Regulation of sun screen among Sasha Borissenko's top pieces of legislation of 2022. Photo / Brett Phibbs
OPINION:
Lawyers will be frolicking around the Coromandel until late January thanks to the holiday shutdown-period that’s customary among firms. Billable hours, long nights, weekends, and demanding clients will be but a distant memory. “Billables, shmillables”, they’ll be saying. Unless of course said lawyers have had to take “non-voluntary” annual leave as per their firm’s mandatory shutdown-period policy.
Such a practice is on par with “[non]-voluntary donations” to most Catholic schools and other virtue signalling workplace policies that promise the world but fail to meaningfully deliver. Anything wellbeing, diversity, environment-related will more often than not fall short, for example. Albeit, one of my goals for 2023 is to try to be less scathing of human resources, management, and perhaps the Catholic church. But I digress.
For the rest of us suckers trying to rid ourselves of holiday discombobulation, here’s part one of the best of 2022′s bills and laws to ease you into the grind.
Andrew Little’s hugely anticipated Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill came into force in June. The bill provided for a new structure and new accountability arrangements for the publicly-funded health system. It’s too early to tell whether it’s living up to the hype. But thoughts and prayers for the poor person - irrespective of their politics - who is assigned to fix a system that’s arguably been broken since long before the pandemic.
More on health-ish. Todd Muller’s Sunscreen (Product Safety Standard) Act will allow him and all Mount Maunganui-goers to expose their derrieres with abandon this summer. The Act, which came into effect in March, essentially called for increased regulation of the sunscreen industry. The requirements came into effect in September. While I too may be able to go freely into my mother’s garden in the Bay of Plenty sans a hat, there’s no fireproof lotion that’s both a sunscreen and insect repellent. Am I repelled by Tauranga or its bugs?
Ayesha Verrall’s Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill passed its third reading in December. As part of the Government’s goal for Aotearoa to be smokefree by 2025, the Act reduces the amount of nicotine allowed in smoked tobacco products; bans the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 1, 2009; and limits the number of retailers that can sell tobacco products.
While Attorney-General David Parker said the bill appeared to be consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the Bill of Rights Act, I’d be interested to see analysis of unforeseen consequences to disenfranchised communities, retailers, and the rise of tobacco on the black market, for example. What will become of my local dairy owner that terrorises me by selling off-milk and demanding an extra $2 for the paper on a Monday citing “supply and demand”, I wonder?
Louisa Wall’s Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Act successfully aimed to clean up what was lacking in the abortion law reforms. The Act that came into force in March provides a regulation-making power to set up safe areas around specific abortion facilities on a case-by-case basis. While the US crashes and burns with the reversal of Roe v Wade, Wall’s pioneering mentality (together with championing same-sex marriage in 2012) is greatly missed since she resigned in May.
As mentioned last week, the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Act was a win for women suffering birth injuries and mental injuries arising from said physical injuries. While Carmel Sepuloni’s bill aimed to provide more equitable coverage by ACC and better clarity for claimants, it fell short as it’s not retrospective. Meaning, all those suffering birth injuries listed in the legislation prior to October 1 will not qualify for ACC assistance.
Sepuloni isn’t done though. She introduced the Accident Compensation (Access Reporting and Other Matters) Amendment Bill in November and it is currently before the Education and Workforce select committee. It requires ACC to report annually on how Māori and other population groups are accessing ACC, and on any identified drivers or causes of disparities in access. It also brings forward eligibility for the minimum rate of weekly compensation from the sixth to the second week of incapacity. ACC’s architect, Sir Owen Woodhouse, RIP, would be proud.
Nicola Willis introduced her Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Shared Leave) Amendment Bill in December. It ensures paid parental leave can be split between the child’s carers and taken at the same time, provided the total paid parental leave doesn’t exceed the full 26 weeks. I’m excited to see what will become of this ‘now you see them [your kids], now you don’t’ piece of legislation in 2023.
Deborah Russell’s Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment Amendment Bill went before the House of Representatives in December. It aims to extend the time available to raise a personal grievance on the grounds of sexual harassment from 90 days to 12 months. Unfortunately the Bill is of little use to those suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociation, or take more than a year to come to terms with what’s happened to them without their consent.
Helen White’s Employment Relations (Restraint of Trade) Amendment Bill was introduced in September. It prohibits restraints of trade clauses in employment agreements for lower and middle-income employees. Higher income employers would have to carefully consider whether to use them, and if so, they’ll have to compensate employees accordingly. “Jumping ship” may be considered naughty but to monopolise people’s skills, and for a period that precludes employment, seems at odds with the fundamentals of capitalism, in my view.
The Fair Pay Agreements Act came into force in November. It provides a framework for collective bargaining for fair pay agreements across entire industries and occupations, as opposed to just unions and some employers. Fittingly, Michael Wood’s bill passed 76 votes to 43 just two days after Labour Day. While it could mean improving minimum rights and standards across the board, the National Party and Act have committed to repealing the bill if elected this year.
More on holidays - while they’re fabulous for nine-to-fivers, they’re typically tough on small business owners. It was thus surprising to see the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day Bill go through Parliament in less than a fortnight in September. An ode to the motherland, as it were.
Old traditions die hard, apparently, as the Repeal of Good Friday and Easter Sunday as Restricted Trading Days (Shop Trading and Sale of Alcohol) Amendment Bill failed during its first reading in May. The bill sought to remove the extra burden on businesses by removing the restriction on trading and selling alcohol on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Instead, the world over will continue to stock up on booze on days leading up to the Sabbath to then feel guilty about it. Being culturally Catholic, I know this feeling well. Nonetheless, while we haven’t covered consumer protections, finance, the media, foreign policy, the environment, or justice, I’ll leave that for next week.