Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): Tēnā koe Madam Deputy Speaker. Thank you very much for this opportunity. If I can take some of the claims made by the member who's just finished his contribution in the House tonight Brett Hudson one of the sad statistics around the Māori uptake of the internet is actually in a recent report which has it at only 38 percent of Māori having access to fast broadband—only 38 percent. So while that side of the House might talk about how great this bill of theirs is they've also failed and let our people down—38 percent in this modern era. He mentioned digital natives. Well with the Māori population being predominantly a young population we are just natives; we're not digital natives according to the statistics of 38 percent uptake or access to fast broadband.It is actually a pleasure to rise and speak to the Electronic Interactions Reform Bill. If I can endorse the words of the Minister in thanking the former Government Administration Committee and of course the submitters on this particular bill. I wasn't a member on that select committee in the 51st Parliament but I am proud to say I am a member of the Governance and Administration Committee in the 52nd and I look forward to making meaningful contributions to the bills that pass through that particular select committee just as the select committee did for this particular bill.We heard that there were eight quality submissions that actually made pragmatic sensible common-sense submissions to this particular bill. It's not because it's about scoring kudos not because we want to put runs on the board on who got there faster or who got there first but actually because it makes the lives of ordinary New Zealanders better—ordinary New Zealanders. Whether you live in Ōhāriu whether you live in Tāmaki Makaurau it doesn't matter; it makes it easier for New Zealanders.Some of the changes in this particular bill are really common sense sensible. But also there are some technical aspects to this particular bill and one of the changes that is technical in nature but makes the lives of New Zealanders just a bit easier is of course the amendments made to the Civil Union Act. I think that's a sensible one where people from overseas can apply for a licence and they can actually have faith and also believe that having gone through that process when it comes time for them to get married they will be able to have that licence locked and loaded.The Minister—the new Minister the good sensible Minister the Hon Tracey Martin—talked about the 17 pieces of legislation that this particular bill does seek to amend and they span wide and far. I want to touch on a couple of those. Why? Because they are close to my heart. One of those is of course—the Minister mentioned the hunting licences and how I a keen hunter always moaned actually if I'm honest that the process to get a licence was actually quite difficult. It actually required heading into a hunting and fishing store.Quite regularly I'd head into the hunting and fishing store in Warkworth where I would apply for a licence and it would usually be a long line because everyone's trying to head north to try and do a bit of hunting or to head out towards the East Coast towards Pākiri beach and other places to partake in some hunting. But the process without a word of a lie would often take approximately six hours—six hours simply to get a paper licence in Warkworth. It was the cause of much frustration for a lot of hunters and if there's one thing I know about the hunting fraternity: don't make a man with a weapon angry. So it's a sensible amendment that'll make sure that people like myself—and it is a large hunting fraternity—will have the ability to simply go online.They'll be able to vote online. The image that's been put on to the voting papers is just common sense. But it also—and I'm glad Hon Christopher Finlayson is in the House—challenges iwi. It challenges iwi. As Māori we always moan that the mandate for speaking for iwi or tribal entities never really has a strong mandate. That's a common argument amongst tribes. One of the reasons for that is because they still do postal voting. So let this be a challenge to all of the large iwi out there that it's a brave new world. It's a brave new world and we want to see if—as I mentioned at the beginning the majority of the Māori population are young under the age of 24. If we want to engage these people then it's about time that iwi actually dragged themselves into the modern time.I also want to mention Part 1 the amendments to clause 14 and—sorry sorry I've covered those ones. The other one is the problems with RealMe applications and how I think it's important in this particular bill to look at an integrated service or to make sure that all of the services that are available have this integrated mechanism that allows New Zealanders to walk only one avenue to achieve multiple outcomes.In the 51st Parliament there was a challenge to the Justice and Electoral Committee to go and actually register for a RealMe profile—a RealMe profile—something I thought the very intelligent Justice and Electoral Committee could do quite easily. We discovered upon trying to apply for a RealMe profile that it actually was quite difficult. Not only did you have to go online after you went online you actually had to go into a post office and you had to confirm it there. Then you needed to make sure you had the right email address—a functioning email address. That is hardly making things easier for average the New Zealander. Let's face it the results of that select committee trying to get a RealMe profile proved that we are just average New Zealanders. But these kinds of amendments will actually make it easier for people out there and I think those are sensible moves.Another one that's always been a head scratcher for most New Zealanders is the old notion of heading into a pharmacy to take a photo to apply for your passport—to apply for your passport. Just recently I renewed my passport and simply had the ability to submit an iPhone selfie that met all of the requirements—that met all of the requirements—Hon Ruth Dyson: For 10 years.Hon PEENI HENARE: That's right and now my passport is valid for 10 years which is fantastic. But the selfie allowed me to submit it online and within a matter of days about 10 working days I had my new passport—common sense simple making things easier.While that side of the House might bemoan the fact that this particular bill started under their watch the bottom line is that on this side of the House we don't go for sixes all the time; we play a smart game. Sometimes you've got to score singles. Sometimes you play with a straight bat. If you're gung-ho and you swing for sixes all the time more than likely you'll miss. So that's why these are common-sense steps simple single runs on the board. We are proud on this side of the House to ensure that we are making the lives of New Zealanders better.I want to finish just in the last lot of time allocated to me—Simeon Brown: You're almost there Peeni.Hon PEENI HENARE: —and I want to say that once again it is a brave new world. It's quite easy for the member for Pakuranga to listen to this claiming to be so young. In fact we all know he is quite young and I don't know about a native but certainly digital—certainly digital. We want to make sure that members on that side of the House are up with the play. So it is a brave new world. Some of the big challenges and I want to say this and I'll quote my grandfather: We've come too far not to go further."—we've come too far not to go further. Let this particular bill be a great start—be a great start.So on this bill we're going to score singles—we're going to score singles. But when we close the digital divide I can tell that side of the House the Opposition that we're going to be hitting boundaries fours and sixes because there is so much more work to be done to make sure there is a digital integrated service across the entire public sector—the entire public sector; one that actually makes it easier for all Kiwis regardless of whether you're young old Māori Pākehā it doesn't matter.Finally I want to finish by saying 38 percent of Māori have ready access to fast broadband internet—38 percent—and I can say that is an absolute blight on the record of that side of the House."