Tolley Anne; Wall LouisaMechanics and MiscellaneousCHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Right. Members in the absence of any further debate it's my view it's now reasonable to move on to the next debate which is the debate on mechanics and miscellaneous comprising Part 1 and schedules 1 and 2; Part 5 Subpart 1; and Part 6 Subparts 3 4 and 5 and schedule 9. LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe Madam Chairperson Tolley. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on theme four: mechanics and miscellaneous. I've got two particular clauses that I'd like to address in my contribution tonight. It really is the distinction between clause 250 which is an existing clause in the legislation and the new clause 251. The emphasis on the new clause 251 is about authorising persons and specific class authorisations and I particularly want to focus on the distinction between that clause and clause 250 which is about authorising individuals and authorising them for not more than three years. That is a very I guess strategic decision and I see that a vocation that has been highlighted in that particular clause is a police officer who actually may carry out the functions of a customs officer. So I also thought it was interesting for the committee to actually look at the roles of the customs officer and I've managed to find six specific roles. The first is intercepting contraband—so illegal drugs—checking travellers their baggage cargo and mail; assessing and collecting customs duties excise tax and GST on imports; protecting New Zealand against illegal trade; enforcing import and export restrictions and prohibitions; and collecting accurate import and export data. In the new clause 251 it also is about carrying out the functions of a customs officer but it makes a requirement about a circumstance necessitating such action within the next 30 days. So the authorisation must not be for more than 30 days. So I would like an explanation from the Minister about the differences between clause 250 and clause 251. I'm particularly interested in clause 251 and interested in who in what circumstances—and actually why the 30 days? There must be a rationale so it'd be quite good to hear from the Minister about that specific clause in the bill. I'm also really interested in clause 416A. Clause 416A is the work of the select committee and it is about customs appreciating recognised trusted traders. So this new clause requires the Customs Service in their annual report to cover initiatives to reduce compliance costs for businesses with a strong compliance record. I find it really interesting that it's made its way into the bill because I was looking at the New Zealand Customs Service and apparently we're an incredibly efficient service. So just for the committee's information we manage to clear product within a matter of hours. We were actually sixth out of 138 countries in the efficiency of border administration in the World Economic Forum's enabling trade index 2014 we were sixth out of 160 countries for border facilitation in the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index 2014 and we were 27th out of 189 countries for trading across borders in the World Bank's Doing Business study in 2015. So it seems that we have an incredibly efficient Customs Service but the whole purpose about a trusted trader scheme is about facilitating trade and that leading to increased productivity. So in looking specifically at clause 416A which the select committee recommended be inserted I found in the bill's commentary a reference to Australia actually. It seems that the trusted trader scheme in Australia was reported upon implementation to increase productivity by $1.5 billion. So it would be quite good to know whether or not our Customs Service is anticipating increases in productivity and what the value of that productivity is because I think then it will enable the House to understand why this clause has been added and if it's not about facilitating trade what are the benefits? Ernst & Young's Tax Watch article on 7 August 2015 stated that it was about compliant importers leading to some sort of self-accreditation process where they through this trusted trader scheme could prove that they had the systems and processes that would then provide The ability for importers to provide assurance to Customs regarding compliance and security of [their] supply chains". It was about an agreed audit programme which meant there was less time spent by customs on those audits which resulted in those particular products from those trusted traders having priority and being streamlined—the whole relationship between these trusted traders and customs. I think overall the net benefit for New Zealand was then about enabling customs to focus its resources on high-risk areas. So it would be nice to know whether there's been some economic modelling and then what this freed-up resource will enable customs to do. But overall I think that this is an incredibly beneficial addition by the select committee obviously supported by the officials. But it would be nice to hear from the Minister about her anticipated benefits and possibly the opportunities that now exist because of that specific clause. Thank you."