Curran Clare: Telecommunications (TSO Broadband and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Curran Clare: Telecommunications (TSO Broadband and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19467] 
CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South) 
: 
 Before I get into the other issues we are raising today in relation to the Telecommunications (TSO Broadband and Other Matters) Amendment Bill and the amendments we are putting up I again ask the Minister in the chair the Minister for Communications and Information Technology for clarification. Although he has clarified the deed that will be undertaken between Chorus2 and the Crown on the ownership issues I ask that he specifically address where the requirements will be placed for the other important parts of the Kiwi share obligation to do with the emergency calling services standard rentals and the free calling aspect. I ask that he reassure the public that taking that obligation out of the Telecommunications Act will not water it down. 
Labour has today introduced a number of other amendments to this bill and to Supplementary Order Paper 247. We hope they will go some way to addressing the deep flaws that underpin the legislation and we seek the support of other parties in the Chamber on these issues. These issues were raised over and over again by submitters during the deeply flawed process that the Finance and Expenditure Committee undertook. It was a truncated process that gave submitters a very short amount of time to process the extraordinarily enormous amount of information that was being put before them in the original Supplementary Order Paper 204 in relation to the structural separation of Telecom. It meant that their ability to have their case heard and be taken seriously was diminished. 
The deal with Telecom that has subsequently been announced—despite the very large Supplementary Order Paper that essentially dealt with the structural separation of Telecom—which is for about 70 percent of homes in the 75 percent coverage area is conditional on the passage of this bill and Telecom shareholder approval. The two major issues that remain now that the regulatory holiday issue has been removed are the structural separation of Telecom retail from Chorus with those various sharing arrangements and the reintegration of Telecom wholesale into Chorus. There is still as yet no knowledge of where that separation will occur what the end point will look like for those two entities and to what extent the new Chorus organisation will have a monopoly and the ability to price gouge down the track. That is one of the major issues that needs to be addressed. We have a number of amendments today that go to the issue of where the separation occurs the consultation that needs to occur around that process and whether any operational separation functions should remain between the wholesale part of Telecom and the Chorus entity to ensure that true open access can occur in the future. 
The other main issue is around the averaging of the unbundled copper pricing which will push up the price. As the Minister well knows we heard a number of submissions on this issue in the select committee but he just dismissed them out of hand. The price of copper will be pushed up in the urban areas where it is actually used. For people who are listening that means the broadband we are getting now will go up in price and you will have to wait until possibly— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: No I will not have to wait. 
CLARE CURRAN 
: The people who are listening— 
Amy Adams 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I have been listening for some time for the member to get to Part 1 which deals with the telecommunications service obligations. She has spoken at some length about structural separation and the Crown’s investment structure none of which are included in Part 1. I ask that she be brought back to Part 1 which is what we are debating. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I was listening very carefully and the member was speaking on exactly that and on the Kiwi share which goes right to that question. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Can the member just continue. 
CLARE CURRAN 
: Thank you Mr Chairperson. I apologise for bringing you into the debate. 
The point I was making is that the people of New Zealand who are receiving broadband services now will find that their existing copper services go up in price while they are waiting for fibre. Many people will not receive that fibre in their homes until possibly 2019 and there is no guarantee that they will get it even then. The big con that lies at the heart of this bill is that for the vast majority of New Zealanders there is no guarantee as to when they will get fibre and in the meantime their costs can go up. 
The point in relation to Part 1 and the issues that surround the Kiwi share provision is that a vast number of questions still lie behind this bill. There has been an enormous lack of consultation with the public and no explanation of many of these issues. How can the Minister introduce such an important component removing all reference to the Kiwi share into the Supplementary Order Paper at the very last minute and not provide the opportunity for public discussion about it or for public submissions on the issue so that the public can be reassured that those important obligations will be maintained? 
A number of other issues will be contained in our amendments today. They go to the contractual arrangement with Telecom that replaces the regulatory forbearance period and the enormous potential risk that that arrangement places on the Crown. Again this amendment was introduced after the bill came back to the House. There was no public consultation no ability for submissions on it and no ability for analysis of it. The Minister himself has acknowledged publicly and certainly in the select committee and in this Chamber that no analysis was done on it. It was just: “Trust me I know what I’m doing.” which is what he says to all criticism of him. 
We have another amendment on the liability on breaches of the bill— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Part 1. 
CLARE CURRAN 
: —which as members will see we will be discussing. 
I would be keen for the Minister to provide the public of New Zealand with more reassurance on those important issues of Kiwi share. It is extremely important that the issues of consultation to do with the structural separation of Telecom be addressed along with the role of the Commerce Commission the arrangements for how the Commerce Commission will be able to intervene if necessary on pricing and other matters the arrangements for the split between Chorus and Telecom retail and how the integration of Telecom wholesale and Chorus will work in the short term. 
There are a number of other issues as the Minister well knows on the equivalence of inputs and essential issues on open access and whether there will truly be competition at the retail level in order to provide the people of New Zealand with a truly competitive and affordable broadband service. Then there is the vexed issue of affordability what will happen to the copper prices in the meantime and when the people of New Zealand will be able to receive fibre broadband in their homes. That fibre broadband was promised to them by National and by the now Prime Minister before the last election. It was his No. 2 pledge which was an undeliverable promise given the amount of money that was attached to it. This Government and this Minister have tried to—