King Colin: Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill — Second Reading 
King Colin: Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:671;Page:17735] 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 This is the second reading of the Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill. The Primary Production Committee worked very collegially on this legislation. It was quite interesting. The comment was made that we did not receive a large number of submissions. I think we received eight and we heard three. It was quite interesting that when as a select committee we heard those three submissions one part of the hearing was by teleconference. Quite a number of the airports were meeting together at that very same time and those submitters gave us the value of their knowledge. 
We must consider that we are a nation surrounded by water and that tourism is vitally important to this nation’s economy. On that basis it is important that we get the balance right between biodiversity preserving our natural state and encouraging visitors to come to this country. We believe that this bill is very sensible in that aspect because it will encourage airports that are designing a business case with regard to whether to engage with a contractor to bring international tourists to their airport to factor in the cost of providing those biosecurity and customs services. 
At the moment we have seven international airports. Part of the discussion we had in the select committee was the point that we did not want to stymie tourism. That point was brought out and we debated it at length. It was quite interesting that while we were debating that point we found out that Australia has eight international airports. We have to get the balance right. There have been airports that started off services with good intent. I believe that Hamilton Airport had an international service for some time as did Palmerston North Airport although now its services have mostly discontinued mainly because it has lost its contractor to provide international services; it is not because the airport has backed away. The seven airports where we have international services are in Dunedin Rotorua Christchurch Auckland Queenstown Wellington and Hamilton. Tim Shadbolt the Mayor of Invercargill is still waiting for— 
Aaron Gilmore 
: Aspirational. 
COLIN KING 
: It is aspirational down in Invercargill. We will just have to wait and see. 
The point of the bill is just to make it mindful to those people who want to have international services at their airport that they will have to provide for the fair and reasonable costs of providing those services. When we stop and think about it it is quite sensible because relocating families today into a particular area and training up staff is very important. It means for one that businesses have to take somebody and set up a business unit. One cannot have just half a staff number; it has to be fully staffed. The number of staff coming in may not be adequate to do that job so there is a lot to be considered. 
In respect of the bill we gave a lot of consideration to clause 6 which talks about the distinction between what is an established service and a re-established service. As a committee we were particularly conscious that there could be a bit of price gouging going on and we did not want to see the system open to a rort. We wanted to see some very clear constraints and definitions so that if it ever became an issue those who were adjudicating on it would have some clear guidance. Clause 6 adds that provision to the bill. 
The regulations in clause 11 also establish aspects relating to the grace period. That is where in good intent an airport or a provider has set up a deal and international travellers are arriving but through no fault of its own that arrangement fails. It would be given 6 months to find another contractor to be able to provide that international service. That was given fair consideration by the select committee and it was good to see that the select committee acted as a whole and supported that provision. 
Subclause (1)(b) of clause 11 “Regulations” states that regulations may be made “prescribing a cost recovery period shorter than 3 years:”. When we look at the note that came back from the select committee we see that in the particular area of the cost recovery period we designated that it should be 2 years. After this bill has progressed through the Committee stage and its third reading and then receives the Royal assent we will be looking at the regulations that come back within that 2-year period by which time if an international service can carry on that then goes back to the taxpayer-funded biosecurity and customs services. This bill in itself progresses things considerably because this has been a bit of a moot point until this stage. Previous parliaments have grappled with this particular area and have not been able to come to a resolution so it is heartening to see that there is accord across the House. 
There is agreement that where people endeavour to set up an international service at one of our airports for the first 2 years they shall carry that cost. They shall factor that cost into their business case. In the event of their business falling over there will be a 6-month grace period so that they can reinstall that international service. That is appropriate because we take biosecurity and customs services incredibly seriously. But we still want to design a service here that will not deter tourists from coming to New Zealand because tourism is one of the main planks of our economy. Of course with the Rugby World Cup coming up in September and October of this year we want to have things arranged in a way that presents New Zealand in the most attractive light. 
It was a pleasure to consider this bill. It was not controversial. However there was a range of views as was brought out in the submissions of those who previously had international services that have now stopped. I think on balance we can be very confident in this House that the work has been put into this bill and that the bill will be servicing the needs of the airports adequately along with the economy of this country. It gives me pleasure to commend this bill to the House.