Goldsmith Paul; Williams PotoHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I'm very pleased to join with the widespread support across this House for this legislation the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill which we're now putting down for its third reading. The bill amends the Telecommunications Act as we know to establish a stable and predictable regulatory framework for fixed fibre line access services in New Zealand—[Interruption] Thank you very much.It's work that the National Party began in the last Parliament and which had made some progress under the previous Government and is now being continued on by this Government—good sound legislation backed after careful scrutiny and communication with the broader industry that it affected. I hesitate to make the contrast—but I will—between some of the previous bills that we've been speaking about in the last day or two most notably the Crown Minerals (Petroleum) Amendment Bill which dealt with the offshore exploration in the oil and gas sector which displayed none of those basic attempts to understand what was really going on and to liaise effectively with the industry affected. But this is how you go about doing quality regulation. So what we're talking about here is the regulation of the ultra-fast broadband services that the previous National Government invested about $2 billion in laying out across the country. It is a key part now of the national infrastructure that we have. It's almost as important as roads and other fundamental infrastructure that we have in terms of power and other things that are essential to the workings of the economy. Of course it didn't exist 20 or 30 years ago but with the development of the immense computing power and the connectivity that we have within the country and all around the world the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband we thought in the previous Government was something that the Government needed to have a hand in and could usefully contribute to the investment in so that it would happen more quickly than it would otherwise have. The various countries all around the world have gone about this in different ways. The only point I'd make is that in this particular respect I think we've done a better job than our friends across the Tasman who have spent billions and billions of dollars on their scheme with far less effect and success than we have in New Zealand. So under the previous National Government settings we were on track to have 87 percent of New Zealand households connected to ultra-fast broadband by 2020 and maybe even earlier under ultra-fast broadband phase two. The point I would make—and we have the Minister for Regional Economic Development here talking to one of my colleagues Ian McKelvie which is a little bit concerning. He's concerned about regional development—well there was no more useful regional development than the investment that we have made in ultra-fast broadband and in the Rural Broadband Initiative the RBI in order to get the many different towns and hamlets around this country connected to ultra-fast broadband.This legislation is about coming up with a regulatory framework particularly in relation to Chorus which owns much of that fibre network to ensure as it essentially has control over that critical piece of infrastructure that it's not able to take excess profits at the expense of consumers and is ultimately regulated about the price cap that it can have. So Chorus will be subject to a revenue cap but most importantly the company will be required to provide certain anchor services to its wholesale customers. As you can imagine—not you Madam Assistant Speaker but listeners—there are all sorts of complications around the arrangements between the provider of the core service and the many different innovative companies that are operating using those services and providing as intermediaries those services to New Zealanders. We want to see innovation flourish. We want to see different companies coming up with different ways of delivering the ultra-fast broadband whether it's super-fast for people who are prepared to pay for it or just medium speed and all the various combinations and permutations of that. We want that innovation to flourish and for that to happen those companies need to have access to the core infrastructure in a way that works for them and is predictable and is based on a set of rules that everybody can make long-term investments over. That's what this legislation seeks to put into place. So the revenue cap gives Chorus the flexibility in how it sets its prices for most products but also ensures that Chorus can't earn excess returns. The safeguard built into the system is that Chorus will be required to supply price-regulated anchor products. They'll initially be at the entry-level broadband product about 100 megabits per second upload and 20 megabits per second download and voice-only products. The purpose of this is not simply so that we can all get better access to Netflix and Lightbox and all the other streaming services that New Zealanders have shown great enthusiasm for over the past few years. It is partly that and why not—there's some good stuff on—Dr Duncan Webb: House of Cards.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Well yes. Bodyguard is the one I've been watching recently—very good—on Netflix. So that has enabled all sorts of different ways of entertaining ourselves. But the power of broadband of course is much more significant than that. The ability for all the classrooms in New Zealand to be able to stream video and connect anywhere they are in the world is a massive massive boon for education if teachers and the education system itself are innovative enough to make use of it. Also for our businesses right throughout the country—being able to connect with global marketplaces such as Amazon and Alibaba and all the different global marketplaces that rely on having excellent internet connections but also just trading with companies and consumers all around the world. The previous Government invested heavily in providing this infrastructure and we continue to invest throughout in the technology space. In fact just this morning I was over at Greta Point at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) with Minister Megan Woods at the opening of the latest supercomputer that NIWA has bought in order to crunch the numbers in terms of its climate modelling. Interestingly that computer is the third supercomputer they've bought. It is 1000 times more powerful than the first. The incredible ability to make a difference in terms of understanding our world—it's all just part of the investment that we've continued to make over an extended period and I commend the current Minister Megan Woods for their ongoing commitment to that investment in infrastructure. The final point I want to talk about was the deregulation of copper services. It is important that all Governments should demonstrate regulatory restraint and so when there was one single copper line around the country and it was a monopoly it was regulated in order to ensure that consumers weren't—like every monopoly the Government takes an interest to ensure that consumers are getting a fair go. As soon as it is no longer a monopoly then it is appropriate that we step back and allow normal competition to rule. So copper is not the only way you can get a telephone service to a house. Obviously you've got cellphone coverage and we've had it for a long time but now through fibre you can have digital audio phone calling. So there's no longer a monopoly with the copper line and so we no longer need to regulate it and as soon as we don't need to we shouldn't. The normal competitive forces of the economy can be far more effective than any regulator based in Wellington. That's why we step back in conditions where ultra-fast broadband is available. People can have a choice and then the normal market disciplines apply. But of course where there isn't yet that choice then we still have to deal with the situation with copper. So this is a sensible and pragmatic move but it is part of a mind-set which says that when you no longer need to regulate you shouldn't in order for investment to flow as rapidly as possible. So all in all it's good to see this legislation and I commend it to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I understand this is a split call—5 minutes Dr Duncan Webb.