Housing Corporation Amendment Bill

  • discharged on 09 March 2015

Housing Corporation Amendment Bill

Government Bill

282—1

Explanatory note

General policy statement

The Bill amends the Housing Corporation Act 1974 to consolidate housing policy advice to Ministers within the Department of Building and Housing.

The Bill aims to better align the objectives and functions of the Corporation with government agencies. The Corporation will retain its operational policy capability to support its business activities, but will no longer be required to ensure that the Minister of Housing receives appropriate policy advice, or any other advice or information on housing and services related to housing.

In addition, the Corporation will no longer be expected to undertake research and monitoring activities for the purpose of advising the Minister of Housing on housing and services related to housing.

Regulatory impact statement

The Department of Building and Housing produced a regulatory impact statement on 6 December 2010 to help inform the main policy decisions taken by the Government relating to the contents of this Bill.

A copy of this regulatory impact statement can be found at—

Clause by clause analysis

Clause 1 is the Title clause.

Clause 2 is the commencement clause. The effect of the commencement clause is that the Act comes into force on 1 July 2011 at the latest, but may be brought into force on an earlier date appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council.

Clause 3 provides that the Act amends the Housing Corporation Act 1974.

Part 1
Amendments to principal Act

Clause 4 repeals section 3B and substitutes a new section 3B. The new section in fact largely restates the previous provision: the only change is that old section 3B(b) (relating to the provision of advice to the Minister of Housing) is dropped.

Clause 5 tidies up section 3C(1) following the change to section 3B.

Clause 6 amends section 18(2) by making clear that the Housing Corporation's research and monitoring function described in section 18(2)(j) does not include research and monitoring for the purpose of advising the Minister of Housing on those matters. It also repeals section 18(2)(k) since the Corporation's function of advising the Minister on housing falls away.

Part 2
Transitional matters

Clause 7 contains provisions that provide for the standard exclusion of entitlement to benefits for a technical redundancy. Those provisions will apply to employees of the Housing Corporation who accept positions in the Department of Building and Housing as a result of the removal from the Housing Corporation of its policy function in relation to housing.

Hon Phil Heatley

Housing Corporation Amendment Bill

Government Bill

282—1

The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows:

1 Title

  • This Act is the Housing Corporation Amendment Act 2011.

2 Commencement

  • This Act comes into force on the earlier of—

    • (a) a date appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council:

    • (b) 1 July 2011.

3 Principal Act amended

  • This Act amends the Housing Corporation Act 1974.

Part 1
Amendments to principal Act

4 New section 3B substituted

  • Section 3B is repealed and the following section substituted:

    “3B Objectives of Corporation

    • The objectives of the Corporation are to give effect to the Crown's social objectives by providing housing, and services related to housing, in a businesslike manner, and to that end to be an organisation that—

      • “(a) exhibits a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community in which it operates; and

      • “(b) exhibits a sense of environmental responsibility by having regard to the environmental implications of its operations; and

      • “(c) operates with good financial oversight and stewardship, and efficiently and effectively manages its assets and liabilities and the Crown's investment.”

5 Communication of the Crown's social objectives

  • Section 3C(1) is amended by omitting “the objective stated in section 3B(a)” and substituting “the objectives stated in section 3B”.

6 Functions of Corporation

  • (1) Section 18(2)(j) is amended by adding “(but not for the purpose of advising the Minister of Housing on those matters)”.

    (2) Section 18(2)(k) is repealed.

Part 2
Transitional matters

7 Employment matters

  • (1) In this section,—

    comparable employment in the Department means employment in the Department that is—

    • (a) in a suitable alternative position; and

    • (b) in the same general locality; and

    • (c) on terms and conditions of employment that are no less favourable than those that apply to the employee immediately before the offer of employment (including any service-related, redundancy, and superannuation conditions); and

    • (d) on terms that treat the period of service with the Corporation (and any other period of service recognised by the Corporation as continuous service) as if it were continuous service with the Department

    Corporation means Housing New Zealand Corporation constituted under section 3 of the Housing Corporation Act 1974

    Department means the Department of Building and Housing

    housing policy function means the function of advising the Minister of Housing on housing and services related to housing.

    (2) An employee of the Corporation is not entitled to receive any payment or other benefit on the ground that his or her position in the Corporation has ceased to exist if—

    • (a) the position ceases to exist as a result of the removal from the Corporation of the housing policy function; and

    • (b) in connection with that removal,—

      • (i) the employee is offered comparable employment in the Department (whether or not the employee accepts the offer); or

      • (ii) the employee is offered, and accepts, other employment in the Department or the Corporation.

    (3) Sections 60, 61, and 65 of the State Sector Act 1988 do not apply to the appointment of an employee of the Corporation to a position in the Department if subsection (2)(a) applies.

    (4) An employee of the Corporation who is appointed to a position in the Department because subsection (2)(a) applies is not a new employee for the purposes of sections 62 and 63 of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

    (5) The appointment of an employee of the Corporation to a position in the Department because subsection (2)(a) applies does not constitute new employment for the purposes of the KiwiSaver Act 2006.