COMPANIES (ADDRESS INFORMATION) AMENDMENT BILL
In Committee

Debate resumed from 20 August.

Clause 2 Commencement (continued)

CHAIRPERSON (Teanau Tuiono): Members, the House is in committee for further consideration of the Companies (Address Information) Amendment Bill. When the committee was last considering the bill, we were debating clause 2. Clause 2 is the debate on the commencement of the bill. The question, again, is that clause 2 stand part.

Hon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour): When we were last debating this a few weeks ago, Tom Rutherford had just asked a series of questions about the commencement clause. He had asked what was an Order in Council, and I think that was for the benefit of people who might be watching at home and might not know what an Order in Council was.

Tom Rutherford: That's right—simple language.

Hon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL: Well, we do need to have language that specifies legally what's correct as well. An Order in Council is an order that's issued by the Executive Council—that's the Ministers of the Crown—to put something into effect, and it's often used to bring legislation into effect. So, in effect, what it will take for this legislation to come into effect is a Cabinet decision. Unless that hasn't happened, there's a hard line there of a year from the date of Royal assent.

Mr Rutherford also asked whether 12 months was sufficient for the officials to complete the necessary preparations. The officials assured us during the select committee process that that was indeed the case. Of course the Minister is responsible for the officials, rather than me. I take the officials' word for the fact that they say that that is enough time.

He asked what regulations were needed to be made and did they need consultation—no regulations need to be made for this, so no consultation is needed—and what if all the preparations aren't in place from day one? Well, I'd have to go back to what the officials told me, which is that they assured me that they would be able to have this set up in time for the legislation to take effect.

Clause 2 agreed to.

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