Bakshi Kanwaljit SinghKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to speak in the third reading of the Arbitration Amendment Bill. First of all I would like to congratulate Andrew Bayly for getting this bill through to this stage. I am the last speaker in the third reading—Andrew Bayly: But most important!KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: Yes it is. I would also like to acknowledge Paul Foster-Bell the original author of this bill who introduced this bill to the House which was later on taken by a good friend Andrew Bayly.It's always a pride for any member when their bill is drawn out of the ballot and I had the privilege of my first bill being drawn out of the ballot. It went through and became a law at a later stage.Simon O'Connor: Which one was that?KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: The Military Manoeuvres Act Repeal Bill—a historical bill in this House. I want to remind the House that that was the most uncontentious bill. It went through the whole stages quickly and I really enjoyed that bill.Andrew Bayly: That was due to your negotiation.KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: Yes. My skills.Hon Iain Lees-Galloway: Show us your skills. Get this one done faster.KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: Yeah I will. Don't worry Minister. I will. I am just taking some time to explain this bill—what are the pros and—yeah.This bill is a real opportunity for New Zealand to portray itself for arbitration on an international scale. International arbitration: that is the determining of cross-border disputes and is one of those areas that has developed significantly during recent decades. We have seen that a number of conflicts do arise from time to time and New Zealand can be a hub for arbitration. We have seen the growth of businesses in Asia and Singapore and Hong Kong have become the hubs to arbitration in the Asian continent.There is an opportunity as the world turns towards Asian economies at a time when the number of cross-border commercial contracts and international treaties containing arbitration clauses have a growing space. The globalisation of world trade and investment has resulted in increasing harmonised arbitration practices worldwide. Indeed the New York Convention which allows the enforcement of arbitrator decisions is signed by 159 countries across the globe. This is a real opportunity because we have expertise available right here in New Zealand where we can be of benefit to many businesses across Asia and the Pacific.We were talking to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade this morning and they mentioned that the Indo-Pacific area is developing at a great pace and this is the real opportunity where millions of dollars are spent on arbitration also.But arbitration also gives us the opportunity to reduce the burden on courts. We have seen that it is very expensive when the courts have to resolve commercial contracts and it benefits the lawyers not anybody else. But arbitration is a much cheaper option where a resolution can be resolved by both the parties.More recently the Asian Development Bank has been actively promoting the adoption of model law relating to arbitration with the express purpose to facilitate increased investment in the Pacific region as well as promoting these countries as an attractive location for conducting international arbitration proceedings—but not so far in New Zealand. That is the key point: that we have to promote New Zealand on the world stage where we can have the arbitration done over here. That not only gives the experts the opportunity to show their skills but also gives opportunity for tourism and other businesses to get a connection to the Asian continent and other parts of the world.It is disappointing that sometimes we see that the opportunity is missed out but I would like to acknowledge the Hon Andrew Little who agreed to some of the clauses to ensure that this arbitration clause can be specified. I would like to especially mention clause 1 of Schedule 2 which set out a default procedure for the appointment of arbitrators where the parties have reached no agreement as to the appointment. This is a very important clause which we need to understand. Many times we have seen that the parties do sign the agreement—whether it a commercial agreement there is a deed of understanding or it is a business partnership. But they don't mention in the clause how they can resolve the issues if there are issues.I would like to give an example over here which I think is very important. For example two people entered into an agreement—say in the year 2017—Mr Winton Singh and Jas Kaur. They both entered into an agreement and forgot to put the arbitration clause. They promised in that agreement that they will deliver certain things in 2019 which they are not able to deliver now and there is a dispute between Winton Singh and Jas Kaur.This Arbitration Amendment Bill will be able to help particularly the clause I just mentioned—clause 1 of Schedule 2—which can help to resolve that issue. So for Winton Singh and Jas Kaur this is the opportunity of this bill to take the arbitration to resolve their issue.Another clause which is clause 1(4) and (5) gives rise to the problematic aspect involving what has been called the quick-draw process. There is a consequential amendment to the cross-reference in clause 1(1). This enables one party to trigger a process to appoint an arbitrator if the other party fails to respond to the communication within seven days of receiving it. So there was a lack of clause available but this clause will fulfil that and remove the problem.The courts have expressed the concern that the situation can result in the task of appointing an arbitrator becoming nothing more than a race to issue the first default notice. In another case a court was critical of the quick-draw procedure describing it as broadening and—the genuine dispute should be resolved by unilateral notice. So instead of going into the courts and going through an expensive mode arbitration can be a genuinely cheaper option and quicker option because we know already that the courts have a lot of burden of cases to resolve and sometimes these cases which are civil cases are not prioritised. With these words I commend this bill to the House.Bill read a third time.