Faafoi Kris: Telecommunications (Development Levy) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFaafoi Kris: Telecommunications (Development Levy) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3738. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana): I would like to thank the Minister for taking a call because now everything is as clear as mud. I am really happy because it is so clear that it actually goes against what the Telecommunications Carriers Forum has said in its press release tonight. The Minister has said that the telecommunications companies are the ones to blame here and that this is not a tax. But it is clear from the press release put out by the Telecommunications Carriers Forum I guess a couple of hours ago that this situation as I said before is as clear as mud.The Minister said that because of the level of levy—or tax I should say—the prices should have come down. Well—Hon Amy Adams: No I didn’t.KRIS FAAFOI: Yes you did. But the Telecommunications Carriers Forum disputes that and in its press release from this evening I guess it says that the bill that we are currently debating “extends a tax which to date has not been explicitly recovered from consumers. However the industry cannot continue to absorb ongoing costs of this magnitude.” So who is right? Is it the Telecommunications Carriers Forum which is saying that “We have absorbed this for some time and now we have to charge.” or is it the Minister who says: “Well it shouldn’t be double-charging.”? I guess that is why we have got a problem with this piece of legislation because as I said the situation is as clear as mud.This is a new tax. In fact the departmental report on this bill says it is a new tax. It has been quoted but just because the Minister said that this is not a new tax I will quote it again. Part 4 of the departmental report asks a very specific question at 4.2. That question is: “Does this Bill create or amend a power to impose a fee levy or charge in the nature of a tax?” and the answer is yes. The answer is yes. And then Spark—[Interruption] Here is a question for the Minister if she is disputing a lot of things that I have said today. Does she dispute something that she said today? In her first reading speech she said: “… the industry will not need to put its prices up or explain to its customers why their bill is changing.” Well that would be great because she is obviously trying to cushion the market and people at home will be worried if they are going to have to pay more in their bills. But the reality is that less than an hour later Spark said it was going to put its prices up by $1 a month. You can question whether that is the fault of the company—and that question has been asked by New Zealand First and also by the Minister—or whether it is the fault of the Government but the reality is that people are going to be paying more for their monthly bill. They are going to be paying more for their monthly bill—that is the cold hard reality of this.This is a new tax and this Government is trying to spin its behind off to say: “Oh well it’s not our problem. It’s not our fault.” Well you created this problem—you created this problem. We are not going to vote for this piece of legislation for a very good reason: $300 million has already been spent and as we on this side of the Chamber have said the assessment and the critique of the Rural Broadband Initiative phase one has been well less than ideal. So if we are going to go and spend another $150 million which is going to be put together by this tax in this bill I think the New Zealand public would like us to know whether the Rural Broadband Initiative phase one has been effective or not.The Government claims that 86 percent of rural users now have access to this. Well we do not necessarily think that that is the case. There has been no assessment of the Rural Broadband Initiative phase one. This issue was before the Commerce Committee yesterday morning. InternetNZ wants us to have an assessment of the $300 million—which is you know not pocket change—to find out whether it has been effective. I do not think it is a bad thing for members on this side of the Chamber to say: “Was that $300 million spent well so that we can commit another $150 million to the next phase of this programme?”. We cannot sit here and say: “Well yes go and do whatever you like.”We absolutely agree with the objectives of the Rural Broadband Initiative but $450 million is a hell of a lot of money and we want to know whether the first $300 million has been effective or not. We have big questions about that. We have had a number of communities come to our select committee and say: “Well our experience hasn’t been that flash.” So is this something that is happening up and down New Zealand? Is it something that we need to address and is it something systemic?