Curran ClareHon CLARE CURRAN (Minister for Government Digital Services): Well for someone who professes not to like Wagnerian operas Christopher Finlayson did tend to witter on a bit during that speech. I am pleased to speak on the second reading of the Electronic Interactions Reform Bill which they describe as an omnibus bill because it amends a whole bunch of different Acts. Behind that lies quite a significant purpose which this new Government supports in principle in terms of the populace and citizens being able to interact more through electronic means with their Government. However along with that goes a responsibility of Government to ensure that nobody is left behind and that nobody is disenfranchised and unable to access the technology and therefore unable to communicate with their Government. Unfortunately that part of the equation has been woefully ignored by the previous Government in its approach right throughout the last nine years. You—not you Mr Assistant Speaker but the people out there listening tonight—will notice a significant in fact massive difference in approach from this new Government which takes a very progressive modern approach to communication between citizens and Government but importantly one that does not leave people behind. I know that the Minister of Internal Affairs made reference to this in her speech and I'm sure that we will be working in accord on that very matter along with other Ministers as we go forward into this new era of hope and what I describe as digital inclusion which is an extremely important place for us to be.As the new Minister for Government Digital Services I of course support any moves that make it easier for New Zealanders to access public services which include that drive towards more effective digital services across Government because the digital transformation of Government is part of a wider and critical transformation of our whole society from increased use of digital technologies—for our economy as well as the way that Government communicates and does business with its citizens. I want to reiterate that the previous Government was all about pushing New Zealanders to interact with the Government digitally which this bill represents but not at all about ensuring that all New Zealanders were able to do so. Labour and coalition Government members who were then in Opposition made mention of this in the commentary to this piece of legislation where the impact of the digital divide was raised as a significant issue and questions were asked about what this Government was going to do about it. So I want to spend a few minutes actually speaking about that very matter and just exactly what the digital divide is.Of course there hasn't been a great deal of research done in this country on this because the Opposition now the previous Government really did not put any weight on it and was not interested in pursuing it. But the World Internet Project estimates that 8 to 9 percent of New Zealanders or around one in every 11 people are not regular users of the internet while a further 11 percent are low-level or light users. That adds up to one in every five who use the internet sparingly or not at all and that is just the basis of the research that we have now. There needs to be a lot more research on this.The 2020 Communications Trust estimates that around 40000 households with school-aged children don't have access to the internet. Affordability is a key issue and it's great to see that organisations like the 2020 Communications Trust which runs Computers in Homes have been doing such important work in this space. Of course the previous Government axed the funding to them. It was one of the very few programmes that were out there trying to close the digital divide and of course they axed the funding to them. We of course will be going in the opposite direction. Otago University has done work on a social deprivation index that has identified the lack of internet access at home as being the highest-weighted factor affecting social deprivation for working-age New Zealanders. What that tells us is that lack of access to the internet is rapidly becoming and has already become a new measure of poverty in this country.So we have a bill before the House tonight which we support that has potential without the work being done to close the digital divides to widen those divides in our country as more and more interactions are being done electronically between Government and citizens and yet the gaps are not being identified they're not being measured and nothing is being done about them. In fact under the previous Government programmes were being axed. Of course we raised this when we were in Opposition; we get into Government and discover that that certainly is the case and that the research is very light the emphasis that the previous Government paid was almost negligible and that there is a lot of work to be done.This Government is committed to creating a digital inclusion blueprint for New Zealand to be doing the research on: where those digital divides are between rural and urban communities; where people inside urban communities are not able to afford internet access at home; where our children are going to school where there is computer access are going home at night with an expectation that they will do their homework online and are unable to because mum and dad have a prepaid phone with no data access—those children are being denied their opportunities for the future; where older people are unable and do not have the skills to interact with Government online whether it's ordering a new birth certificate whether it's getting a new passport whatever; and where people who are on low incomes and who are being required by Work and Income to interact digitally with the Government are unable to.This is creating disadvantage. It's disenfranchising large tracts of our population. The previous Government really didn't give a stuff.Chris Bishop: Oh that's rubbish.Hon CLARE CURRAN: Well Mr Bishop then you get up—not you Mr Assistant Speaker. Why doesn't he get up and give a speech about why the previous Government axed the funding for Computers in Homes which was the only programme funded by that Government which was started by the previous Labour Government—Chris Bishop: Oh was it?Hon CLARE CURRAN: Yes it was. So you get up—sorry not you Mr Assistant Speaker. Why doesn't he get up and present the evidence as to how his previous Government was committed to closing the digital divide.In conclusion this is a bill that goes to digital transformation. But if you want to transform the country you have to take the whole country with you in order to be effective. If you are widening the gap and making our society more unequal and making digital inequality the new measure of poverty then that's a fail. This new Government will not. It will close that digital divide and it will make it a priority.