Coffey TamatiTAMATI COFFEY (Labour—Waiariki): There has never been a better time to launch your own tech start-up company here in New Zealand. Why? Well just as of last week we heard that the Reserve Bank was keeping the official cash rate at a very super low 1 percent which means that if you're going to borrow money now is a really good time to do it. Why else? Actually the Government wants to be part of that ecosystem too which is the premise for this. The Venture Capital Fund is going to help to assist in that ecosystem. At the moment we've got a whole lot of help down one end if you're a start-up business and you want some seed funding; we've got lots of agencies spread far and wide around New Zealand that can help you out. But there comes a time when actually you cross an invisible boundary when you actually need to spread you need to grow and you need to expand your business but that capital isn't quite there.So that's what this fund does. It ensures that our start-up companies have got somewhere to go that they don't need to head off overseas and sell all their intellectual property to the highest bidder over there. In fact this is a great thing for our tech sector in New Zealand—and isn't it brilliant because we're developing a great reputation in the tech sector. In fact I've also heard that it's taken over as New Zealand's third- largest export sector earning us more than $12 billion in revenue in the last financial year.We can here in New Zealand boast a series of privately owned New Zealand start-up companies that are worth more than $1 billion—the likes of Rocket Lab the likes of Xero the likes of Pushpay. These are businesses that started here in New Zealand with an idea and what they needed was somebody to back them. So that's exactly what we're doing through this bill as the Government; we're stumping up $300 million so that we can send a really clear message to those start-ups the techs the innovators to say We're here for you we support you." Yeah it's risky—because new ideas are risky. If it's a safe business you'll no doubt find some nice safe investors that like a good safe investment but actually there is absolutely an argument for looking after start-up businesses tech businesses that are on the frontier of new stuff. We know that disruptive technology is taking over our country. It's taking over the world. We need to be part of that and actually if we just keep doing what we've always done then we're never going to get a slice of that pie.At the moment we've got some real innovative businesses here in New Zealand that are doing just that. But what do they need? They need that investment. They need a Government that stands next to them and says "You know what? Yeah it's risky. We're not sure if this venture is going to work over here—if this business plan this idea is going to work. But actually we're going to take a gamble and hopefully we can get our settings right."Just today we were talking to Callaghan Innovation in our select committee and what a brilliant job that they do. But actually they are going to be very excited that they'll be able to make sure that they can hand over some of these start-up businesses so that they can access that kind of capital. Callaghan Innovation do a brilliant job around the country. They're partnering with all of these organisations who are at the cutting edge of development—tech start-ups software and all of that kind of stuff. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise also do a brilliant job in that space making sure that we connect all of our New Zealand businesses with overseas whether it be investors or other businesses to help them to develop their idea.But what we've heard time and time again from people within these organisations these Government departments is actually we need to make sure that we've got the money to be able to pathway people into opportunity and that's exactly what this fund is doing.It is a really exciting time for New Zealand: a great opportunity for any young person who has ever ever dreamed about creating a start-up and also taking on the world. So that's why I wholeheartedly support this bill and commend it to the House."