Andersen VirginiaVIRGINIA ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you for the opportunity to stand to speak to the Electronic Interactions Reform Bill. I take great pleasure in having the opportunity to watch this bill proceed quickly through the House. There are two main opportunities that come through this bill. The first is better services for New Zealanders and the second one is a more efficient Government.Having better services for New Zealanders is part of the digital transformation that the Government is currently going through in order to be able to move with the times. The preferred channel of interaction or access to the Government for the average person is the internet. It's easier it's more convenient and it's mobile—it's able to be accessed far more easily. Time has become far more precious to us as we work longer hours and have busier family lives and we are far less able to take time out through working hours to visit a Government department whether you want to lodge a form or complete some necessity for a passport or for births deaths and marriages. Also this bill takes into account student IDs in being able to use RealMe for online. So it's about making people's lives easier in a very busy and modern environment.When you think of someone working in an office your average 9 to 5 or a daily working job where is the opportunity there to be able to take time out and visit to lodge an application and wait in line for that to happen? It often means taking time off work or it means trying to visit in your lunch hour and queuing up with everybody else who's got the same idea. So by being able to do it from home or God forbid even at your coffee break at work you can lodge your applications and have access to those services far more frequently and far more easily.For those that aren't at work it also makes it a lot easier. I can think back to being a parent at home and dreading the idea of having to queue up in a Government department with two toddlers in tow while one wipes stuff on the walls and the other one's running around and you're trying to wait for an hour to get your form filled out. So for mums and dads for people at home if it's hard to go out with young children having easy access to Government services and applications is a far better way to be moving. It makes the Government far more accessible and it makes life easier.There are also big benefits on the other side for the Government in terms of efficiency. When you think about the lifespan of a piece of paper within a Government department and the cost every time someone picks that up stamps it reviews it looks at it checks it puts it on a trolley and goes to the next part to get it looked at—to have easy access through the internet will improve Government flows will improve services and will make Government channels far more efficient. It does save time and it does save hours which will make things far faster.It's also important in terms of storage costs. When you think of the amount of filing filing cabinets and storage that is required with paper in the average Government department to make sure all of these things are retained—if we are moving towards a digital age where storage is no longer an issue that is also a big saving for the Government and efficiency.We want to move to a future where the Government is fast smooth and streamlined and this bill enables those efficiencies to kick in by amending 17 pieces of legislation.The big caution that we have in this space is that it's well and good moving towards this new digitally smooth world but we need to be sure that people are all taken with us in this transformation. This is one of the key areas that have been highlighted by the select committee process by looking at the digital divide. Those who are not accessing the internet are a concern. We've already heard tonight that 38 percent of Māori are not accessing fast internet. Well let's take a look at the statistics in terms of each age group. For 15- to 24-year-olds we see 93 percent of those accessing the internet. For 25- to 34-year-olds 94 percent are accessing the internet—it peaks there. Then it tracks down. For 35- to 44-year-olds 91 percent are accessing the internet; and right down to 75-plus at 32 percent currently. So that's a worry. That's a concern for the older generation of New Zealanders who aren't accessing the internet readily and who also aren't as mobile and able to get to Government departments at times. So this is an area where we also need to make sure we take people with us.One of the things I've heard about in my movements within Hutt South in the electorate is the disappearance of night classes where older New Zealanders in particular were able to get extra access to things like internet training and internet information—how to use the computer for internet banking and how to access things that were unknown to them when they don't have someone to help them in that space. So I'm heartened to see under Labour the reinstatement of access of those night classes so we can see people who aren't able to access those areas once again feeling confident and competent in that space.The other point that I would like to touch on which is really revolutionary in some ways for this bill is the online voting process that it introduces. It's quite an exciting phase to look at. While it's quite a small area in terms of the licensing area it's looking at it is a new thing for New Zealanders to be able to use that voting mechanism online. It will be exciting to see how that goes. Let's see how well it's used and how well it is being adapted for that purpose to see if it is able to be spun out to wider areas. It's really encouraging to see a new thing being tried in order for us to see.One of the things that have also been included is that there are a number of areas that will be ongoing to make sure that the digital divide does not disenfranchise New Zealanders. I note that there is a series of work programmes ongoing to make sure that we do include those people who may not be able to access the internet or to be accessing fast internet. For that reason it's good to see that the Government Administration Committee highlighted clear areas where there will be ongoing work in that space to ensure that we don't forget and simply move forward.The streamlined application processes for student identification cards is included which I've mentioned briefly. The Department of Internal Affairs is engaging with organisations in the tertiary education sector about using the RealMe identity verification service in their enrolment process something that will speed up what can again be a lengthy process of queues and waiting in line on enrolment day to get in that space. So if students also are able to have faster access to getting identity cards approved it will also be a saving in time.So while this bill is amending 17 pieces of legislation it touches on people right throughout New Zealand from early students at the beginning of their tertiary education right through to those people over 75 who need to still access the internet. I am proud to see New Zealand moving with the times and updating our technology within the Government to give people full access to the benefits that modern technology offers and I wish to commend this bill to the House.