Saturday, 05 September 2015 08:17

Govt angers Andy

Written by 
Andrew Little. Andrew Little.

Labour leader Andrew Little says the Government should have sorted out the problems in the new Health and Safety bill during the select committee process and not dropped the changes on Parliament as it did.

He told Rural News the Government started out with good intentions but in its bid to please “some people” (read farmers) got itself tied in knots and the bill descended to the level of the ridiculous.

“Somehow it became derailed in the last couple of months and that has led to distortions, which undermined public confidence in the legislation. It is important to restore public confidence,” Little claims. 

“My suggestions on how to do that have not met with a great deal of favour; the Government has carried on pushing the legislation through Parliament.” 

Little says the Government claims it will consult the public after the legislation is passed, but that will be too late. He says if people don’t have confidence when the legislation is passed by Parliament -- especially given that it’s come together in a ‘Mickey Mouse’ way -- then it’s going to be hard to get people to seriously engage with the detail later.

“The legislation is by-and-large enabling legislation, meaning once it’s passed a whole set of specific regulations will sit beneath the law. This is quite common, but it’s a well documented fact that regulations can take a long time to finalise, given that stakeholders have to be consulted.”

Little believes the law should contain statutory guidance for WorkSafe NZ – especially on enforcement – to ensure “they don’t treat small business the same way as they treat a large corporate. [They must] accept that what might work in a smaller business may not work in a big business.” 

He says he’s had mixed messages from farmers about the bill: some are willing to embrace a safety culture, others say leave us alone we know what we’re doing -- even more reason why the bill passed by Parliament should be right and that people understand its purpose. 

More like this

Too 'Little', too late - HortNZ

Horticulture NZ is scathing about the last gasp announcement by Labour to lift the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) by just 500 workers.

Improving Health and Safety

NZW is assisting Horticulture New Zealand with an ACC funded project looking at ways to improve health and safety across horticulture and viticulture.

Featured

Sheep drench resistance costly

Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

National

Knowing bugs means fewer drugs

A mastitis management company claims to deliver the fastest and most accurate mastitis testing available at scale for New Zealand…

Machinery & Products

AGTEK and ARGO part ways

After 12 years of representing the Landini and McCormick brands in New Zealand, Bay of Plenty-based AGTEK and the brands’…

100 years of Farmall Tractors

Returning after an enforced break, the Wheat and Wheels Rally will take place on the Lauriston -Barhill Road, North-East of…

JD unveils its latest beast

John Deere has unveiled its most powerful tractor ever, with the launch of the all new 9RX Series Tractor line-up…

Biggest Quadtrac coming to NZ!

In the biggest announcement that Case IH Australia/New Zealand has made around its tractor range, its biggest tractor is about…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Why?

OPINION: A mate of yours truly wants to know why the beef schedule differential is now more than 45-50 cents…

Fat to cut

OPINION: Your canine crusader understands that MPI were recently in front of the Parliamentary Primary Sector Select Committee for an…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter