Watts SimonSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. It's an absolute pleasure to rise on behalf of the National Party as a member of Parliament for North Shore to talk on the Business Payment Practices Bill first reading. As you've heard from fellow members of ours on this side of the House we are supporting this bill through to select committee. The reason for that is quite simple: it is that we do absolutely support the small-business community and the significant number of individuals across this country who do very much hard work for our economy in regards to that sector. The importance in terms of them being paid on time becoming more essential because of the cost of living crisis that everyone is suffering at the moment. And that cash-flow aspect is so significant in terms of their overall working capital.We know that Xero has published data around this indicating that 8 percent of businesses in New Zealand are not paid or are paid more than a month later than when they are due to be paid and that's a significant implication on them—something in the region of around $456 million of late payments. From a working capital point of view for those that have been part of small business or understand the issue when you're relying on that capital to pay your wages relying on that cash flow to come in to pay your other expenses it's really really important. So anything that we can do to ensure that those businesses are paid more regularly and are paid on time I think increases the efficiency in the flow and the productivity of our small-business community.I think the legislation as it's framed is targeted at large businesses—large businesses that earn over $33 million of revenue—and ensuring that they have the degree of compliance around making sure that those payments occur. I'm not sure whether the Minister has indicated or not whether the Government departments are captured by this legislation but that would be a very basic first-principle starting point. Obviously they don't earn revenue but I would expect as a default automatically that our Government departments should absolutely be setting an example in terms of leadership around ensuring that bills are paid on time—and boy do our Government departments pay a lot of businesses at the moment a lot of invoices. Because this Government loves to spend; they are addicted to spending. So if they are spending then at least we want to make sure that those bills are paid on time.The issues that have been canvassed—and I think it is why National have been very clear that we are supporting this through to select committee: because our expectation of select committee is very much to test this legislation. And I think as other members have said what is the overall problem that we're trying to fix or is being tried to be fixed by this legislation and is this the right mechanism in terms of a reporting framework that will achieve that outcome? As we've heard already there are other mechanisms that can be utilised in order to achieve and ensure that that 8 percent of payments that aren't paid on time do occur. I'm hopeful that the select committee process will ensure a robust consideration through feedback from submitters around: are there other alternative models? I'm sure in this case that the Minister responsible for this bill will be open to alternative models and alternative options that submitters make in regards to legislation to ensure that we get a sustainable position in regards to moving forward in this regard.The concerns that I would have in regards to this legislation and those that have been echoed on this side of the House relate to the increasing compliance and regulatory burden that reporting frameworks can bring and do bring to businesses. And while we acknowledge that these are large businesses and will have as one of the members mentioned most probably access to financial reporting and accounting software that will primarily automate most of this practice the reality is that processes and systems do bring additional compliance on businesses. When we're dealing with what we know is 8 percent applying a one-size-fits-all across all businesses across that community it means that you know in effect 92 percent of businesses in this country are doing the right thing. I think we need to acknowledge that actually we are talking about a small minority of businesses that are not. So therefore do we need the sledgehammer to crack the nut or is there another mechanism which is much more efficient and targeted in order to achieve the same outcome? I'm confident that the select committee will consider that as part of their review process and not simply push through regulation and legislation for the sake of it.The other aspect that is important to note is in regards to the overall challenge and I think the way in which the bill potentially will deal with that speed of payment because the reporting and monitoring processes as is outlined in the legislation goes so far but it doesn't physically ensure that that payment is actually made. And that gets back to the crux of the issue and I think it's what infuriates businesses across this country it's just that late payment and that element of—probably for that small number of businesses that aren't paying on time it's probably well-known who those businesses are. So again you know is there a mechanism that can be deployed in order to target that small number of firms to ensure that they are making the payment and simply by reporting and doing that you know will that achieve the outcome? I think as a prior member also noted and it is—I will reflect on this is that while we're standing here and the Government are putting through a piece of legislation which is around putting performance measures and reporting and monitoring in place we are failing to do this in some of the most critical areas of our Public Service at the moment. The lack of performance measurement and outcomes measurement I think is having significant implications both in terms of economic but also social implications on our communities. And so if we can take maybe some of them—maybe they've clicked on; maybe they've just thought Actually we do need to do a little bit of this" and maybe this is a turning point for the Government to actually start looking at options in order to drive better performance. And you know we can only live in hope that that is the case.But that's pretty much all I want to say on the bill. National will be supporting it through to the select committee stage. Always look forward to the select committee providing appropriate due diligence and appropriate consideration to this bill. I'm sure they will and I'm looking forward to seeing the outcome coming back at second reading. Thank you very much."