Clark DavidThird ReadingHon Dr DAVID CLARK (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): I move That the Companies (Levies) Amendment Bill be now read a third time. This bill—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Is the Minister going to move a legislative statement or is—Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: No. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): OK. Thank you.Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: Madam Chair I move—sorry let me just check on that. I apologise—no I don't apologise because that's in relation to the next bill. So I will stick with what I've got there. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): We'll just start over.Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: I don't want a legislative statement.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): We'll start over.Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: I move that the Companies (Levies) Amendment Bill be now read a third time. The bill sets the framework for the future funding model for the New Zealand Companies Office and it's great to see the progress through this House so that we can get on with implementing it. I want to thank all of the members who have contributed to the debate this evening. Whether the points were agreed or not I think it's good to air these issues because the principles of how we charge for these services deserve the debate of this House. Before I go on I want to thank again the Finance and Expenditure Committee for their work on the bill and the suggested amendments. I think the bill is better for it. As I've explained to the House over a number of times over the last few months the Companies Office runs 16 different registers presently all benefiting New Zealand society and economy in different ways. At the moment the legislation requires that those registers be funded separately from fees collected on each register. But that just doesn't make sense anymore in the modern world. The bill is designed to provide a better future funding model for the Companies Office. The bill will help support the good work that the Companies Office does and will allow some flexibility to meet future challenges. The passage of this bill through the House is not the end of the work. The next stage is a full public consultation with levy proposals set out in detail. I am looking forward to hearing people's views on the levy proposals once the detail and related analysis is available to them. Once the new levies are in place the Companies Office will be carefully monitoring how the new funding model is working. So my thanks to the committee for their work and I'd reiterate the point I made in the committee of the whole House stage that New Zealanders search these registers for information that helps them do business and make decisions. This new fit for purpose funding model reflects modern realities and it simply doesn't make sense for each register to be maintained separately from other registers that function behind the scenes in a very similar way. And so in aligning them through this law it creates a system where the maintenance of each register costs less than it otherwise would if each register was freestanding and operationally independent. That saves the taxpayer money and we think that's a good thing. It also draws on expertise that can be shared across the different registers. The bill enables a funding model that reflects how the Companies Office is best and most efficiently run to deliver services for the benefit of New Zealanders. So I thank members for the debate and I commend the bill to the House.