Wall Louisa: Telecommunications (TSO Broadband and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Wall Louisa: Telecommunications (TSO Broadband and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19475] 
LOUISA WALL (Labour) 
: 
 It has been very interesting listening to the debate on the Telecommunications (TSO Broadband and Other Matters) Bill this afternoon. I am not on the Finance and Expenditure Committee and I have not been in the House very long. But I reiterate what the honourable member from the Greens Gareth Hughes has just said: this is in fact incredibly poor process. Supplementary Order Paper 247 was tabled only on Tuesday 14 June and we have had access to this paper only today. Already there have been several calls to not only Clare Curran our spokesperson but also a number of other Labour Party members. We want to point out the significance of removing the share obligation. It is a big deal; it is not a little thing. It should not have been put in a Supplementary Order Paper. In fact it is one of the primary debating points for changes in this area. I think the Minister in the chair the Minister for Communications and Information Technology has to explain why he has done that. I think it is really important that New Zealanders now know that they will not have universal coverage and that having equity in access to telecommunications in our country has now been deleted or will be deleted if this bill is passed. 
Carmel Sepuloni 
: Who will miss out? 
LOUISA WALL 
: Exactly. I want to know which Kiwis will miss out on having access to telecommunications if this bill goes through and if the Kiwi share obligation is removed. Who will be the main ones affected by not having access to what we have all regarded as a public good for all of us? I would like the Minister to explain that. 
We are on Part 1 “Telecommunications service obligations and general matters” but in terms of that poor process I will go back right to the beginning of how the industry has been engaged in having a say. It was quite interesting. I noted Vodafone’s submission. This is a quote from their submission: “We are not alone in thinking that the Committee would have benefited from allowing more time for consultation and submissions … Making such major change at such speed risks bad decision-making since policy-makers have only a partial understanding of the implications of the changes they are making.” Hopefully the Minister can answer the last question I asked: who is most affected by removing the Kiwi share obligation? Given that we do not fully know I will be very interested in what he has to say. I have another question for him: if this is such major legislation and if we think telecommunications are so vital for our economy why were the chief executive officers of TelstraClear Vodafone 2degrees InternetNZ and Kordia given only 10 minutes each to discuss this very important legislation? 
Why have we dumbed down democracy? Why are we rushing through this major legislation without consultation and without input from the people who provide that service to New Zealanders? Being able to communicate with one another is vital. It is vital for us as human beings to be able to keep in contact with our families but also it is vital for businesses and for how societies function in a modern economy. If it is so important why has the Minister allocated only 10 minutes to each of these major telecommunications company bosses to have a say on major legislation that will have far-reaching consequences? I would be very interested in the Minister answering that question given that there seems to have been limited consultation before the select committee process. That is vital. I look forward to the Minister answering that question. 
Labour absolutely opposes this bill and we oppose it because we think it will create unforeseen consequences in terms of who has access to telecommunications in our country in the future. We will not let rural communities— 
Carmel Sepuloni 
: Like Wairoa 
LOUISA WALL 
: —like Wairoa miss out on access to this vital technology. I want to know whether the Minister has information about which communities will be affected. It would be really good if the Minister took a call and answered some of those questions. I think that is me. Kia ora.