Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh; Borrows ChesterKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the first reading of the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill. Before I contribute on this bill Mr Deputy Speaker I would like to acknowledge your leadership and your friendship. You will definitely be missed once you are gone from here. I would also like to acknowledge Paul Foster-Bell and David Clendon. David was on my Law and Order Committee. Your contribution was always constructive and you will also be missed on the committee David. This bill amends the Telecommunications Act 2001 to establish a stable and predictable regulatory framework for fibre fixed-line access services in New Zealand. The technology is changing and I would like to quote one thing that Michael Wood has just mentioned which is that the basic amenities that are required in the modern world are water sewerage and electricity. I think that in the 1970s and 1980s the telephone also became a requirement in every home. I remember when I was growing up in India my friend who had come back after the summer vacation told me that he had learnt how to dial a telephone and that was a shock to me. The telephone was a basic thing in my home. I did not learn; I saw everyone using the telephone. But for him it was a totally new experience because his family did not have a telephone at home. He had gone to his aunt's house and had learnt how to dial a telephone. Similarly the technology has advanced so much that today broadband is a basic need in everyone's work or at home. I remember about a year ago I attended a seminar where a presentation was made that said that about 15 or 16 years ago the total traffic from New Zealand on the internet was 40 gigabytes. The total internet traffic of New Zealand was 40 gigabytes. Today each household uses that much data. The technology has changed so much. Even for the mobile phone we used to have about 200 megabytes or 500 megabytes. Today we are using 10 to 20 gigabytes on mobile phones. So the technology is changing and that is why we need to have ultra-fast broadband (UFB) in every house so that people can take advantage of it. When I came to New Zealand in 2001 I bought a dish antenna that had a diameter of 1 metre. I got it installed to see the Indian programmes because the technology was not there and that was the only way I could see the Indian programmes. Today we just need a box connected to the fibre which is internet protocol television (IPTV) and you can see more than 500 channels from India. All around the world—China India Korea; wherever you want—you can see those channels through that IPTV technology and that is because of the fibre-optic. We are very fortunate that this Government has invested billions of dollars to make sure that every house gets a fibre connection. We are looking forward so that by 2020 about 90 percent of the population will be able to get that access. We are also very fortunate that so far whatever the fibre-optic layout has been the uptake has been much higher than for other countries in the OECD. It is even more than Singapore. If we compare Australia is far behind us in UFB uptake by the people. The new regulatory framework enabled by this bill will modernise the Telecommunications Act so that it is fit for purpose for New Zealand's new fibre-focused telecommunications environment. It will put in place a balance of incentives so that ongoing investment by the network providers will continue to be encouraged while the consumers will be protected. We can see that we have to have that balance where the investors get a reasonable return for their investment and consumers are not overcharged. They get the best facility at the minimum price so that there is reasonable competition between the service providers. It will create a more predictable telecommunications environment target regulations more effectively and support consumers. These are the things that we need to keep in mind and we have to have the right balance for the service provider as well as for the consumer. Connectivity is increasingly important for every aspect of New Zealand's social economic and working life. As I mentioned most things are now done through the internet whether it is television or telecommunications. Even if we look at some of the programmes that are available around the world from Netflix and other service providers we can access those programmes while we are in New Zealand but basically these programmes are from the US or Europe so we have to have the technology available so that we can have access these things. Access to faster communications services and infrastructure is a great enabler of economic growth and it contributes to increasing the depth and vibrancy of New Zealand's digital economy. With these words I commend this bill to the House. Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is this a split call on behalf of the Green Party? I go to Barry Coates first.