Swarbrick ChlöeCHLÖE SWARBRICK (Greens): E Te Māngai tēnā koe. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. It's a pleasure to rise on behalf of the Green Party to and I'll front foot it commend this bill to the House. I want to lend my congratulations to Andrew Bayly as the member in charge of shepherding this piece of legislation through the House and indeed through the select committee process and also obviously to the member formerly in charge who introduced this legislation into the 51st Parliament if the record is correct Paul Foster-Bell whom I would note just for the sake of some fun for law students who may later be going through the Hansard I met on the bus a few weeks ago. So I might say there is hope for that blue-green idea yet.What this piece of legislation does—and a number of speakers before me have really spoken to the crux of it—is improve the arbitration process. It was actually Barry Coates a former Green Party MP who spoke at the introduction of this bill at the first reading about the importance of supporting transparency but also about the importance of practical changes to the arbitration process to make it work better for those who engage in it.As a number of speakers have addressed the arbitration process is an important part of the alternative dispute resolution cachet in that it keeps the courts free of those disputes which can be settled in those rooms that are somewhat more private but obviously somewhat a bone of contention I would note given the points made around open justice. I would refer members to the submission of William Somerville who I think summarised it quite well. I believe it was the Hon Maggie Barry who spoke to how arbitration cases from overseas bring in on average approximately a million dollars each. That is evidently quite a high financial incentive but as William Somerville put it—and I quote—The suggested benefit of promoting New Zealand as a venue for offshore arbitration is legitimate in itself but should not drive weakening a fundamental constitutional principle." that being open justice. I think that's a really critical point; so I would commend the committee on what I am sure were incredibly robust discussions and debates. And this I know is one of the most weighty reports that I've seen back from a select committee; so I will tautoko the point made by Greg O'Connor that it is evidently a hard-working committee—hey Chris Bishop!On the point around trusts this is as I understand going to end up being dealt with in a Government bill which is being dealt with by the same Justice Committee and there are also a number of technical amendments proposed within this legislation—those being avoiding late jurisdictional objection and application to set aside as a recourse against award.I'd note the point which has been alluded to by other speakers around the appointment process for arbitrators. This is an interesting one which a number of submitters chose to use their submission time to speak to despite the lack of clarity as to whether it could end up being included or was out of scope of the member's bill.The problematic area which I hope is capturing the attention of the Hon Alfred Ngaro who asked for Greg O'Connor to put this in a poem—this is a fun fact Alfred Ngaro—is quick draw procedure which is where a party can trigger a process to appoint an arbitrator if the other party fails to respond to communication within seven days. The more you know! And it was Paul Heath QC who advised on removing the quick draw procedure who said—and I quote—"It is the most important practical issue from the perspective of the arbitration profession". My understanding listening to the debate but also delving through the interim report of the Justice Committee is that this point was put before the Business Committee and that it could be considered as an amendment before the House. So I think that the committee of the whole House stage will be very interesting as a debate.As a member who had not known that they would be speaking on this bill until about two hours ago I hope that I have made a somewhat meaningful contribution and would like to echo the sentiments of former speakers to the legislation thus far and commend this bill to the House."