Standing Order 3(1) defined “regulations” in terms of the Regulations (Disallowance) Act 1989.2 When examining a regulation, we consider whether it should be drawn to the special attention of the House on any of the grounds set out in Standing Order 315(2). In 2012, most regulations were published in the annual Statutory Regulations (SR) series, but some were exempt from the requirements of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989.3 These instruments, then known as “deemed regulations”, are generally publicly notified in the New Zealand Gazette, and must be presented to the House in the same way as other regulations.4 In this chapter, we deal with regulations published in the SR series; deemed regulations are dealt with in Chapter 3. Our scrutiny process Examination of regulations is the backbone of our work. We examine each regulation as soon as possible after it has been published. In the year from 16 February 2012 until 6 December 2012 we scrutinised 557 regulations: SR 2011/299–2011/307, SR 2011/310, SR 2011/312–2011/433 and SR 2012/1–2012/425. We raised any issues with the responsible Ministers, departments, or agencies. After receiving their responses we decided whether to proceed further. A list of the regulations about which we sought information is in Appendix E. Routine scrutiny In 2012, we continued to seek explanations as to why regulations did not comply with the Cabinet Manual’s “28-day rule”.5 The principle underlying this rule is that the law should be available and capable of being understood before it comes into force. Non-compliance with the 28-day rule is the issue that arises most frequently in our routine scrutiny work. Although we are almost always satisfied with the explanation we receive from the responsible agency, we consider that this work continues to be important, because it demonstrates that Parliament takes an active interest in ensuring the accessibility of subordinate legislation. To support this work, we recommend that the Government encourage all agencies with responsibility for instruments that do not comply with the 28- day rule to proactively advise the committee of the reasons for non-compliance and whether and when a waiver was obtained. We continued to seek explanations for any regulations with a retrospective effect, also on the basis of the principle that the law should be available and capable of being understood before it comes into force. This is particularly important where requirements are imposed on the general public. 2 The definition of “regulations” is attached as Appendix C. The Regulations (Disallowance) Act 1989 was repealed in August 2013 by the Legislation Act 2012. 3 The Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 was repealed in August 2013 by the Legislation Act 2012. 4 No later than 16 sitting days after the day on which they are made, pursuant to section 4 of the Regulations (Disallowance) Act 1989.