Sepuloni Carmel; Salesa JennyRESALE RIGHT FOR VISUAL ARTISTS BILLSecond ReadingHon CARMEL SEPULONI (Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage): I move That the Resale Right for Visual Artists Bill be now read a second time. This bill will establish an Artist Resale Royalty scheme in New Zealand providing eligible visual artists with a resale right to benefit from their work. The arts are integral to the fabric of our country they contribute to our unique culture and identity and help to foster community wellbeing. However our visual artists have some of the lowest medium incomes in New Zealand and have limited opportunities to benefit from their work on an ongoing basis. Unlike some of our other creative sectors our visual artists' primary incomes are often limited to the one-off initial sale of their work. When the price of a visual artwork increases on the secondary market often due to the hard work the artist has put in during their career the artist will not share in this monetary success likely receiving nothing. Under this bill this will change. The bill will establish an Artist Resale Royalty scheme in New Zealand providing eligible visual artists with a resale right to benefit from their work. In contrast to copyright the resale right is unable to be wavered or transferred away from the artist while they are living and so the right remains with the artist for their whole life. The resale right means a 5 percent royalty payment will be collected each time an artist's eligible work is resold. For a sale to be eligible for a royalty it must meet the bill's definition of visual art be created by or under the authority of a New Zealand citizen or resident involve an art market professional or be a resale to or from a publicly funded gallery museum archive or library. The bill also provides the option for those involved in private resales to pay a royalty voluntarily if they want to. The threshold at which artworks will become eligible will be set between $500 and $5000 with the exact figure to be set in the supporting regulations to the bill. As well as receiving royalties when their artwork is sold in New Zealand visual artists will also be able to receive royalties when their eligible artworks are sold in countries which have reciprocating Artist Resale Royalty schemes.The scheme will benefit others as well as the artists themselves. Artists' successors or beneficiaries can receive royalty payments for up to 50 years after the artist's death. As is common overseas the Artist Resale Royalty scheme will be managed by a non-government collection agency which can deduct a percentage of the royalty in return for the service provided.The Social Services and Community Committee has finished its consideration of the bill and reported back to the House on 31 July. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Social Services and Community Committee for their hard work while considering this bill and to thank the Parliamentary Counsel Office for their work to draft the bill. I would also like to acknowledge everyone who made a submission on the bill during the select committee phase; the input has been invaluable.The committee has recommended amendments that make the scheme more inclusive strengthen accountability mechanisms and improve the clarity of the drafting. Of the recommendations made by the committee I would like to briefly speak to three of these changes. Firstly three key definitions within the bill have been amended. In response to feedback on the bill the definition of visual artwork" has been expanded to include multimedia artworks and video artworks which will enable the scheme to better capture the full spectrum of visual art. The definition of "professional resale" has also been amended to include public archives and libraries. Like public museums and galleries archives and libraries often purchase work for their collections as part of their function and purpose. This amendment ensures these organisations will be included in the scheme. The definition of "art market professional" has been amended to explicitly include commercial galleries. Although these galleries were always covered by the definition this amendment makes it clear that the resale scheme is applicable to these types of businesses and the artists who sell these works through them. These amendments broaden the range of visual artists that will benefit from the scheme and provide greater clarity around the types of sales that qualify for the resale royalty.Secondly the select committee recommended that the collection agency be subject to the Official Information Act the Ombudsman Act and the Public Records Act in respect of its public functions under the bill. This is necessary because although the collection agency will be an NGO it will be enforcing a public right and performing public functions. It will also be receiving Crown funding during the initial years of the scheme's operation. There is an emerging precedent for NGOs delivering Government functions in New Zealand to be subject to this type of legislation. This amendment will add an important additional layer of accountability to the scheme. Manatū Taonga will work with the appointed collection agency to ensure it is able to meet its obligations under these Acts.Finally the select committee has recommended that the eligibility requirements put on an artist's successor should be consistent with the requirements on the artist. Without this amendment the collection agency would have to track down successors with no connection to Aotearoa New Zealand creating a significant administrative burden for the agency. The Resale Right for Visual Artists Bill is an important piece of legislation that will build on this Government's strong record of making careers in the creative sector more sustainable and more equitable. Over the past three years we have invested in our creative sector to make the arts in New Zealand more resilient and sustainable. This bill recognises the contribution that artists make to our society but it also strikes an important balance that will allow our valuable secondary art market to flourish. The select committee process has led to a better bill. I thank the select committee for that and I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that the motion be agreed to."