SpeechCIVIL AVIATION BILLCIVIL AVIATION AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingsHon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Associate Minister of Transport): I present a legislative statement on the Civil Aviation Bill and the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I move That the Civil Aviation Bill and the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill be now read a third time. This is a Government committed to the safety and security of all New Zealanders and these bills represent a significant modernisation of civil aviation legislation which will ensure the aviation system in Aotearoa New Zealand is safe and secure for everyone. The legislation that we are passing tonight represents a comprehensive rewrite and modernisation of existing provisions. Just before I turn to the substantive part of my bill I actually really want to acknowledge the House this evening and the helpful contributions and engagement and dialogue that we've had through the committee of the whole House. I can imagine that that was indeed the tenor of the discussions throughout the consideration of this bill since it was introduced in the House in 2001.The Civil Aviation Bill introduces a new policy in several important areas. It requires all commercial operators to implement drug and alcohol management plans including random testing of those working in safety-sensitive activities. It includes powers for the Minister of Transport to consider national security risks within the aviation system and to make rules about when national security considerations might need to apply. The bill makes provision for the declaration of temporary landside security areas at airports if they are needed to respond to a heightened threat environment. This bill incorporates amendments for remotely piloted and autonomous aircrafts and clarifies the responsibilities of the operator. It also provides new intervention powers for police and authorised people to respond to serious misuse of such aircraft. The bill puts in place an enabling framework to allow New Zealand to meet its obligations under the International Civil Aviation Organisation's Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation emissions. This bill introduces a modern registration regime for airports—administered by the Secretary for Transport—which includes a requirement for airports to consult on their spatial plans. For some airports the bill includes a requirement that they set out how they will meet Government agencies' space requirements renamed regulatory airport spatial undertaking"—or RASU—by the Transport and Infrastructure Committee. The bill internationally limits the statutory basis for airports to set charges to identified aerodrome activities and removes the existing provision that they can do so as they see fit. It recognises that smaller airports provide vital connectivity to their communities but are not always able to do so on a fully commercial basis. I briefly want to acknowledge those chief executives mayors and others that were at the Airport New Zealand function here in Wellington yesterday who shared their stories and we reflected collectively on that vital connectivity role that those airports and airlines play. The resilience of our transport networks; for example during the crises that we've all collectively just experienced as a nation in Auckland and throughout the East Coast Hawke's Bay up North Gisborne recently—in a little place like mine in Gisborne Gisborne Airport became an absolute critical communication link for our entire region during Cyclone Gabrielle after it was the first to get its connectivity back. I reflected last night that there was a gentleman—Andrew Gaddum actually he's the CEO of Eastland up in Gisborne and this would have been the case at rural and regional airports up and down the country—but they were out there in their high-vis and their stubbies at all hours of the night checking on that critical airline infrastructure to make sure that those places were a safe haven for all of our communities and I acknowledge them for the role that they played. This bill also improves the effectiveness of regulatory decision-making by strengthening the process of authorising airline cooperative arrangements. At its core the bill continues to emphasise the fundamental importance of safety and security. Again just to reiterate my sentiments in the House this evening I acknowledge and thank the members of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee and in particular I just want to acknowledge the contribution of the person who chaired that committee throughout this process—he's now known as Mr Speaker—the member for Ōhāriu Greg O'Connor. I'd like to highlight one particular important change made during the select committee process. This is the new process for reviews of decisions made by the Director of Civil Aviation and we canvassed this off a little earlier this evening. Statutory decisions that the director makes can have a significant impact on aviation participants' livelihoods. And the ability to have those decisions reviewed independently—without the need to have go through the cost and expense of the courts—will increase confidence in that regulatory system. I want to emphasise that the provisions in the Civil Aviation Amendment Act dealing with in-flight security officers are futureproofing provisions and will not come into force until the Government considers it is necessary and an agreement is in place with the other countries involved. It is likely that any situation that requires in-flight security officers to be deployed on foreign or New Zealand aircraft would arise at short notice. It would be imprudent of the Government not to have legislation ready to deal swiftly with the situation where it was necessary to continue flights to and from New Zealand. So we considered carefully the Supplementary Order Papers introduced by our friends in the Green Party. The bill already provides provisions allowing rules to be made relating to noise; more specific provisions with that regard were considered as not being necessary. The bill also clarifies consumers' recourse to the disputes tribunal as I answered this evening in response to the member Ricardo Menéndez—and provides for regulations requiring airlines to inform passengers of their rights. I note that the issue of comprehensive consumer rights regulation was raised in select committee and no changes were made.We are also confident that the Climate Change Response Act and the emissions reduction programme are the appropriate mechanisms to take account of aviation's impacts through whole-of-economy measures. The Civil Aviation Bill sets a clear foundation for the aviation sector as it continues its recovery from the disruptions caused by COVID and moves into a future with an exciting range of new technology. Therefore I'm pleased to commend these bills to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to."