Foster-Bell Paul: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 14 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10643. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National): Thank you very much Mr Chair for allowing me to take a call in this annual review debate on the Finance and Government Administration Sector review. I want first to pay tribute to the previous deputy chair of the Government Administration Committee my colleague Sarah Dowie whom I replaced in the last couple of weeks. I am just coming to grips with the wide and varied remit of the committee and so this will be a many and varied speech covering some of the interesting grab bag of departments and agencies that fall within the remit of the Government Administration Committee.The Fire Service Commission a very important institution of State is currently under review and the Government is proceeding with Mr Swain’s recommendations. This is the review conducted by the Hon Paul Swain the new chairman of the Fire Service Commission and a former Minister in the previous Labour administration. We want the structure of the New Zealand Fire Service to reflect the modern realities of the 21st century. The current legislation is based in the 1970s. The Fire Service has an incredibly important job to do but increasingly it is not simply putting out fires; it is rescuing people from car accidents it is conducting valuable training and there are a wide range of both urban and rural fire services. Let me make this clear: the Government will not be reducing the Fire Service in terms of what it is actually providing. This is not about terms and conditions for firefighters who are highly respected servants of this country and often the saviours of members of the community who find themselves in trouble. This is simply a look at the structure and governance of both rural and urban fire services to bring them up to date and to modernise them.In the digital area—delivering digital services to the public—we are making excellent progress with over 50 percent of the top ten services used by New Zealand citizens now conducted digitally online. This makes it easier simpler cheaper and more efficient for people. One example that does fall within the remit of the Government Administration Committee is passports. Increasing numbers of people are applying for their passport online. Going to the 10-year passports has also been a hugely popular success story. People can not only have the greater convenience of getting a longer duration out of their passport but also save themselves significant costs. I have some comparisons to make. A 10-year Australian passport costs A$250 whereas our 10-year adult passport if applied for online costs only NZ$180 including GST. This is an average saving of over NZ$90 compared with the system that had been in place under the previous Government.The digital uptake generally is shooting ahead. We are up 6.6 percentage points over the last year compared with the same quarter in 2014. We have now got a 52.9 percent uptake of those most common transactions. This puts us well on track to our target of 70 percent of all of New Zealanders’ common online transactions with the Government being conducted in the online space by 2017. This is a very positive result and it reflects the work not only of the Department of Internal Affairs but across all agencies—everyone from the health sector through to the police playing their part to ensure New Zealanders have simple easy and affordable access to online services.We have heard from the Minister of Revenue about the changes—the massive business transformation being conducted in the Inland Revenue Department—and there are many other transformative things happening within the sector that will directly contribute to New Zealanders being wealthier better off better paid and enjoying better lifestyles.Tourism contributed $10.6 billion to the New Zealand economy in 2015 which is a 5 percent increase on the year before and a significant addition to our GDP. Within the Wellington region we had our best-ever year for bed nights. I would attribute this in part to the work of the Government as well as the hard work of individual businesses. There was an increase in the Tourism New Zealand budget from $83.8 million to $115 million—a significant extra investment in the promotion of New Zealand as a destination. But film co-production agreements and film tourism have also been significant additions to our market here in Wellington along with the air services agreements that are being concluded. I am very interested to see the negotiations with Qatar and how they will result in the addition of extra services into Wellington. Wellington Airport is doing very well and visitor numbers grew around 20 percent over the last 5 years. There were over 200000 Australians who spent at least one night in Wellington. I personally believe—this is my own view—that any enhancement of the service at Wellington Airport will be of further benefit.