Lees-Galloway IainIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North): It is a pleasure to support this Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Bill on behalf of the Labour Party. I was not on the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee unfortunately and I consider that a great shame. I think I would have quite enjoyed hearing the submissions and having a conversation about New Zealand joining perhaps not quite the space race—I think the space race is probably over—but the exclusive club of countries that have the capability to deploy into space. I think it is incredibly exciting. Although I have no particular expertise—I have heard other members stretch a pretty long way to suggest they have expertise. I watched Star Trek a couple of times when I was young and I think that is about as close as I can get. But I do think it is incredibly exciting.We in New Zealand are in urgent need of more industries that are high-skilled high-technology and high-value. Despite the fact that Rocket Lab has been developed in recent years which is something to be applauded and celebrated it is true that productivity in New Zealand is lamentably weak. In per capita terms the last two quarters have seen GDP go backwards and that growth is anaemic and is based purely on the very rapid population growth that we have got in New Zealand and it is only by focusing on industries like this that we are going to see real GDP growth—real economic growth that actually benefits people.Growth that is based on population growth does not actually benefit anybody. It does not build houses. It does not put roofs over people's heads. It does not increase people's wages. It does not put food on the table or pay the bills. It is just kind of growth for growth's sake. What we need is a focus on high-technology industries that actually add value actually grow the economy and actually offer higher-quality jobs that pay decent wages. Obviously you know it is not just the world of space technology that offers that but this is exciting. This I hope will actually inspire youngsters to get involved in subjects like science like technology like engineering and like mathematics to maybe aspire to perhaps be part of this industry.What this bill seeks to do of course is not just allow Rocket Lab to continue doing what it is doing but to facilitate the development of a New Zealand space industry and ensure its safe and secure operation. That is exciting—that maybe we might see other competitors or at least other businesses entering this field and offering a new range of jobs that do not exist in New Zealand currently so that we can see some real growth in the future. We do need to see a change. You know we have had 9 years of a National Government and we have got this very low-growth low-value economy—low skills low wages. This is an opportunity I think with the passing of this bill to see a shift—you know the kind of step change that was promised. We saw lots of ambition when the National Party was in Opposition but that ambition has not really come to much. This legislation is perhaps an opportunity to see the kind of growth that New Zealand urgently needs. It makes sense—I suppose it is something that we in New Zealand have not given much attention to—that there are international treaties and conventions in relation to high-altitude activities that we have not needed to adhere to in the past but we now need to and we do so through this legislation. One area that I was interested in—as Labour's defence spokesman I was wondering what safeguards are being put in place to make sure that this is not a technology that can be weaponised in New Zealand or can be used for purposes that are not peaceful. I note that this legislation actually specifically denies people the opportunity to place into orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction install [any] such weapons on celestial bodies or station such weapons in outer space in any … manner." Obviously in New Zealand there is not too much of an issue with nuclear weapons because we have got a long tradition of being nuclear-free. Even when one person tried to suggest that our nuclear-free status would be gone by lunchtime that was utterly rejected by the New Zealand population. The public of New Zealand are very proud of our nuclear-free stance and so we would have no concerns about deploying nuclear weapons into space. But actually in reading this I am not sure that we cannot send conventional weapons into space. I do not know if there is any point in sending conventional weapons into space. I do not have enough expertise in this area to know whether that is useful or not but that might be something that would be worth considering at the Committee stage—whether we need to just be clear or whether there is any need to include any limitations on sending conventional weapons into space. Certainly nobody operating under this legislation will be able to establish military bases installations or fortifications on celestial bodies or to test any weapons or conduct manoeuvres on celestial bodies so there is really no apparent opportunity to use this for military purposes. That is good. I think that we have got a long tradition of being a peaceful nuclear-free nation and we would not want to in any way undermine that through this legislation.I did notice in some of the material that Rocket Lab put out to celebrate the launching of its first rocket that went into space—not into orbit I understand but it did make it into space—that it describes itself I think and I am paraphrasing here as a glorified transportation company because its primary objective is going to be to transport goods and items into space. I know that one of the things that satellites are used for is communications technology surveillance technology—technology that is used to listen in to people. That might be something that Todd Barclay is interested in—I do not know. But that is something that could be an opportunity for New Zealand to get into—the deployment of satellites and satellite technology into space. Again it is an opportunity for us to grow that industry and to diversify the industries that we currently have into more high-skill and high-wage areas.This does make New Zealand I understand the 11th country from which it is now possible to launch vehicles into space. What this legislation does is it requires operators who plan to be able to launch into space—maybe to deploy some of that communications and surveillance technology—to get a licence from the Government. So this is for operators who are going beyond the current regulated airspace which I assume is covered by the Civil Aviation Authority and the legislation that governs that organisation. For those who want to go higher than that regulated airspace there will be a requirement to secure a licence from the Government.The bill as introduced provides that where the Minister is satisfied with specified criteria in consultation with the security Ministers—i.e. the Minister in charge of New Zealand's Security Intelligence Service or the Minister responsible for the Government Communications and Security Bureau—he or she or the Minister may grant the launch licence. So it is just putting in place the criteria the standards and the expectations so that not just any old cowboy can suddenly rock up and start launching rockets into space. I suspect that would be a difficult task to just suddenly sort of rock up and start sending rockets into space. It is probably a slightly more logistically difficult exercise than that but it is important that we get the regulation right. As other members have said it should be permissive regulation—regulation that has the right safeguards in place but that supports the development of this industry.So this is a landmark piece of legislation actually. It really is quite exciting for a little country seen by the rest of the world as being down the bottom of the world with 4.5 million or nearly 5 million people which is the size of most cities in the countries that are known as being involved in space technology. I think we should be incredibly proud of this. Finally we see something from this Government that might actually grow the economy and make ordinary New Zealanders better off. I commend this bill to the House."