Faafoi KrisKRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana): It is a genuine pleasure to speak to the Electronic Interactions Reform Bill. I would just really like to begin with sending a message to my friend across the hall Mr McKelvie just to say: do not be threatened by the technology that is slowly taking over the world. Embrace it; it is useful out on the farm—as I am sure you have seen in your electorate—and it could save you time and effort which I think everyone in this House is after. This is one of those pieces of legislation that is sign of the times" legislation. It is going to I hope set out to make the likes of Government departments and processes and dealing with the Department of Internal Affairs via Births Deaths and Marriages a lot more efficient. We in Labour will support it through to the select committee stage.I do hope that we approach this legislation with some caution though. Although we support it because we want to make the processes much more efficient and effective for Kiwis out there who are using these kinds of things every day there is a danger—when we get into the detail in the select committee—that some of the Government departments may not have the adequate security settings or the training within those departments to make sure that some of the things that we have set out to achieve in this legislation become a reality.One of the things that my colleague Iain Lees-Galloway talked about within this bill is that it allows an electronic vote I believe for—let me just make sure I am going to get this right because I do not want to get Forest and Bird on my case if it is not them—who is it? It is for the Fish and Game Council elections. I think that is an important aspect of this bill. We heard that the Government back in 2008 was ambitious for New Zealand but one of the ambitions that it has not quite got to achieving is electronic voting for local body elections. We have just had those local body elections and I think we all know the result—we have been talking about it for some time; the other side of the House has been quite silent on it. Having a look at some of the details around the Fish and Game Council elections and what that might entail in their departmental disclosure statement it says that if one allows by this legislation an online vote to happen it will "enable up to 94000 transactions"—and I am assuming that is votes—"to be completed online once every three years." Let us just take the city of Porirua for instance which I represent—Iain Lees-Galloway: Who is the mayor there?KRIS FAAFOI: Ah Mike Tana. Good mayor—he won by 144 votes. If we had electronic voting there—and there are certainly fewer than 94000 people in Porirua—it would enable much more voting to happen. Many more people would have their say. So why can we not have electronic voting in our local body elections which we have just had throughout the country and the results came out on Saturday when the New Zealand Fish and Game Council—which we are told will have 94000 votes under its electronic elections every 3 years and so it is on the same cycle as us—is able to have its election held online?That is the kind of question that we want to ask at the select committee. Why can the average "Joe Citizen" when they are choosing their local ward councillor or their local mayor not have the ability to vote online? I think the turnout was something dismal like somewhere between 35 and 40 percent around the country—somewhere in that region. If we really want to get people in New Zealand voting—increased voting in New Zealand—for their local bodies and for their mayors then we think that we should make a faster move toward electronic voting. Why can it not happen for our local district councils but here in this bill it enables the Fish and Game Council elections to be held electronically every 3 years? Why are they the priority? I do not get it. If the Government says: "Well yes we are going to bring in legislation to enable the Fish and Game Council to do this." I think the question needs to asked of the Government: why is it good enough for the Fish and Game Council every 3 years—and I am not demeaning the Fish and Game Council elections—but not good enough for everyone who votes in their local body elections? I think that is a pretty important question to ask.Another issue that I think we have with this piece of legislation is around organisations that might start having access to identity verification information under the RealMe system. The RealMe system allows people to go in to their local PostShop—take in their photo—and with certain Government departments that will be good enough as an online verification of their identity. What this piece of legislation says—and the purpose of the bill—is that some organisations have expressed an interest in using these identity verification service photographs to replace manual requirements for physical photographs. I would be OK if some organisations were Government departments or quangos—organisations with an official purpose for the photos. But "some organisations" is a bit vague. Is it the likes of businesses that want to use this? I do not mind that but I want to know which businesses are going to get access to some of this very sensitive information through the RealMe system. I think again that is another question we want to ask of the Government at the select committee once it gets to that stage. I understand it is going to the Government Administration Committee—a good committee—and I am sure we will get to ask those questions of it.Another good thing within the bill is the ability to use videoconferencing more from Government departments. I think certainly for people out in the regions or people out in rural areas physically going to a Government department to verify your identity or to interact with the entity when you specifically have to attend a meeting has become a bit cumbersome given the technology that we have. Imagine it: Mr McKelvie is in Marton and he has been requested to go to a Government department such as the ACC or IRD in Wanganui. Ian is too busy. He says: "Look I'm on the farm—got too much on. Is there any other way I can do this?". Well under the circumstances as they now stand Mr McKelvie is out of luck. He has to physically go to Wanganui to the Government department to make sure that he can verify that that is him and that he under law has attended and been to the office to make sure that business is done. But in the new world Mr McKelvie can crank up the laptop open up Skype—or maybe even use his phone and FaceTime—and call the Government department concerned. Would that not be a lovely world Mr McKelvie? Would that not be a great world where people who have got distances to travel and it would be an inconvenience for them to deal with a Government department can actually just ring them up via Skype or do a FaceTime call? I think that would be a great thing.Mr McKelvie this is the piece of legislation that your Government is proposing so I think you should take it with a firm grip and really empower yourself and help other New Zealanders empower themselves to be able to use this technology for their benefit. But in all seriousness it might help us make things more efficient—and it might make it more effective for the end-user and the Government department. There is some devil in the detail around the security of information and also around some of the other organisations that might get their hands on some of this information about which some questions need to be asked at the select committee.I do just want to finish back on the electronic voting because it is something that has been floating round for such a long time. Why when the New Zealand Fish and Game Council can vote online for its leadership can we not use the same technology for people out there in their city councils—[Interruption] I think Mr Barclay has got something to say about that—for their mayoralties to make sure that online voting can happen. It should be easy. It is easy—it is so easy that the Government can do it for the Fish and Game Council but it cannot do it for the average Joe Bloggs who voted just in the last couple of weeks in their local body elections. So I would like to see the Government—I will not use the word that I am not allowed to use—follow through with one of its objectives when it came to this House: to make online voting at least for our local bodies a reality. It should be done to make sure that everyone out there has their democratic say to make sure they pick the right person in their community and in their city and in their district to be their local representative.Bill read a first time. Bill referred to the Government Administration Committee."