Bakshi Kanwaljit SinghKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): Thank you Mr Speaker for allowing me to stand in support of the Arbitration Act 1996 amendment bill. This bill basically amends the original Act and brings in some changes. I would like to acknowledge Andrew Bayly the present sponsor of this bill for bringing this and I would also like to acknowledge Paul Foster-Bell the original sponsor of this bill.As we know the arbitration process is a way that some commercial and other disputes can be resolved and I feel that with arbitration we can have the services of some experts who can contribute in many matters. As we know in court sometimes technical issues don't get resolved because the judges are not expert on some of those issues. As was mentioned earlier in the recent signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership there was also a clause where arbitration was an issue.I would like to give an example of where international multinational companies take those cases to a neutral place where they feel that arbitration will be the best outcome for their dispute. I was reading one of the reports recently where a company in India sold their business for multimillion dollars and there was a dispute later on between both entities and that was taken to Singapore where it was resolved. And once we update our Arbitration Act over here it is possible that for companies—because internationally New Zealand has got a good reputation for being transparent and independent—those arbitration cases can come to New Zealand and that can be helpful for the economy. I remember that that particular case which I have mentioned earlier was resolved over a period of more than six months and a lot of money was spent over there which benefited the Singapore economy. We know that Singapore and Hong Kong are two very popular places where international arbitration takes place.As I said earlier arbitration is an effective method of resolving commercial and other disputes. We should have a proper mechanism available for companies to resolve these issues and international arbitration as I said is growing with time. In the last two decades we have seen that more and more cases are being resolved through arbitration. Every arbitration case heard in New Zealand averages about a million dollars to the local economy including the usage of conference centres hiring of accommodation and other means. That means that if we are able to encourage people to use New Zealand as a centre then our economy will be helped.Another part of arbitration is that privacy and confidentiality are frequently cited as defining characteristics of the valuable benefits of arbitration—87 percent of respondents to our survey said that it is one of the best ways to resolve their cases and it was also mentioned that the commercially important aspect not be made public. Most respondents—about 74 percent—believe that confidentiality should be an opt-out rather than opt-in feature. We understand that these issues can't be resolved quickly but we have to have a mechanism available. Improving the arbitration proceedings generally in New Zealand is also an important objective.This is because when disputes arise many New Zealanders genuinely want to be able to access professionally run alternative resolution systems because sometimes the court process becomes very expensive and people don't want to take that route because it will be a very lengthy process as well as being an expensive process. There are many reasons for this. Arbitration is a bona fides option as it offers advantages—a much cheaper process for resolving disputes. It is often quicker and compared to the court process it is less confrontational and is a logical first step for resolving these issues.Once again I stand in support of and acknowledge Andrew Bayly for his contribution in getting this bill to this stage and I would also like to acknowledge the Justice Committee for their contribution and for their deliberations on this. Some of the recommendations which have been made will be coming up at the committee of the whole House and they will be resolved there. With these words I commend this bill to the House.Bill read a second time.