Tirikatene Rino: Border Processing (Trade Single Window and Duties) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Border Processing (Trade Single Window and Duties) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 27 August 2013. Volume:693;Page:13091. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. I am pleased to make a contribution at this first reading of the Border Processing (Trade Single Window and Duties) Bill. We in the Labour Party are supporting this bill. At one level the bill is very non-controversial; it is actually quite constructive in a lot of ways. The actual genesis of the Joint Border Management System occurred when we were in Government and I acknowledge a former Minister of Customs here my colleague Nanaia Mahuta. The joint initiative the collaborative work between agencies to modernise and to improve the systems is what agencies should be doing all the time particularly when we are talking about our borders. Our border management system is critical to our livelihood as a country as we all know and it does not take much to remind everybody here that we have challenges every day on our borders. Eighty billion dollars worth of goods are moved backwards and forwards into our country. We have over 10 million travellers who go to and from across our borders. We like to welcome our manuhiri—those travellers—but we also want to put up ourpā defences for those things that are unwanted whether it be persons or cargo or biosecurity incursions and threats.This is as I have mentioned a non-controversial bill in one way. We want to improve our border processes and our border management system but I think we also need to take a step up and look at the context of these new IT information systems and look at the disasters that have occurred in the past. I need only mention a word like “INCIS” and that sends a shudder through members opposite who may have been connected with the police in the 1990s. Obviously a more recent example isNovopay which has entered into the lexicon as another absolute disaster in implementing new IT platforms.When we are looking at the Trade Single Window this is a positive measure we do support it and we want to make sure that the implementation of this new system is a success. Our freight importers and exporters and our cargo and logistics industries are reliant on being able to submit information and receive information from the relevant Government agencies involved on our border. So it is a welcome change that we have a live system now that they can have a single point of entry whereby they can do all their bits and pieces of messaging with their new systems to be able to actually get the business done. The Trade Single Window as part of this Joint Border Management System is a great improvement for our border management agencies and for managing and promoting the flows of commerce and trade across our borders. So we do support that.If we look at the different players in the industry I know that they have been very supportive and have worked closely with the relevant agencies on this. This is as I have mentioned a very big project hitting up to in excess of $80 million. That is actually a bit more than was originally budgeted for the project but I think given the importance of this new platform and these new tools that our exporters and importers and the whole industry are using we want to do it right. There have been delays but it is better that these systems are thoroughly tested and are thoroughly in conjunction with the industry to make sure that they do run smoothly.I recall from the briefing from the Minister at the estimates hearing before the select committee which I sat in on that the Minister mentioned that the two systems—the former system which I cannot quite remember off the top of my head another acronym or similar type of name will be running in parallel with the new—Hon Phil Goff:CusMod.RINO TIRIKATENE:CusMod—that is it. TheCusMod system will be running in parallel with the new Trade Single Window system for at least the next 18 months. Those users who still want to use the old system and feel safer under that can gradually migrate over or transition into the new Trade Single Window. The Minister has been very careful I suppose in the roll-out of this new platform. I suppose he needs only to look to his colleagues in terms ofNovopay and to the past and the huge disasters that have happened in the past in order to want to make sure that this new technology platform is a success. The Minister acknowledged that if there was a failure in this new system it would be catastrophic for us as a country which is why we have to get it right. It would be catastrophic in terms of interruptions to trade interruptions to imports and exports but most fundamentally the impact that it would have on our international reputation. We have seen in recent days and weeks the impact of certain blunders happening within our relevant agencies. We need only to look at the Ministry for Primary Industries and the loads of containers of our meat that were sitting in China unable to be processed. That was a huge faux pas on the part of officials and as we understand it came down only to the incorrect filling out of a form—not describing the name change from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to the new superministry the Ministry for Primary Industries.Those sorts of blunders can have huge consequences for our exporters for our primary sector and for our farmers and that flows right across our economy. We need to make sure that we have really good systems and that we are always looking to improve modernise and promote joint cooperation among the different agencies that are involved because it is very complex. We also need to make sure that we have resourcing going into those agencies that can support these flash new tools—the new Trade Single Window and joint border management types of systems. This is where I get to the point that you can have the flashest IT systems and technology but if you do not have front-line investment in people who can fill out forms or who can be proper lab technicians who can do tests that can identify particular bugs or potential threats that will have huge consequences in terms of our international reputation and the potential well-being and standard of living of many of us here in Aotearoa.What we do not want to see but what we have seen under this Government is a reduction in the budgets of front-line services for the likes of the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Customs Service and a really big emphasis and focus on these new IT-type systems. As we have seen fundamental basic clerical mistakes—as well as a dirty pipe in Fonterra and a technician who obviously was not thorough in terms of their analysis of the samples that were taken—can have huge impacts across the whole economy. That is why we need to make sure we have a really good balance between the systems and the resourcing on our front line. Apart from that I commend this bill to the House.