Collins Judith: New Zealand Business Number Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCollins Judith: New Zealand Business Number Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 12 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10432. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Corrections) on behalf of theMinister for Economic Development: I move That the New Zealand Business Number Bill be now read a third time. It gives me great satisfaction to support this legislation at the third reading. The New Zealand Business Number is an important part of Result 9 of the Government’s Better Public Services programme which aims to reform the public sector to provide high-quality flexible and cost-effective public services in New Zealand.I would once again like to thank the Commerce Committee and the submitters for their work on and contribution to the changes made to the bill. They will make the bill more effective and ensure that Parliament’s intention is clear. I would also like to express my appreciation for the support received in the House for this legislation.The purpose of the New Zealand Business Number is to enable easier and more efficient interactions for business in New Zealand. The bill will enable the allocation of the New Zealand business numbers to eligible businesses corporate and public entities and to eligible individuals in business unincorporated entities such as sole traders partnerships and trustees of trusts. It will establish the statutory position of Registrar of New Zealand Business Numbers and establish a New Zealand Business Number Register. It establishes rules to enable the access to and use of the 23 pieces of primary business data about each entity that will be held in the New Zealand Business Number Register taking into consideration privacy issues.The combination of a unique number a data set and access to that data results in a New Zealand Business Number ecosystem that will provide savings to businesses savings to Government and e-commerce opportunities. Early adopters in the private sector are already finding uses for the New Zealand Business Number in areas such as export documentation invoicing. Some public sector agencies are also adopting the New Zealand Business Number under the current regulatory framework. The full benefits of the New Zealand Business Number will be realised with wide uptake by the public sector.The more businesses who choose to use the New Zealand Business Number the more value it will have for other businesses already using it. Similarly a whole-of-Government approach to using this number is also important. I would like to assure the business community members that there is a plan to implement this legislation. The previous requirement in the consultation draft of the bill for eight business-facing Government agencies to recognise the New Zealand Business Number was removed prior to the bill being introduced and will be replaced with a set of whole-of-Government directions.Whole-of-Government directions provide more flexibility to be able to adapt to a rapidly changing environment and will also provide agencies with more detailed implementation instructions. The proposed directions are more ambitious in both scope and breadth than what was originally proposed in the draft legislation. Consultation with 185 agencies—that is 32 Government departments and 153 Crown entities—took place from July to October 2015 and analysis was undertaken to ensure a fit for purpose implementation plan.The House will have the opportunity to scrutinise the Government’s plan for the implementation of the New Zealand Business Number across the public sector in the coming months. I commend this bill to the House.