Radhakrishnan PriyancaPRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. It's a privilege to speak to the Electronic Interactions Reform Bill. It's also the first time I'm actually speaking in the House after my maiden speech and possibly the first time I'm speaking with you in the chair so I'd like to extend my congratulations to you and to your presiding officers and to the Ministers—[Interruption] Shall I go on?This bill is a cross-agency omnibus bill that amends 17 Acts to allow certain Government services and legislative requirements to be delivered electronically. I will go into some of the aspects of the bill that I particularly like so that I can speak I guess a little bit more to how I feel it will be beneficial to all New Zealanders. The proposals affect Acts that are administered by primarily three Government departments and those are namely the Department of Internal Affairs the Department of Conservation and the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. It's part of ongoing information management and digital transformation work in the State sector as the Minister of Internal Affairs has also pointed out previously. In essence this bill makes it easier for individuals and businesses to interact with Government and that is important. This Government has made it abundantly clear that we will prioritise increasing public participation increasing openness and increasing transparency. This bill makes good progress towards that goal as it moves many of our ministries squarely into the 21st century. It moves our ministries into the digital age and it allows them to communicate more easily with New Zealanders as well.There are four distinct parts to this bill. The first part allows for certain services offered by Births Deaths and Marriages to be applied for without requiring written statutory declarations. It also proposes to remove some of the restrictions on the use of photographs that are stored in the RealMe verification services with the consent of the individual concerned of course.The proposals related to MBIE or the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment allow people or businesses to appear before Government agencies via electronic means in certain circumstances. That means that they would be able to be interviewed using things like audio and video technology. I mean I've spent a fair few hours in teleconferences and video conferences and know how beneficial that can be especially in an age where so many of us are time poor. My understanding is that it's going to save everyone involved quite a bit of time and money and effort which is a great thing.I imagine this would be particularly beneficial and as I was reading this bill and researching it a number of people I know personally sprang to mind who would benefit from this—particularly people who have young families for whom travel is quite difficult and involves a lot of planning forethought and childcare provisions as well; those who struggle to find money for travel; and those who live in rural areas. MBIE's proposals would also allow for certain types of notices to be provided electronically.The proposals relating to the Department of Conservation would allow game hunting licences to be sold online. It would also allow—and this is the part of the bill that excites me particularly—online voting as was mentioned previously for Fish & Game Council elections. This is something that's been talked about time and again in the past: the need for us to move towards electronic voting. I mean if we can do it for the Fish & Game Council elections that means this takes us one step closer to online voting in a number of different elections. So many have spoken to me about online voting whether it's local government elections or central government elections as well and this takes us closer to that reality. So I'm quite excited about this part of this bill.It is also important to note that there were some concerns that were expressed during the first reading of this bill that have been considered by the Government Administration Committee which of course was the select committee that examined this bill. It is important also to note that the select committee recommends that this bill be passed with the proposed amendments which the Government agrees to. I'm also pleased that the Privacy Commissioner was supportive of the specific parts of the bill that his submission commented on. One of the concerns raised during the first reading of this bill and one of the concerns that was considered by the select committee was around the digital divide. There are a number of factors that lead to that gap of the internet haves and have-nots those who will be able to benefit from this digital transformation and those who may not be able to. Some of these barriers include ethnicity; language barriers; digital literacy is another one; geography of course—where you live in New Zealand—and people with disabilities also. Age and household income continue to be the two biggest dividers the two greatest factors that determine whether people whether families can access the internet and therefore benefit from this transformation that we are debating here today.As previously mentioned by the Minister Tracey Martin the focus of this bill is to enable access to services through various digital channels for those who choose to interact with Government online but of course if we're here debating the benefits of democracy as well or the importance of democracy then the onus is on us to ensure that we bridge that gap or we close that gap so that there are more people who are able to benefit from this digital transformation. Therefore this must be addressed. It was as I mentioned previously addressed or considered by the committee and mentioned in the committee's report. The ability to interact with Government easily should not be limited just to the young and those with deep pockets; it should be available to and accessible by everyone and that's why this Government will work closely—we've said we'll work closely—with industry representatives with different communities with academics and with key stakeholders so that we're able to determine the extent of the digital disadvantage and also to take some practical measures to address that gap.In addition though and this is what we have to acknowledge this bill being passed in this Government means that—this is a Government that has already said we will be focusing on so many other aspects of lifting people out of income deprivation. We have a strong focus on that across the board with a specific focus on those who are most in need. We've committed to making sure that there is decent secure work that is available that pays enough for everyone to live with dignity. We will focus on fixing the health crisis the housing crisis and making sure that we have better transport that gets our cities moving again and all of these will go a long way in ensuring that our families are lifted out of income deprivation out of poverty so that there are more people who can benefit from this digital transformation as well.This is not only a sensible bill; it's one that embraces the 21st century. Government is the linchpin user of ICT in our economy the largest single user of technology. This is something that is innovative is visionary and enables us to be the best country that we can be for all New Zealanders. It increases trust between people and the Government. All New Zealanders deserve open and transparent democracy. The internet and digital tools are instrumental in us achieving that trust in us insuring that we can bridge those gaps so that more New Zealanders are able to benefit from these changes from this bill and what it will achieve for us all.