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.

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