The Arbitration Amendment Bill 2017 finally reached its second reading in the House last night. Andrew Bayly MP opened the debate with the following:
“The original genesis of this bill came from members of the Arbitrators' and Mediators' Institute of New Zealand Inc. At this stage, I'd like to acknowledge the significant contributions of the renowned arbiters such as Sir David Williams QC and Mr John Walton.” Hansard
It's not every day your name gets mentioned in Hansard, and it is very gratifying that this Bill is finally closing in on getting passed into law. It has been a long time coming.
That we have got this far is tribute to the hard work of the AMINZ Executive Director, Deborah Hart; Sir David Williams QC; Paul Heath QC; and of course Paul Foster-Bell MP (as he then was) who sponsored the original Member's Bill and Andrew Bayly MP who took it up after Paul's retirement from Parliament.
Last night there was considerable discussion on the Bill, mostly in support from all parties, which is tribute to Andrew Bayly's hard work behind the scenes. The next stage is, on completion of the debate, the Bill will go into he Committee of the House, and on to its final reading. With one sitting day for Member's Bills left before the House rises on 18 December, it is unlikely the Bill will be passed this year; it will be dealt with in the New Year, of that we can be certain.