Ardern Jacinda: Copyright (Parallel Importing of Films) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Jacinda: Copyright (Parallel Importing of Films) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 18 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13532. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACINDA ARDERN (Labour): I thank the Minister of Immigration Michael Woodhouse for his contribution—Hon Members: Short contribution.JACINDA ARDERN: —on the Copyright (Parallel Importing of Films) Amendment Bill. I guess to give the Minister his due this is quite a small bill just a mere two pages but—Hon Michael Woodhouse: Short does not necessarily mean bad.JACINDA ARDERN: As the Minister said short does not mean that there is not quality contained within. There is controversy within this bill however and I want to be very upfront about that. It has not been an easy decision for the Labour Party on where it would go on this particular piece of legislation. There has been much debate within the caucus and between caucus members. It is fair to say that some probably would have preferred to fall on the other side of the debate but ultimately what we reached was what I would describe as a time-limited compromise and a very strong message to the industry that this is it.We have been in this place before. In fact the Copyright (Parallel Importation of Films and Onus of Proof) Amendment Act 2003 placed a partial ban a time-limited partial ban on the parallel imports of movies including VHS—because people were still using them—and DVDs into New Zealand based on two—Hon Michael Woodhouse: The member wouldn’t remember VHS.JACINDA ARDERN: I do remember VHS. I remember my parents saving up a significant amount of money to purchase the first VCR we ever had and I had an Amstrad computer at that time as well just to date me a little further.There were two reasons that the ban was put in place and at that time it was articulated and viewed—these were the reasons—that distributors would release fewer films in New Zealand for theatre. Distributors would if possible have to release films earlier in conjunction with or closely following the international release date and therefore would no longer have access to second-hand prints. There was a view that itwould increase costs which could result in increased ticket prices and would create disincentives to make films available for theatrical release in New Zealand. The second reason for the ban was that rural and smaller communities could face a loss of movie exhibition facilities as a result of fewer films being available for exhibition in smaller theatres and audiences would have to wait longer for a smaller number of films to become available.The response to those two concerns was to put in place a 9-month parallel importation ban to try to allow that element of the theatre industry to have the ability to continue to have the right to thrive. The view was that that was necessary. It was “sunsetted” though. We are at a point where Parliament has the ability to consider whether or not that ban should continue whether it should lapse or whether or not it should be amended. The position that this Parliament has reached and certainly some parties across the House have reached is that that window should become smaller moving from 9 months after a film’s international release to 5 months and that the time at which that parallel import window should lapse should be 31 October 2016.Some have raised the question of what happens if we come to that point and the industry again comes to seek another extension. Well our strong message from this side of the House is that we will not support any further extension of a parallel importation ban because the time has come for this industry—in fact the time is already here for this industry—to start adapting to the new digital environment we find ourselves in. Other industries have been forced to do that. I think the music industry in New Zealand in particular has tried to move at a commendable pace particularly since the copyright debate to try to offer consumers a greater range of options. This falls again into the realm of the arguments of why this industry needs to do exactly the same. We need to move to a more accessible environment but as I have said we chose to move to a time-limited compromise because we are not clear in our minds that the industry took the last expiration date as an end point or that it has prepared itself adequately.There are arguments to be made that as a consequence there would be a considerable jolt for some aspects of the industry—in particular regional provincial cinemas where we cannot deny that there would be consequences certainly based on reports like those prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers that indicate that we would see job losses as a result and a loss of facilities which offer a different kind of consequence for families. We weighed that up of course against the consequence to families of potentially increased ticketing prices and a loss of access via DVDs or live streaming that they currently face. So we ask—we implore—the industry: “We have given you this brief window. Do not abuse it. Move forward with greater pace because there is an inevitability to this expiration.”But in the meantime the industry must find a way to cushion the potential loss of jobs and as the Minister has said to finish converting as soon as possible to digital exhibition technology. In the interim we know that there was a potential for—some estimated—in the upper band of up to 165 fulltime-equivalent jobs lost through the industry through the loss of potential revenue and release in New Zealand if the ban was not continued. But like I say there is an absolute inevitability in this and it is time that the industry moved on. It is time that we see an end point to this window. We are flagging it clearly in theHansard today that that is what Labour expects will happen by October 2016. We encourage though in the interim greater pace by the industry and greater options for consumers and we send this message that from our perspective this is certainly the last time.