Hipkins Chris: Border Processing (Trade Single Window and Duties) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Border Processing (Trade Single Window and Duties) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 27 August 2013. Volume:693;Page:13117. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka): I am very happy to take a short call on this bill the Border Processing (Trade Single Window and Duties) Bill. Look like every New Zealander I probably think most about border control when I am going through the airport and going through Maurice Williamson’s SmartGate. It is one of those terrible things to admit but when I get off a long overseas flight one of the first people I think about is Maurice Williamson. I think about Maurice Williamson when I am going through the border and going through SmartGate. You will be pleased to know that the SmartGate technology has obviously improved considerably because the first time I tried to go through SmartGate I failed and it would not let me through. I did not pass. But my most recent interactions with SmartGate you will be pleased to know were very very positive and I made it through. I was very relieved.Tim Macindoe: That was your security profile not the technology.CHRIS HIPKINS: Oh that was the security profile. That is right the Government Communications Security Bureau has been on to me.Border security is incredibly important to a country like New Zealand. To some extent I guess we are lucky in the sense that we do not have any other countries touching us. We do not have other land masses touching us. We are surrounded by a massive amount of water so on one level that makes controlling our borders a little bit easier but then on another level it creates a whole lot of challenges as well because we cannot patrol absolutely every beach and every potential area where somebody might try to come ashore in New Zealand. But I think that by and large we do a very good job of controlling New Zealand’s borders.One of the reasons that border security is important of course is the significant biosecurity implication for New Zealand if things go wrong. We just cannot afford to get that wrong. We have an amazing advantage I guess in New Zealand in the fact that we are so isolated geographically as a country. That has meant that certain things have not spread to New Zealand and we want to keep them out. There are a whole lot of pests and diseases and so on that we have managed to avoid having here in New Zealand and we want to keep them out. That is where our biosecurity at the border is vitally vitally important.So I am concerned. I share my colleague Damien O’Connor’s concern about the cuts to biosecurity funding because as we have seen just recently New Zealand relies so much on our clean green 100 percent pure image. Any biosecurity incursion could do significant harm to that. If you take many of our primary producing exporters and the potential for significant economic harm to them from a biosecurity threat or a biosecurity risk it is really really important that we do not scrimp in this area in order to save a few dollars which ultimately would be so detrimental and so expensive to the New Zealand economy should something happen and should things go badly wrong. I think this is an area where we need to be very careful.But turning now to the bill that we are debating the Labour Party supports this bill through its first reading and we are looking forward to the select committee process on the bill. I am sure my colleagues Damien O’Connor Shane Jones and various others who have a real interest in this area will be getting into the detail at the select committee. We think that the front-line agencies the border security agencies do an absolutely amazing job. The Joint Border Management System initiatives were actually conceived when Labour was last in Government. One of the things I guess that I always find interesting is that 5 years into my time in Parliament it is heartening to see how many initiatives simply span across all Governments regardless of who the Government is.In an area like biosecurity where I think there is quite a lot of bipartisan agreement this initiative has obviously been going on for some time and we continue to support it. A single trade window will create a hub for exchanging information. In areas like border security and biosecurity the exchange of information is vitally vitally important. It will introduce the first wave of a major information technology overhaul to replace existing outdated systems and modernise and integrate border clearance processes for persons goods and crafts. This is people going through the airport but it is also all the ships coming in. It covers quite a variety of things coming into the country which is very very important.We need to make sure that we get this right. I think Phil Goff made a comment before about the fact that the IT systems that will have to be put in place in order to make this work should not turn out to be anotherNovopay or another ACC debacle. We have got to make sure with these information and communications technology projects that we get them right. I am not convinced yet that the Government has sufficiently robust mechanisms in place to ensure that the significant investments in information and communications technology and information sharing are actually going to run smoothly and efficiently.Hon Christopher Finlayson: Yeah thanks Chris.CHRIS HIPKINS: I am pleased that the Attorney-General has been listening very closely to every contribution and I look forward to seeing the passage of this through its first reading.Bill read a first time.Billreferred to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee.