Hughes GarethGARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Mr Chair. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou kia ora. Look it is 2017. I do not need to tell the Committee how important this year is but I think it is important to stop and reflect that it was only 10 years ago in 2007 that we really saw the transformational power of technology which is what we are dealing with in this legislation. It was only 10 years ago that the iPhone was launched 10 years ago that Airbnb was conceived 10 years ago that Twitter was spun off 10 years ago that IBM started work on its Watson supercomputer and 10 years ago that Facebook opened up. It is incredible to stop and think how much change we have seen from all those different devices and technologies in the last 10 years.The problem this bill is dealing with is how we empower and unleash the empowering technology to help New Zealanders New Zealand businesses and New Zealand communities. We have seen how the world has changed and how New Zealand has changed but too much of New Zealand is stuck in the past with old-fashioned slow copper lines. This legislation is trying to deal with two problems. The first is that the Government is spending an awful lot of money on ultra-fast broadband something that all parties in Parliament support. We want to see more New Zealanders connected taking up the opportunities of fibre to work at home to upload and to create. But under some problems with the provisions relating to third-party access to shared driveways or apartments—for example we know that maybe 44000 installs could have failed as a result of needing a complex negotiation through an apartment or the ability of neighbours to block access to a driveway needed so someone could install fibre. This was something identified many years ago by both the Labour and Green parties and it is good that we are finally many years on seeing action.But I want to talk about another problem which is that we have got tens of thousands of kilometres of wires providing electricity to all corners of the country a great transmission method to get internet—high-quality internet—to people no matter where they live in the country. This was an area that was not in the bill originally but the Commerce Committee was able to come together—and I want to acknowledge the chair Melissa Lee and the other members of the committee—to come up with an innovative solution to deal with that problem. The original legislation was dealing with the access issues. The second part of the solution was that the committee came together to find a solution to allow electricity distributors—lines companies—to string fibre up on their existing works. What this means is that for a farmer who is out in rural New Zealand who has got electricity access they can now through their lines companies see internet access on that same pole. The committee grappled with some of the tricky issues: in terms of land access in terms of who has got the contractual obligations and who has got the communication responsibilities with that landowner.An area I thought was particularly important and was working on was new section 155ZZF. What happens if you do have a lines company—of course we have got 29 regional electricity distribution monopolies across New Zealand. What if one of them said: Look our core business is electricity provision. We are not particularly fussed about internet provision." The catalyst for getting this pioneering Subpart 4 through this legislation was Northpower which I really want to acknowledge and thank for its excellent work and submissions. But what about the other 28 if they choose not to? A compromise that was reached on the committee was that we have delegated those powers to the Minister through Order in Council to make a regulation.I would have preferred a more positive empowering obligation in this primary legislation so that third parties—an internet service provider for example or regional fibre provider—could go to a lines company and say: "Look you've got thousands of customers out there. They don't have high-quality internet access at the moment. We would like to use your electricity lines to make it possible given you are a regional monopoly with public benefit." However we did not see consensus on that point in the committee so it is good that we at least have a regulation-making power for the Minister.Just to summarise: we have seen a very clear problem in terms of the slowness and inability for Kiwis to access high-quality internet. We have seen two solutions one from the Government which all parties support and one from the committee—probably the most inspirational select committee process that I have experienced in my 7 years in Parliament a committee coming together to work on shared solutions. And then this vision for New Zealand—that we could see more in this country connected taking up the opportunities of the internet."