Pugh MaureenMAUREEN PUGH (National): It is my pleasure too to stand here in support of the Films Videos and Publications Classification (Interim Restriction Order Classification) Amendment Bill. This bill as we know is a member's bill in the name of Chris Bishop a National list MP based in the mighty Hutt Valley. This bill has been considered by the Justice and Electoral Committee and our decisions were informed by the four submissions that we received and two of those were supported by oral submissions. I am personally a lover of books and in my former role I would spend a lot of time visiting schools around my district and promoting reading and books to the students. One of my favourite sayings that I would share is: You may have tangible wealth untold; caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be—I had a mother who read to me." This was something that I promoted around the schools and in the audiences that I talked to about reading because reading is a fundamental part of our freedom of expression.I have also actively supported and advocated for our own Hokitika library back in Westland and actually with my council's support we built a brand new library—so much had we supported the access to books. This enlivened our community libraries as well. As a member of the Local Government New Zealand board I was the contact person for the Association of Public Library Managers and was even invited to speak at one of its annual conferences.I was recently visiting Grey Main School which is quite a big school in Greymouth on the West Coast and I was delighted when I came into the playground and was confronted by the big double doors that go into the school's library. The very wise words of one of the most famous doctors were emblazoned on the doors. Dr Seuss had said: "The more that you read the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places you'll go." Access to books and to knowledge is a fundamental part of our freedom of expression.I am not sure how anyone in this House even finds time to read books now with the other reading that we have to do especially in preparation for our select committees. But I have discovered audiobooks. I have got to say that with the amount of driving I do around my electorate they are an absolute godsend.I thank the committee at this stage for the work that was done on this bill. I thank of course Chris Bishop for bringing it to our attention. One of the things that I have noticed about being quite a new member of the Government is the absolutely amazing support that we get in our select committees from the clerks and in this particular committee from the advisers from the Ministry of Justice and our collegial friends across the House.To go back to the bill the need for this bill came about when on 11 September 2013 the book Into the River by Ted Dawe received a classification by the classification office as M meaning that it was unrestricted but it came with a note saying that it contains sex scenes offensive language and drug use. The classification for this book was challenged in December 2013 and an application was made to the Film and Literature Board of Review and it asked for a reclassification for this book. It was reclassified as R14 at that stage which was a unique classification at the time because it had not been assigned in this country prior to that. But there was growing dissatisfaction among the public especially from librarians and teachers about the restricted access that that placed on this book. Actually it was Auckland Libraries that requested that the decision be reconsidered and as a consequence the book was again reclassified in August 2015 and the book was again made unrestricted.Another challenge was made and this time it asked the Film and Literature Board of Review to exercise its power under section 49 of the Films Videos and Publications Classification Act of 1993 to impose an interim restriction order on the book. This was the first time that we had had an interim restriction order in New Zealand so it was breaking new ground. The president duly granted that order which effectively banned the book from supply and display. That meant that every book in every bookshop shelf had to be removed and it also had to be removed from school libraries. When the board met the majority view was to reclassify the book as unrestricted because the board had been asked again to have another look at this book and its classification. That happened in October 2015.So this demonstrates the inflexibility of the current law in that the book could only be banned or made unrestricted. This bill provides for allowing classifications that could restrict the publication based on certain things like age or classes of people—such as high school students or mature audiences or an age restriction like an R14 classification. This simple amendment gives the president of the Film and Literature Board of Review a couple of practical tools to add to the toolkit so that common sense can prevail and thereby avoid that messy situation that found the book Into the River completely banned for 6 weeks.In his submission to the select committee the chief censor stated that had this proposed amendment been in place in August 2015 the president could have issued a more nuanced interim restriction order and allowed the book to remain in circulation. This would have meant that some people at least could have still had access to the book while the interim restriction was in place and that would have reflected consistency with our right to freedom of expression.We heard at the select committee hearings that 92 percent of New Zealanders value the classifications that are applied to entertainment media when choosing for our children and teens. It can be assumed that Kiwis would value the same classifications being applied to books so that appropriate material can be bought or borrowed for our young people's reading pleasure. It is an important aspect in shielding our vulnerable readers from harm. We also heard that there is a high level of trust and reliance on the classification labels from our submitters. This bill helps protect New Zealanders from harm by providing consistent information from a trusted and independent source and it enables consumers to make informed choices about what they read. I congratulate Chris Bishop on his initiative in recognising the need to tidy up the principal Act and I have great pleasure in commending this bill to the House."