Muller ToddTODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty): It is a great privilege to be able to rise and take a short call in support of the third reading of the Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Bill. If I could just start perhaps with an apology: when I first saw this bill come across the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee work programme and saw that it was an enabling bill to create the regulatory framework for our rockets to be launched into space I have to admit I had a much smaller vision of what was envisaged with this bill. In my mind I saw a sort of backyard-type operation.It really was not until I stepped through this with my select committee colleagues and listened to Peter Beck's vision and understood what incredible technology they have brought to bear—as David Parker has just stepped through some examples of—that the bill spoke to the huge opportunity that exists here for New Zealand. I have to admit I felt a call back to my youth when I saw that Facebook post of the countdown of our first Electron rocket up into space at the end of May counting down from 10 to zero. It was a black and white rocket that was not 2 metres tall; it was 18 metres tall. It looked pretty significant to see it take off pretty much like it does at Cape Kennedy. As someone who has always been hugely fascinated by space and exploration I felt more than a frisson of excitement when I saw that. I thought: Actually this is really cool." And it is really cool that it is happening in New Zealand.As we have heard already from Simon Bridges I do think the Government should be applauded for doing the thinking that enables this to continue as a business opportunity in New Zealand but also for the investment that has come through our Business Growth Agenda strategy to help enable technologies like this to take off—if you can excuse the pun.I just want to take issue with aspects of Mr Parker's—it had to be said—comments. The tech sector was in its infancy 7 to 8 years ago and it is now New Zealand's third largest export sector. It is growing rapidly contributing $16 billion to GDP a significant advance on 8 years ago. It is growing incredibly fast—28000 firms including a number that are involved with the Rocket Lab initiative employing just on 100000 people. This is an incredibly vibrant part of the New Zealand economy and I would venture to suggest that not many in this House could have imagined even as little as 3 or 4 years ago our being able to stand here and talk to passing a bill that enables space launches from New Zealand in a genuinely scaled-up commercial way that is delivering satellites and other useful equipment into space.Peter Beck and his team should be congratulated as too in my opinion should this Government for the part that we have played to enable it. This bill is a key part of the ongoing framework to ensure that this will be successful. I think we have the balance right between public observation and participation to the extent that we can bearing in mind this is highly sensitive technology but we are also creating the conditions to provide the investors in this opportunity—which I suspect will be significant—to have the surety of the regulatory regime to be able to put the money behind the vision. Some of the expectations that sit on the table in respect of this are that this could be a $600 million to $1.5 billion industry over the next 20 years. I think that should be something that we all should promote and talk to in our communities as an example of what New Zealand can actually achieve.I was very pleased with the way the bill progressed through the various conversations that we had. There were obviously the stages through here but particularly the work we did as a select committee. Typically it was very collaborative. Can I acknowledge Minister Simon Bridges and also all of the cross-party people involved in the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee. I think we probed quite effectively the areas of concern and issues that were raised and I agree with Mr Parker actually. Where we landed in respect of clarifying the sorts of peaceful purpose expectations that we have as a country in respect of this framework by more explicitly tying this bill to our international obligations and by bringing some transparency around what they are was I think a very useful step forward.I am not going to take much more of the House's time. I think this is a superb bill and I very much support it in its third reading. Thank you."