Hughes GarethGARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. I rise to support the Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Bill. I was born in 1981 and I am always disappointed that in the 21st century there are no hoverbikes there are no hover-skateboards and there are no flying cars. It does not really feel like the 21st century we were promised from science fiction growing up. But I can say at least that New Zealand has a space programme in this the beginning of the 21st century which I think is so fantastic and wonderful but also for a new generation of New Zealanders it is hopefully inspirational too—science engineering mathematics and entrepreneurialism are all things that Kiwis can aspire to. Growing up simply to be an All Black was my greatest ambition but sadly it did not turn out to be the case. But a whole new generation of Kiwis are going to be inspired to think that they could be launching rockets or satellites or undertaking world-leading science so it is fantastic.The Green Party has supported this bill all the way through. I remember meeting Peter Beck and the team many many years ago and recounting the story that most New Zealanders had not heard of say 4 or 5 years ago—that in a warehouse just outside Auckland Airport we were building rockets and we were on track to becoming only the 11th space nation on the planet. More incredibly we were going to become the only space nation that had reached orbit entirely privately without a Government-run space programme. It is wonderful that so many more Kiwis know about it. It was great to see the successful test out at Māhia Peninsula. It is such an incredible thing.This was one of the most enjoyable bills I think to work on in the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee. I thank the submitters the other members of the select committee and the chair. The bill has been improved in the select committee process. There are three parts I would like to pick up in particular. The first area where I think it has been substantially improved—and I would really like to acknowledge the Hon David Parker for his consistent work in this area—is in terms of making it clear on the peaceful uses of space. When you look at clause 3 you can see three new key points being put in confirming that it is prohibited to place any object carrying nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction in space to establish military bases installations or fortifications on celestial bodies—that is asteroids the moon etc.—or to test any type of weapons or conduct manoeuvres on celestial bodies or in space. It has been very clearly reinforced with the updated bill coming out of the select committee that the intent of this legislation is to promote the peaceful use of space which is consistent with our international obligations but it is also what New Zealanders want. We are quite rightly proud of our nuclear-free tradition in New Zealand and it is clarified in these amendments to clause 3.As a Green Party MP and as a passionate environmentalist an area it was great to see progress on in the select committee was the issue of orbital debris. This is in clauses 9 17 25 and 33. As members well know we have got some 500000 pieces of space junk greater than 1.5 cm orbiting the Earth and more than 20000 that are significantly larger. If members have seen the film Gravity they can see the risk potential in the future. It is quite clear that decades of the other 10 countries' space programmes have left a huge amount of space junk—orbital debris—in space. It was I think a bit of an oversight that the launch permitting regime this legislation enacts was not cognisant of the risks once you had launched your payload into orbit of what could happen to the other parts left there that were intended to return back to Earth. It is great that this now must be considered by the Minister and a plan must be presented.The third area was the debris protection area. This was an area where I raised the Green Party's significant concerns in the first reading. This—I think it is Part 3 of the legislation—dealt with the impacts if there was an accident—for example if a rocket exploded over the sea or over land after launch. In my first reading speech I noted the concern that the legislation was so specific that it said that individuals could not photograph or report—and they literally could not sketch it—any debris that they came across. This seemed counterintuitive. It seemed to be breaching our human rights and the fact that a human rights report was not done on this part was we thought an oversight.After hearing the submissions in the select committee—I would like to thank the Journalists' Association which presented and some human rights experts—and by questioning officials we got to the bottom of it. As part of this legislation we signed the Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) with the US Government to protect US intellectual property when it comes to their rockets. But more importantly the rationale given by the TSA which was signed by the New Zealand Government and why these quite stringent requirements were in the debris protection area provisions of this legislation was that if there is an accident there is some sensitive technology you would not want terrorists or rogue States for example to come across.Quite bluntly by building these rockets and reaching orbit we could if you put a nuclear weapon on top of it have an intercontinental ballistic missile. If the componentry of said rocket was found by elements that would want to do harm through shooting intercontinental ballistic missiles around the world it could be incredibly detrimental for world security. So while there is some impingement on human rights in that you cannot sketch the debris you come across we do think it is reasonable as part of the movement to consider and promote the peaceful uses of space to make sure that we do not see people launching—as we see in North Korea and other countries—rockets.An area I was focused on in the select committee—and I am glad that we have clarified it in the legislation—is that this is not impinging on media reporting. A debris protection area is not automatically going to be enacted if there is—hopefully not—an accident but a Minister must proactively decide whether a debris protection area is in fact needed. We have clarified in both the explanatory text and the legislation that it is not preventing the public or media from viewing or taking photographs of space launches or reporting outside the debris protection area. This is simply to stop the key components to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles from being shared around the world and we do think that is an entirely reasonable position. So we looked into that and we came back.Basically it is an incredibly exciting time for the country—we could be developing a space industry. I want to acknowledge the considerable incredible work of Rocket Lab. It is tremendously exciting and fantastic for the area where we used to go summer camping on Māhia Peninsula. The key question now—whether we have a thriving space industry going forward or not—is clearly in the Government's court. This Parliament is coming together to set up the permitting regime and there is still a huge number of questions that have been kicked off to the Government to decide on regulations in terms of insurance and liability issues. We heard in the select committee the example of Australia which tried to stimulate a space industry but because of rules that industry participants considered to be too stringent and punitive it has not got one. We need to make sure that we do not do that here in New Zealand; that we find the appropriate balance to encourage innovation and fantastic new industries and potential new industries as we have here. So the ball is very much in the Government's court. It has not said publicly or to the committee where it is falling on those areas but I would urge it strike the appropriate balance.All in all I would like to stress the Green Party's support for the bill. It has been improved in the select committee. Thank you to everyone who played a role. It is an exciting time for New Zealand in the 21st century.