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Part 4 Complaints and discipline

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : Part 4 is almost the heart of the legislation, because the Minister’s yelling and screaming before the bill was introduced indicated he was concerned that there was an inadequate complaints procedure under the 1976 Act. We agree that it was timely to look at the complaints and discipline procedure, because any system that regulates a profession or an industry group needs to be effective so that disputes can be resolved justly, quickly, and inexpensively.
 
 
Part 6 Miscellaneous provisions

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I want to make a few brief points about Part 6. I endorse what Kate Wilkinson has said, and I certainly do not intend to repeat her comments about the strange level of the fines for some offences that simply do not seem to warrant it.
 
 
Part 1 Purpose of Act, acknowledgements and apology, interpretation provisions, settlement of claims, and miscellaneous matters

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I will just take a call to talk very, very briefly about the Supplementary Order Paper that seeks to amend a couple of clauses. We totally agree with it. Clause 14, of course, has to be amended in that way because there is a new way of recording settlements in the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, and we have no problem with that. We also have no problem with the amendment that inserts new clauses 82A, 82B, and 82C after clause 82. It simply inserts additional clauses relating to the alteration of place names, and the clauses follow the model of the Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill. So that is all good, technical, and sensible.
 
 
Part 5 Duties relating to real estate agency work

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : Part 5 deals with the duties relating to real estate agency work, and I want to take a call on just a couple of matters. The first is clause 117A, which requires the agent to display certain information. That provision is picked up from section 53 of the 1976 Act. It requires that every agent must clearly exhibit a notice of his or her name and the fact that he or she is a real estate agent licensed under the Act, at his or her place of business.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I will take just a brief call, because other members have really said it all. The aim of the Disability (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) Bill, as we know, is to make amendments to certain New Zealand enactments, including statutes and regulations, and this will enable New Zealand to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
 
General Debate 08/27/2008
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I do not intend to waste any time on that Minister, Chris Carter, who is hopeless, as we all know. Rather, I want to educate the Minister of Justice, Annette King, who needs some help.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : The National Party will support this bill through all its stages, and we will support its rapid return to the House from the Justice and Electoral Committee for a number of reasons.
 
 
Part 2 Organisation and governance

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I am delighted to take a brief call on this matter, because I want to say something about Mr Harawira’s amendment, which proposes to insert a Treaty clause into the Policing Bill.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I am delighted to see that parliamentary history has been made this afternoon. That would be the first coherent speech the boy wonder from Ōtaki has ever made. I congratulate him on that excellent speech, even if it was written out for him.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : The National Party will support Supplementary Order Paper 216, and, of course, it is supporting the Lawyers and Conveyancers Amendment Bill (No 2). The bill raises a small but very important issue about access to justice.