Falloon AndrewANDREW FALLOON (National—Rangitata): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. It's a pleasure to be taking a call tonight on the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill. I'd like to start by acknowledging the chair of the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee Jonathan Young for a very able chairmanship of that committee. We are a very hard-working and diligent committee. We sat for many hours considering this piece of legislation and I think we've done a very good job. We do so in a very collegial manner on the committee and—I guess the comments from Ms Martin aside—I think we all came to acceptance of this bill in its current form.I do just want to cover off some of the submissions that were raised in relation to this bill. It's fair to say that some of the submissions that came forward to us were fairly dry and some of them less so. The background to this legislation is a fairly long one. In the middle of 2016 the then communications Minister Amy Adams released the results of the telecommunications review and set out a new direction for regulating broadband and phone services. At the time she said Digital technologies are transforming the way New Zealanders live work and do business. To help reach our 2025 broadband target and to keep our economy growing we need the right laws in place to make sure high quality and affordable communications services are available for consumers and businesses. The communications sector is vastly different to the market in 2001 when the Telecommunications Act was introduced and it's time for our laws to catch up."That new direction formed the final telecommunications reform package as it was announced by the then communications Minister Simon Bridges on 1 June 2017 and in August of that year this piece of legislation was introduced to Parliament. At the time Minister Bridges noted "The telecommunications market is changing with new technologies shifting consumer behaviour and evolving business models. Alongside this consumers have vastly improved connectivity through the Government's $2 billion rollout of world-leading communications infrastructure with more to come."I would particularly like to congratulate both of those former Ministers Simon Bridges and Amy Adams today for the work that they did in bringing this very important piece of legislation to the House. They effectively did the hard work and the heavy lifting on this legislation and brought it forward to Parliament. I'd also like to acknowledge the current Minister Kris Faafoi on taking up the piece of legislation and progressing it through the House. I'd also like to acknowledge former Minister Clare Curran and thank her and her officials for the support that they provided the committee during our deliberations.As has been said our committee received 257 submissions from a range of companies interested groups and individuals. We heard from 31 of those in person or in some cases by phone and we received it's fair to say a fairly wide variety of feedback on the bill. We heard some very useful and substantial submissions from the likes of Chorus who said that they support the policy aims of the bill but they noted that the Telecommunications Act review started in 2013 and so they sought timely implementation of the new regime and made suggestions to support it. Those suggestions included that potential extensions to implement the model should be reduced from 24 months to six months. They also asked that in the event of any extension key elements of the regime including the critical decisions that will determine the allowable revenue the copper withdrawal code and copper and telecommunications service obligations should be in place by January 2020.They also advocated very strongly for a flexible technology-neutral and durable regime which could adapt to changing technology and changing consumer demand. They also asked that the committee consider ensuring the regime continues to support geographic differentiation for initiatives like Gigatown. Gigatown is a subject that is fairly close to my heart as someone who now lives in Timaru. Of course Timaru was unfortunately robbed frankly by the city of Dunedin when it came to which city would be given that. So I'm very happy to see that Chorus are keen to continue that differentiation and I live in hope that Timaru which I think was in second place to Dunedin will be their next Gigatown. I'd also like to add that Chorus are very very keen to see this legislation pass in a very expeditious manner.Vodafone also submitted on the legislation to us and they raised a number of substantial amendments to the bill to better realise the full potential of the Government's ultra-fast broadband roll-out. We also had Spark submit on the legislation. They too offered a number of quite substantial suggestions including removing the proposed regulatory holiday for fibre access and backhaul services; removing Commerce Act ouster provisions for fibre anchor products; extending the purpose statement to allow the commission to consider all end-users' interests not just the interests of fibre customers; and finally removing the direction of the commission to add "prior losses" to the Chorus regulatory asset base.I think on the whole the bill that we've brought back to Parliament from the select committee would satisfy most submitters—much more so than perhaps the bill that came to the committee—and so I thank the submitters for making their thoughts known. I accept though that some submitters will not be happy with the legislation that we've brought back. We did hear from a number of very interesting submitters as has been said from a number of individuals who are concerned about the health effects on the brain of 5G and increased prevalence or use of electromagnetic transmissions.It's fair to say that sometimes those discussions became fairly robust but I'd just like to put on the record that all members of that select committee were very respectful in the way that they engaged with those submissions and in particular I'd again like to acknowledge Jonathan Young who was unfailingly polite with all submitters during that process.I do accept that some of the submitters will be unhappy with the decision that the committee came to to recommend that the bill pass and ultimately I think what will happen tonight with the passage through second reading. However we did listen to them. As has been said we sought advice from the Ministry of Health. They came back and essentially said that there was next to no risk with this legislation passing in a health sense. That certainly satisfied for me the concerns that those submitters raised.This is a good bill and as others have outlined we will be supporting it. The new regulatory regime enabled by this bill will modernise the Telecommunications Act so that it is fit for purpose for New Zealand's fibre-focused telecommunications environment. It will put in place a balance of incentives so that ongoing investment by network providers will continue to be encouraged while consumers will be protected. It will create a more predictable telecommunications environment target regulation more effectively and support consumers. It builds on the very good work of the previous National Government in rolling out ultra-fast broadband to connect more New Zealanders with the rest of the country and with the rest of the world. I commend it to the House."