Huo RaymondRAYMOND HUO (Labour): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. Much has been said about the background of this bill and much has been said about the book Into the River. I hope Into the River—if I may use the title as figurative language—could help guide us through some uncharted water".Mr Bishop constantly said the book had been banned in New Zealand. Was the book banned in New Zealand? Technically it wasn't. It was subject to an interim restriction order pending a decision by the Film and Literature Board of Review which meant it could not be sold in New Zealand or taken out of a library. After six weeks of deliberation the board issued its majority decision classifying the book in October 2015 as "unrestricted". The president again issued a strong dissenting opinion upholding his earlier view that the book warranted an R18 classification or at the very least an R14 classification. I want to acknowledge that. The bill in its current form has not only exposed the legislative anomaly but also got the balance right.We are living in the modern 21st century and online surfing has incrementally become a new normal. In terms of content classification we have broadcast TV content which is classified under the Broadcasting Act according to a code that is overseen by the Broadcasting Standards Authority. We have got filmed content which is classified by the Classification Office which provides ratings. But for the online content do we have adequate oversight mediation or power or any ability at all in that regard? The answer is probably no. So there is a grey area in our law and our community standards that has not been addressed.We are also living in a modern Aotearoa and celebrating our multiculturalism. We have more than 150 nationalities living in New Zealand. For the Chinese community for instance we are celebrating all sorts of our cultural events and celebrating our ethnic languages and publications in those languages. However this may serve as a timely reminder that we may have some issues in that regard particularly concerning what we are talking about in this bill and also particularly with regard to the proliferation of social media in any languages other than English.In terms of classification of content or publications classification concerning ethnic languages it is to some extent uncharted territory. For example there are at least four television channels broadcasting in Chinese in New Zealand there are about four or five radio channels servicing the Chinese-speaking audience and six Chinese language newspapers or magazines as well as a dozen online or social media news portals or websites. None of them are members of the New Zealand Press Council. The Press Council's scope applies to published material in newspapers magazines and their websites including audio and video streams as well as to digital sites with news content or blogs characterised by their new commentary. Presumably the scope covers all of the above but in English only.We all know an independent press plays a vital role in our democracy. It plays a very important role in protesting maintaining and guarding our freedom of expression. However as a journalist turned politician I do appreciate the distinctions between views and news and between facts and comments. However in the case of a publication concerning ethnic or in that regard foreign languages the reality is that it is impossible to maintain the basics at the moment let alone content that may be caught in the definition of "objectionable" as defined in the Films Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993.I can cite as an example that during the campaigning there was a five-point statement that was widely circulated via the Chinese social media platform and it openly called upon supporters to give their party vote to the National Party. The top two reasons it gave were (a) those who are receiving social welfare are "lazybones" and (b) it likened refugees to terrorists. This scaremongering had worked to some extent. We're not talking about politics here; we're talking about how to get our laws such as this bill—which will get passed into law—understood appreciated and eventually enforced in New Zealand. Thank you."