Hutchison Paul: Border Processing (Trade Single Window and Duties) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHutchison Paul: Border Processing (Trade Single Window and Duties) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 27 August 2013. Volume:693;Page:13096. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua): It is a great pleasure to speak on this Border Processing (Trade Single Window and Duties) Bill and it is also a great pleasure to hear that Her Majesty’s most loyal Opposition the Labour Party and also the Greens are going to be supporting this forward-looking progressive bill which of course is sponsored by the Hon Maurice Williamson a very enthusiastic Minister of Customs and a Minister who is very very well acquainted with information and communications technology and of course is wanting to progress things. Of course this absolutely typifies the work of the National Government towards economic development towards efficiency and effectiveness towards reducing compliance costs and towards modernity. We are the Government that has been well-known for championing the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband and that is entirely relevant to this particular bill. I was quite surprised to hear Mr Tirikatene going into the past on various concerns which the Labour Party is inclined to do.One of the things that we did hear from the Hon Maurice Williamson at the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee was the huge lengths that the Customs Service went toto test in parallel the new system with the old system over a significant period of time to get the bugs out of it and also that this particular system will come out in two tranches—again over a period of time. Although we all know that various computer systems all over the world do have difficulties a great deal of thought and effort to detail have been put into this particular one.The other thing is that everyone in New Zealand is concerned about biosecurity and again we have heard the Customs Service time and time again say what a difficult taskit has where every day there are thousands upon thousands of shipments coming into and out of New Zealand and that customs officers have to do everything they can to avoid biosecurity risks. It is a bit rich when we have Damien O’Connor the member for West Coast - Tasman shroud waving and mastering the art of misinformation when it was under his regime thatdidymo came in and under his regime that of course the very devastating varroa bee mite came in. Some of these things are inevitable but what we do want and what is encapsulated in this new system is a modern system that is well tested and that is highly necessary for New Zealand.I think it is worthwhile spending just 1 second on what the regulatory impact statement says regarding the reasons for bringing this legislation in. It says: “The opportunity for improved efficiencies in border management and lower compliance costs for industry is potentially impeded by existing legislation.” But moreover: “The flows of people goods and craft arriving in New Zealand create significant risks. New Zealand needs a border system capable of facilitating trade and travel while managing risk and collecting Government revenue of over $10.5 billion a year. Management of the border is undertaken by a number of agencies including Customs …”. The statement goes on to say: “The management of the border for customs and biosecurity purposes relies on computer systems that are over 15 years old and lack the flexibility to respond to the increasing needs of border management.” This is the reason why it is so important to progress this very necessary legislation.It is great that all parties are supporting it. I look forward to it coming to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee which is so ably chaired by my colleague John Hayes. Thank you.