Latest news with #AmendmentBill
Scoop
6 days ago
- Health
- Scoop
Have Your Say On The Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill
Have your say on the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill The Health Committee is calling for submissions on the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill. The closing date for written submissions is 1.00pm on Monday, 18 August 2025. The bill seeks to improve the effectiveness of health services delivery to patients by: Amending the purpose, objectives, and functions of Health New Zealand. The bill would amend the objectives of Health New Zealand (Health NZ) to add the delivery of effective and timely services. It also seeks to add a new purpose to the Act, ensuring that patients get timely access to quality health services. The bill would repeal the health sector principles and the New Zealand Health Charter. Increasing Health New Zealand's focus on infrastructure. Health NZ's functions would be expanded to provide and plan for quality, cost-effective and financially sustainable infrastructure, and the bill would require the board of Health NZ to have a permanent infrastructure committee. Changing the roles and responsibilities of iwi-Māori in relation to delivery of health services. The bill would give the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee (HMAC) a statutory purpose of providing advice to Health NZ and the Minister of Health, on health services for Māori. It would amend the role of iwi-Māori partnership boards (IMPBs) to engage with Māori communities about health needs in their area, and to provide advice to HMAC. The bill would require Health NZ to take into account any advice from HMAC, and would remove the requirement for Health NZ to engage with IMPBs when determining priorities for kaupapa Māori investment. Strengthening governance, strategic direction setting, planning, and monitoring arrangements. The bill proposes a series of amendments, including a new requirement for the board of Health NZ to have a delegations policy, and changes to the requirements for board members' knowledge and experience. Additionally, the New Zealand Health Plan would need to include information about how services and activities will be funded, and would no longer need to be reviewed by the Auditor-General. Tell the Health Committee what you think Make a submission on the bill by 1.00pm on Monday, 18 August 2025. For more details about the bill:
Scoop
7 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Last Chance For Hunters To Have Their Say On Big Game Bill
The Game Animal Council (GAC) is calling on hunters to speak up for the future of big game hunting in New Zealand, with submissions on the Game Animal Council (Herds of Special Interest) Amendment Bill closing Thursday 24 July. 'This is a crucial moment for New Zealand,' says GAC CEO Corina Jordan. 'The Bill is a major step forward in recognising the value of New Zealand's big game herds and giving them the legal protection they deserve, particularly in areas like national parks where their future is currently under threat and where some of the best hunter-led management is currently occurring. The Bill will allow the Minister for Hunting and Fishing to exempt a Herd of Special Interest from section 4(2)(b) of the National Parks Act, which currently calls for the extermination of all introduced species 'as far as possible'. 'This change would enable management of high-value big game herds, like deer, tahr, and chamois. It would mean that instead of elimination, a proactive and practical approach can be taken, where they are managed for conservation, recreation and economic outcomes. 'It's about taking a balanced and sustainable approach,' Jordan says. 'Hunters have a real chance to shape how New Zealand manages valued introduced species. 'This isn't just a technical legal change. It's about the role of big game animals in our national identity, our recreation and the rural economy. 'Hunters care deeply about these herds, and the environment. It's time to show that by making a submission,' Jordan says. The GAC has published a fact sheet to help hunters understand the Bill and submit before the deadline. Submissions close at 11.59pm on Thursday 24 July. Visit for more information and a step-by-step guide to making a submission. Submissions can be lodged via the Parliament website or by emailing The NZ Game Animal Council is a statutory organisation working to improve the sustainable management of game animals and hunting for recreation, communities, commerce and conservation.
Scoop
22-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Putting Patient Need Ahead Of Treaty Ideology
Welcoming the first-reading passage of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Amendment Bill, ACT Health spokesperson Todd Stephenson says: "We fund the health system to deliver services, not ideology. But Labour saddled Health New Zealand with Treaty provisions that effectively divided patients by race and distracted from quality, timely care. "ACT says services should be delivered on the basis of patient need and value-for-money – not race. We scrapped the Māori Health Authority, and now we're patching up the rest of Labour's Treaty-obsessed health reforms. "We're stripping out requirements for health entities to be focused on Māori health outcomes, mātauranga Māori, and 'cultural safety'. These settings have led to compliance nightmares where even Chinese acupuncturists are required to demonstrate expertise in tikanga. "Perhaps most importantly – and incredibly, forgotten by Labour – we're introducing an objective for services to be effective and timely. And we're restoring accountability to taxpayers with a requirement for specific targets in the Government Policy Statement on Health. "Kiwis waiting for a hip operation or stuck in the emergency department don't care whether their practitioner has a tikanga-centric worldview. They just want quality healthcare, quickly. That's what we're delivering."
Scoop
18-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
ASB Declines Settlement Proposal, Class Action Case To Continue
ASB has declined a proposal by plaintiffs to settle the current class action case against the bank. The proposal was announced to media the day before the Select Committee hearings on the CCCFA Amendment Bill. In ASB's view this is an obvious attempt to influence and distract from this process by attempting to reassure Government about the potential risk to New Zealand banks under this piece of law. ASB does not understand the basis for the figures presented in the proposal or consider that they operate as an effective cap on the size of the plaintiffs' claim in the proceeding, including as the proposal is said to expire on 8 August 2025. The settlement offer received provides no certainty to ASB or other banks which may become subject to similar class actions, or to the sector as a whole. ASB Bank Helping you get one step ahead. In 1847, ASB opened as the Auckland Savings Bank with the pledge: 'to serve the community; to grow and to help Kiwis grow'. And that is very much what ASB is about today. ASB is a leading provider of integrated financial services in New Zealand including retail, business and rural banking, funds management and insurance. ASB strives to consistently provide its customers with outstanding service and innovative financial solutions. They're dedicated to providing simple financial products that allow their customers to bank with them how and when they want. We all have our own ways to measure progress, and our own stories about the things that matter to us. Whatever way you choose to measure progress, and whatever your goals, ASB is there to help you get one step ahead.
Scoop
18-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Pay Talk Protection: National Backs Labour's Transparency Bill
Members' bills from opposition MPs are more often than not doomed to fail, but there have been exceptions to the rule this term. Tracey McLellan's Evidence (Giving Evidence of Family Violence) Amendment Bill received unanimous support at its second reading, with all six parties in Parliament voting in favour. Deborah Russell's Companies (Address Information) Amendment Bill is being supported by National and ACT, but not by New Zealand First. Others, like Camilla Belich's Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill, have passed thanks to the support of one of the smaller coalition parties (in this case, New Zealand First). But only one opposition bill has had the support of National, and only National this term, and it is another from Belich. On Wednesday night, her Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill passed its second reading, thanks to National voting alongside the three opposition parties. The bill would ensure that pay secrecy clauses, which prevent employees from discussing their salaries with colleagues, would no longer be enforceable, meaning employers could not take legal action if an employee talked about pay. There will be cases where pay differences were justifiable (such as different skill sets or qualifications), but the bill's intention is to shed light on situations where they were unjustifiable. Australia, the UK, the EU, and some US states have either banned pay secrecy clauses or made them unenforceable. Belich said people already talk about their pay with colleagues, but stopping businesses from taking action against them for it would keep New Zealand up with the times. "It takes away the right for them to take action and discipline their employees when they talk about their pay. We know this happens already at the moment. So there's definitely a common sense, pragmatic element to this bill," she told RNZ. "It's making sure that usual human behaviour and workplace discussions are not something that people are disciplined for." Six National MPs took calls on the bill at its second reading. Every one of them referenced the gender pay gap and were hopeful the bill would be a mechanism to reduce it. Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink, who gave National's first contribution to the bill, told RNZ the party supported the bill because it had a "proud history" of driving down the gender pay gap. "We know that pay transparency is a key factor for driving down the gender pay gap. International studies have shown that when that legislation has been brought in, that it's measurable in the amount of reduction in the pay gap. So we really want to see that continue to fall down." Belich said it was great to see continued support for the bill. "I was heartened by the comments made in the house, where the National Party members said they would support this right through. I hope that's what they do," she said. "I think given the current context, where we've had significant changes to our pay equity regime, where women have had the ability to take pay equity claims severely curtailed, these types of bills, which make small changes to make a more transparent workforce, are increasingly important." Weenink said the "optics" around pay equity had nothing to do with National's support for the bill, as the party had also supported the bill at its first reading, well before the pay equity changes were announced. "It's just our ongoing commitment to doing what we can to make the workplace fair and improve productivity. How I see it is that if you can see you're being paid less than someone else who's working right beside you, doing the same job, then that's going to massively reduce your motivation, isn't it?" She did not see it as National handing Labour a win, but rather an opportunity to put party politics aside and improve things for New Zealanders. The bill passed its first reading in November. Sometimes, a bill is given cautious support at its first reading, in order to send it to Select Committee to see if the kinks are ironed out. The Education and Workforce Committee received 225 submissions on the bill, the majority in support. Belich said a number of changes were made to the bill through the Select Committee process, including making it clear there would be no requirement to make a disclosure. "It's still something that can be a private matter. It's only if you wish to that you shouldn't be disciplined for the desire to actually discuss that. So that was probably the major change through Select Committee." She said there were some definitional tidy-ups, including making it clear what the definitions of remuneration and detriment were, as well as ensuring the bill would not be retrospective. Some privileged or commercially sensitive information, for example, owner benefits for a business owner who also receives an employee salary, would also be excluded. Despite the changes, ACT and New Zealand First continued to oppose the bill. ACT said it would allow people to breach agreements they had signed up to, for which there should be consequences. "Once you've signed something, you are supposed to oblige to the conditions that you have signed for. If you do not agree to something in the agreement that you have signed, then there is an opportunity for you to go back and renegotiate the terms and conditions that you don't agree to," Parmjeet Parmar told the House. "But you don't just breach the agreement and say that there should be no consequences for that." New Zealand First's Mark Patterson said it "runs smack into the brick wall" of the party's belief in the "sanctity" of contract law. "While this bill doesn't prevent pay secrecy and that's still able to be incorporated within a contract, it does limit an employer's ability to enforce it, and that goes against what a contract should be," he said. Belich said she found the arguments against the bill "interesting," as it was specifically designed so businesses would not need to spend money to change their contracts. "If we'd said you cannot have a pay secrecy clause in your contract, or pay secrecy clauses are now illegal to have even in an employment document, there'd be thousands of employment agreements throughout the country that would need to be changed, that would cost money, that would take legal advice. It would be a burden on business." The bill still needs to go through the Committee of the Whole House stage for any further tidy-ups, and then a third reading, though Weenink did not foresee any major changes. "It took a long time to bash some of these things out, and I think we've got it to a really good place." Acknowledging National is a "broad church" and there had been strong discussions about the bill amongst the caucus, she did not expect any changes to the party's position at the third reading.
