Tabuteau FletcherFLETCHER TABUTEAU (NZ First): It is a pleasure to take this short call on behalf of New Zealand First on this the Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Bill. By way of brief explanation to start with the bill essentially codifies many of the international treaties that we are already signed up to and puts them into legislation. On top of that it seeks to govern space activity from New Zealand by way of regulating launches with a focus on safety and—as some of the members have suggested and I will get into a bit more detail later on—in terms of how we manage the debris that will invariably be created from those launches as those satellites or rockets come back to Earth.This is—and I said it in my first contribution to the House—genuinely exciting legislation. This is legislation that means New Zealand can literally launch rockets into space. It is fun and it is exciting and it provides so much opportunity for New Zealand going forward. By way of an example as we have moved into the modern technological age—just a few examples—telecommunications high-speed internet navigation formats place-based information climate monitoring and emergency management now are things that are all reliant on our access to getting that technology into space so that we can communicate around the world in pretty much real time. This is a space of rapid evolution creating new opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship in New Zealand. New Zealand First is excited about it and does see significant—significant—economic and innovative benefits attached to it. This bill seeks to facilitate the development of the space industry as I said whilst providing the necessary protections to manage the risks associated with it and as I said also to meet our international obligations.I would just like to acknowledge though that last month Rocket Lab launched its first test rocket on the Māhia Peninsula which was indeed a major milestone not just for Rocket Lab but for New Zealand also. It is kind of that highlight that real tangible and visible evidence that New Zealand has in fact got that space industry. That is not to take away from the efforts of the Invercargill endeavours over the last decade—or maybe actually two decades now. It is certainly that visible evidence. But for me and for New Zealand First—and this is not an indictment on Rocket Lab—we are still really really upset and we want to hold the Government to account here. We have a Government that gave millions of dollars to a private New Zealand endeavour and that was wonderful. Then the owners sold it. They sold it to one of the largest aerospace industries in the entire world. To be fair to Rocket Lab that is where most of the business will come from so it makes perfect sense but the indictment here is on the Government that did not make a single cent back from the investment that it put in this company on behalf of New Zealanders. That is the criticism we have. This should be a celebration because it does mean a lot for New Zealand because as has been said before—although I do question the numbers provided by one of the Labour members earlier—we are now one of only 11 countries currently able to launch rockets into space. As the Green member Gareth Hughes said previously we are the only country that managed to do it with a fully-funded privately owned orbital launch pad. It is a credit to them.The Minister for Economic Development Simon Bridges said that the Government's interest in space is much broader than rocket launches. For example"—he said—"New Zealand has the potential to become a niche player in other parts of the global value chain in this area." I commend him for saying that but I hope—I hope—it is correct when he used the words "New Zealand" and I hope he specifically means New Zealand business because the Government's record not only in this industry but in New Zealand innovation and New Zealand business is slim to none at this stage. We seem to be bought out constantly. So here's to growing New Zealand business. Here's to an exciting New Zealand industry where we can celebrate those young men and women who do endeavour and who want to become part of such an exciting industry because now it is available to them here in their very own country. That is truly something to be celebrated and it is amazing.I too want to take this opportunity to credit the officials and my Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee colleagues and I have to say we all tried earnestly as others have noticed to develop a permissive legislative regime. That is what we were trying to go for here—how we could make this easier—because Australia for example got here way ahead of us. It tried to create a similar industry in its own country but the examples we got from that showed us how over-regulation and too much regulation can just shut down and destroy a fledgling industry. To the officials and to the select committee members who saw that acknowledged that and worked towards that permissive regime thank you and kudos to everyone there. We were also keen as were the officials to ensure that the legislation did not lock the industry down—or keep it grounded as it were—around new technologies. The wording of this legislation you will note is such that there is no specificity around particular technologies because the idea of course is that we do not know what next year will bring. We certainly do not know what 5 years will bring in the space industry technology race. New Zealand has to be in a position to take advantage of that and we cannot have legislation inhibiting it. I want to acknowledge that equal importance has been placed on keeping compliance costs as low as possible. I noted that the legislation in Australia was destructive literally but compliance in terms of what it was allowed to do at a regulatory level also became burdensome and contributed to the industry being shut down. So the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee took careful consideration and it made the time. We heard good submissions and as the Minister said the committee's report includes many sensible recommendations that will help ensure that the bill achieves its objectives and will strengthen the functionality of this bill. I had three particular pieces from the legislation that I wished to talk about. My intention was to take a short call so can I instead end by congratulating the committee and everyone involved and very much supporting this legislation going forward. Thank you."