16 APRIL

NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

1117

9 April 1992

Marine Farming Amendment Bill. (Hon. Doug Kidd.)

Primary Production

Private member’s Bill

7 April 1992

Local Government (Regional Council Vacancies). (Grahame Thorne.)

(NB. Referred for briefing; to be reported back 8 April 1992.)

Internal Affairs and Local Government

Summary of Bills Introduced

Civil Aviation Amendment Bill (No. 2)

The bill establishes a stand alone Civil Aviation Authority and amends the Civil Aviation Act 1990 and certain other Acts. It repeals various sections of the principal Act and transfers the appropriate functions to the Civil Aviation Authority. These include the appointment of a Director of Civil Aviation Safety and granting the Director the power to impose conditions on the operation of aircraft or use of aeronautical products to prevent danger to persons or property. The principal Act is also amended with respect to the ability to impose levies, the sole purpose of which is to make up a shortfall in the funds of the Authority. In addition to civil aviation offence provisions, miscellaneous amendments to the principal Act include the removal of Airways Corporation’s monopoly rights over area control services, approach control services and flight information services.

Local Government (Regional Council Vacancies) Bill

The bill empowers regional councils to determine by resolution that any extraordinary vacancy in their membership that occurs within 7 months before 10 October 1992 (being the date fixed for the next triennial general election) shall not be filled. Sections 101ZC and 707E of the Local Government Act 1974 confer a similar power, but that power may be exercised only in respect of extraordinary vacancies that occur within the 6 months before the triennial general election.

Crown Research Institutes Bill

The bill provides for the formation of Crown-owned companies known as Crown Research Institutes. The purpose of the companies is to undertake scientific research and to provide related services. The companies will take over the responsibilities currently performed by the various divisions of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Technology Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Forest Research Institute, and the Meteorological Service.

The structure of the Crown Research Institutes is based on the model contained in the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986. For the purposes of establishing Crown Research Institutes, the Minister of Finance and the Minister for Crown Research Institutes are empowered to form and register under the Companies Act 1955 private companies limited by shares and to subscribe for shares in those companies. Those shares are to be held in equal shares by those Ministers. The bill also follows the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986 model in providing for the transfer of assets and liabilities of the Crown to Crown Research Institutes.

The timetable set out in the bill for the establishment of Crown Research Institutes and the transfer of Crown assets and liabilities to them envisages that the institutes will be set up soon after 15 June 1992 and that they will be operational by 1 July 1992. On that latter date the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research will be disestablished with the repeal, by the bill, of the Scientific and Industrial Research Act 1974.

Regulations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

The bill makes miscellaneous amendments to three Acts, the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989, the Legal Services Act 1991, and the Regulations (Disallowance) Act 1989.

Marine Farming Amendment Bill

The purpose of the bill is to enable applications that had been received under section 13 of the Marine Farming Act 1971, and which had been subsequently repealed by the Resource Management Act 1991, that sought either an extension of the term of the lease or licence or that validated (ineffectually) extensions that had been granted and registered after a lease or licence had expired, to be dealt with as if that section were still in force.

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