Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, it's great to be here. I've been a Minister for six months now and I've got to say that I'm enjoying every minute of it. 

It's great to be in a position to be able to get things done, to help people like you get on with running your businesses by addressing the over regulation that hampers so many aspects of living in New Zealand, and especially in doing business here.

New Zealand is over regulated. Government has got too big.

Resources have been draining from the productive sectors into the state sector, which has been dragging the economy and the country down.
Red tape is tying up businesses in knots.

The practice of imposing more and more obligations onto businesses and councils must stop. Businesses have to pass on those costs to consumers, like councils pass them on to ratepayers and consent applicants.

Over the past few years there has been an avalanche of new rules and regulations. It's no wonder that people have given up on projects saying "it's too hard."

It's been dragging the country down - it has to stop.
My job as Minister for Regulatory Reform shouldn't exist. All ministers should be ministers for regulatory reform. But they aren't, as a rule, and a quick look at economic history shows that they rarely have been.
To get better regulation, we should first name it for what it is - government regulation is coercion.

It's like imprisonment, the power of arrest and taxation - all instruments of coercive power exclusively exercised by governments under law.

But using law to restrict people's rights and actions is only acceptable when better alternatives won't work, and when it's in the public interest to do so.

With coercive power comes great responsibility. A Regulatory Responsibility Act will stay the hand of government. It will demand that regulators show reason, restraint, and respect for private rights and interests. 

A taskforce to carry forward the work of the Commerce Select Committee on my Regulatory Responsibility Bill has been established and is due to report by 30 September.

I see one of my jobs as Minister for Regulatory Reform as changing the culture of government.

The culture that says politicians and bureaucrats have a better idea of individual self-interest than individuals do.

The culture that comprehends market failure, but not government failure.

The culture that overlooks the regulatory burden borne by households and firms. The culture that says taking people's money is OK, as long as you have a law that lets you do so. The culture that fails to realise that regulations can stop people from doing good as well as harm.

Time spent on complying with regulation is time that can't be spent on producing value.

Money spent on complying with regulation will ultimately be passed on to consumers as higher prices.

My goal is to weed out the noxious specimens from the regulatory landscape.

We have begun with the low-hanging fruit, but we intend to continue, root and branch, until nothing remains but what is natural and benign.

As a first step, the Minister of Finance and I have taken papers to Cabinet which have approved reviews of the Building Act, the 2nd stage of the RMA, the Holidays Act and the Overseas Investment Act.

Terms of reference for the reviews will be finalised shortly.

I have also targeted the ridiculous rules surrounding shop trading hours, the fencing of swimming pools, and drinking water standards. 

In addition, a special parliamentary committee is reviewing the Emissions Trading Scheme. 

Parliament wants to know what the costs and benefits of the ETS are. So do I!

In the current climate, businesses can do with some good news. These are unprecedented times. For the nation, and the government, it is not business as usual. So how can we help?

We haven't been on the job long, but I believe we're making changes and carrying out reforms that will make a big difference both to businesses and to individual New Zealanders.

As well as being Minister for Regulatory Reform, the Prime Minister appointed me as Minister of Local Government, another area in real need of change.

I have three key goals in local government.
Firstly, I want to keep rate rises down and encourage councils to focus on core activities.

On the necessities, not the luxuries. On rubbish removal, water supply, roads, and parks.

Businesses pay a huge percentage of council rates. It's one of your biggest costs and I think you can get better value for money.

Secondly, I want greater transparency and accountability in local government.

Right now, council processes are murky and confusing, and that needs to change.

My third aim is to cut the red tape driving everyone crazy.

I want to see fewer of the absurd compliance demands in the regulatory area. And I want to reduce the financial burden placed by central government on local government.

Most of you will be aware of the reforms to the Resource Management Act, announced recently.

It's a good start but it's just stage one.

There will be more work on the RMA and related issues.

I would like to see legal responsibility - and liability - taken away from councils and placed back where it should be, on the industry and on individual contractors or suppliers.
They have the expertise and incentives to manage it properly.

The reason councils are so incredibly demanding is they're paranoid about the possibility of being found negligent some time in the future about any decision they make on minor as well as major building projects.

It's appropriate that they are stringent and demanding in many areas involving safety and reliability of structures, to prevent leaky buildings for example.

And there should be a desire to continually improve our communities.

But it's gone too far and it's got to stop.
The Local Government Act is also long overdue for review, so that's on the agenda.

It's responsible for a lot of the foolishness and waste by councils.

Far too many new obligations, with associated costs, have been passed on to local government - which in turn passes them on to ratepayers, or anyone applying for a building or resource consent.

However, while these pieces of legislation are responsible for many of the absurdities, councils themselves must bear part of the blame.

They have become very risk-averse and over zealous.
In particular, the way they interpret legislation - and extend the ridiculous controls into micro areas of a project.

Costs, charges and fees keep being raised way beyond what is reasonable or justifiable.

Three thousand dollars for a consent to build a ten thousand dollar Skyline garage is absurd.

The paperwork's gone crazy too. Up to fifty pages of paperwork is needed for councils to approve a garage - whereas two or three used to be enough.

Make no mistake - I accept councils do a lot of good work.
But they have become a block on growth in this country.

We are in a very tough situation economically and we must do everything we can to help businesses flourish and grow. By cutting costs and cutting red tape.

I want to free up businesses to do what they do best - create wealth, opportunity and jobs.

These are challenging times, and we need to lift our game substantially.

I believe there are very real economic gains to be made in the regulatory area.

Reform is needed, and I promise you change is going to come. Thank you.