Coffey TamatiTAMATI COFFEY (Labour—Waiariki): Thank you—[Member's microphone malfunctions] Thank you Madam Speaker. Thankfully I know how to work a microphone. It pleases me greatly to be able to stand here and take a short call albeit on the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga Bill. This is the second reading of this bill. It's a necessary piece of legislation. It's been sitting on a shelf for a good nine years so under this Government we've decided that we're going to take some action on that and for that reason it came to our Finance and Expenditure Committee. We've been sitting through the submissions for it and I want to thank all of the people that submitted to it as well.Just glossing over the reason why we're doing it it is obviously to create that autonomous Crown entity which is going to coordinate develop and promote an approach to infrastructure and services that result from infrastructures that will improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders. At the moment we've got a bit of a haphazard approach and for this reason that was why the submission that I listened to the most actually came from the New Zealand Māori Council who came forward with their submission and said the Māori economy is big and it's growing and for Māori to be able to properly participate in this country we need the support of infrastructure to be able to make things work. So Māori being landowners—we own water we have rights to airspace—we actually have a vested interest in making sure that the pipeline of infrastructure is working for us as partners in this land.As it has been in the past there's been a lot of confusion as was pointed out by the New Zealand Māori Council's submission about exactly where infrastructure sat. Sometimes you might find Māori landowners or organisations entities going to the council. Sometimes they get told that no it's not council; it's actually regional council. Sometimes they show up to the Ministry for the Environment thinking that they're going to the right place to be able to do their developments but actually the place that they should be going is the New Zealand Transport Agency. So anything that can help to simplify what infrastructure looks like in New Zealand and that pipeline to create certainty by creating that commission is going to be of great benefit to Māori.There was a submission that they put forward as well to actually have a Māori commissioner involved in the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission. We talked about the idea of it but it actually didn't make it through not for want of trying but the feeling around the room was that the commission would be able to look after Māori interests. I guess this is something that we will monitor as the commission evolves and as it moves forward we'll be making sure that actually it is responsive to the needs of Māori landowners and incorporations as well that are very active in the economy albeit the Māori economy as well.In the past there's been a severe lack of integrated investment decisions across central and local government. That's what's led us to this place now. The lack of visibility the lack of pipeline the lack of scale—all of these things have left us in a worse place and actually encourages the work that is being done.The bill is establishing the commission. It's been designed to address the flaw in the current approach to infrastructure in accordance with those from the infrastructure sector and I probably should do a little shout-out to all of those people that work in infrastructure around New Zealand that do do the hard yards that came and presented to the select committee as well. There was a lot of work that was put into this not least actually the establishment of the commission and the commissioners as well. It was on 21 August that the infrastructure Minister Shane Jones actually announced at the Building Nations conference in the geothermal paradise that is Rotorua who exactly the new board were going to be. So Dr Alan Bollard as chair Jon Grayson chief executive David Cochrane Raveen Jaduram and Sarah Sinclair will be pioneering this work—sorry also two more Stephen Selwood and Sue Tindal. I wish them the best of luck in their endeavour. This is a good bill.