Andersen VirginiaVIRGINIA ANDERSEN (Labour): Mr Assistant Speaker I wish firstly to congratulate you on your election to your new position. It's good to see you sitting in the Chair. First of all I would like to say in speaking on the Electronic Interactions Reform Bill it's important that we strike a balance as we've heard tonight already. It's a great thing to see: making Government more accessible to New Zealanders—that's a good thing—not only New Zealanders but I note also to businesses—to make transactions and communicating with Government far more accessible. But it is important that there is a balance struck by ensuring that we take all New Zealanders with us and not letting this so-called—as we've heard tonight—digital divide make participation more difficult.We note that there's been a series of concerns raised through the Government Administration Committee and we've heard also that it's one in every five New Zealanders who in fact don't have access to the internet regularly. I know that where I come from in Hutt South there are many children who go home at night who don't have the internet in their homes and who don't have access to a computer and so have to use either libraries or a friend's house. So it's important that we remember to make sure that the next generation of New Zealanders are participating in this new wave of change that we are initiating through this bill.There is also another area we need to look at. It's the generation of New Zealanders who didn't grow up with computers who might not through economic or socio-economic means be excluded but through their own technological awareness. I know for a fact that my mum has tried to turn off the TV with her cellphone more than once and there must be other New Zealanders out there who are challenged by the fact of getting to terms with new technology.It's been noted that there's a series of initiatives in place that are able to counter this concern. We have a cross-agency digital economy work programme that aims to support the growth of the digital sector and the uptake of smart use of ICT across the economy. Also there was research initiated by the Department of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment in December 2016 that aims to gain insights around the current levels of digital exclusion and capability. A digital services heat map will be produced that shows how the trust and InternetNZ are updating that maps and digital initiatives by location type and also programme which is encouraging to see and also research on international initiatives that assesses countries' effectiveness in dealing with digital exclusion and improving digital capability.But I do believe that the greatest initiative to address the risk of having a digital divide would be this Labour-led Government's Families Package which will be coming into force shortly. It's by making sure that we have families who are receiving the basics in their lives through ensuring we invest in health education and housing and not give tax cuts to those at the top—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order!VIRGINIA ANDERSEN: —who already have computers—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! The member will come back to the bill. VIRGINIA ANDERSEN: It is this Labour-led Government's initiative to make sure that we have a fair society in order for all families to be able to afford to have access to the internet and have access to their computers. That's why we are extending Working for Families to 30000 more introducing a Best Start payment to help families with costs in the child's early years and introducing a winter energy payment to superannuitants and those on main benefits—so that everybody in New Zealand has the money to go and purchase a computer and pay their weekly bills to access the internet. That is how we address the digital divide in New Zealand.As a former public servant I also would like to say that having communication flows inside of Government is always a priority. The amount of time taken up with paper and paper-pushing takes a lot of cost on to the taxpayer. Having more effective flows and being able to communicate whether it be online or through digital online cameras is a fine way of making sure meetings and paperwork are not having the Government's time taken up unnecessarily.It's interesting to see how the uptake of new technology has increased over time. When we think back to when the first ways of communicating or getting information was over the radio and think about how that took over time for people to get their radio and get that up and running. Television—the first TV sets that we saw were people getting information and that uptake increased more quickly than radio. Now with the increase of internet that uptake has been faster than ever. When we see the rate and the level of New Zealanders that are engaging through Facebook through Twitter and through Snapchat and we see how ready people are to engage through the internet it is a good sign that the Government needs to get on board and grasp the opportunity of more effective communication with a wider range of people but we must ensure we do that in a way that reaches everybody.It's good to see that there is agreement across the House on this piece of legislation. It's good to see that there is agreement from all parties that we need to be making the New Zealand Government far more accessible to New Zealanders. I look forward to seeing New Zealanders and businesses taking full advantage of a far more accessible Government here in New Zealand. Thank you.Bill read a second time.