Lee MelissaMELISSA LEE (Chairperson of the Commerce Committee): Thank you so much for calling me before my learned colleague opposite David Clark. I am sure that he will make a great contribution. We do actually belong to the same Commerce Committee.It is a great pleasure to contribute on the Economic Development and Infrastructure Sector Vote Business Science and Innovation segment of this debate. The vote itself is $2.2 billion and we as the select committee undertook hearings with five Ministers of the Crown. The Estimates process is an important part of the proceedings of this House and Parliament and our democracy as it gives the members of Parliament an opportunity to hear from Ministers about their vision for the Budget process and what they are going to be doing with the money for their departments. Ministers also undertake questions from the Opposition obviously—and our Opposition had many questions.I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleague Brett Hudson who actually chaired one of the Commerce Committee meetings when I was away. I would like to recognise his good chairmanship. I hear that he actually did a wonderful job. I would also like to thank the wider committee for making sure that the Commerce Committee actually ran very smoothly and the secretariat providing the support which is very valued—it is great assistance that it provides to the committee as well. I also want to commend the work of the Office of the Auditor-General. I would like to take the opportunity to thank it for the work that it does because it is actually very important work that it provides to the members. It looks at the votes and how they might actually be utilised and it gives us some heads-up on some of the grey areas. I think it provides a tremendous service to New Zealand and to members of Parliament.The Commerce Committee as I have just stated heard from a number of key Ministers of the Crown and I would like to note for the Committee of the whole House some of the matters that were actually raised during those hearings.The Hon Amy Adams the Minister for Communications spoke to the committee about a wide-ranging number of initiatives that she is tackling as the needs for better technology across our country continue to grow. As many members will note technology has grown so fast in the last couple of years that even our elderly community is enjoying the fast speeds of the internet and is utilising technology to communicate with family across the oceans in countries away from New Zealand as well. In particular the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) was raised by the Minister with an emphasis on over 300000 households in rural areas that are now able to connect to fixed wireless or improved copper services. Minister Adams also noted that 4G capability of the RBI is at speeds of up to 100 megabits per second and that this is well in excess of the target speed. We often talk about some of the countries that are more advanced in internet speeds and we can proudly say that New Zealand actually does better than those countries. I am very proud of the work that Minister Adams has been able to provide for this country.Another key area raised by the honourable Minister was the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband (UFB) to 90 percent of businesses schools and health services across targeted parts of New Zealand. The extension of the UFB roll-out is now hoped to extend to up to 80 percent of New Zealanders by 2022 and not just key agencies. This is due to the overwhelming influence that ultra-fast broadband is able to have on the technologically innovative island nation that New Zealand is. As I mentioned senior members of our community are now utilising technology like mobile phones. Instead of just calling people they can actually talk to them using technology like Skype and FaceTime. I think that having ultra-fast broadband will make these connections faster and more frequent and I think people will probably feel the distance a little bit less.The Hon Paul Goldsmith also spoke to the committee about the key work that he has been achieving to protect New Zealand's consumers and to help make businesses and New Zealanders smarter in their transactions and financial capability. The Minister outlined a number of key activities that he has been undertaking to support those with rights through to creative sector study as well as new initiatives and support such as the 25.5 percent increase in funding for 2016-17 to assist in the enforcement of general market regulation and better support our fair trade and consumer protection laws. I think that is something that we should congratulate Minister Goldsmith on.Also Minister Steven Joyce spoke in the hearing on the economic development appropriations—