Coates Barry; Borrows ChesterBARRY COATES (Green): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai. I join others in thanking you Mr Deputy Speaker for your service to the House. I have been here for only a short time but I have much appreciated your calmness and your position so thank you. I also pay tribute to others in the House most notably my colleague David Clendon who is leaving after many years of great service and Paul Foster-Bell whom I have enjoyed sharing select committee time with.I rise to speak about the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill. To avoid a great deal of suspense the Green Party supports it as my colleague Gareth Hughes has already said. We agree broadly with the aims of the regulatory framework which are to support long-term investment in infrastructure ensure telecommunications services are provided in a competitive process and ensure that providers respond to consumer demands for quality. It is particularly that last point around a more consumer-oriented approach that we welcome. I think previously we have seen telecommunications regulation not being handled well in our country and we commend this legislation which at first glance appears to have responded to some of the previous criticisms and has very much a pro-competitive and consumer orientation.We also agree with the framework of the regulation in that the new regime will have sound measures to ensure that ultra-fast broadband providers cannot make excess profits—they are currently a monopoly—and can expect reasonable rates of return which we feel is entirely justified. These provisions are welcome and particularly so is the transparency that is included in the bill in the charging regimes and the price regulation of the anchor products. That seems to us to be a really important measure in order to stimulate competition.We have some areas where we will be looking at the select committee stage for the bill to fully reflect our concerns. The first is in enhanced consumer protection. The previous speakers have talked about how the New Zealand National Consumer Survey 2016 showed relatively poor service. One-third of consumers had problems with one or other of their communication services and 11 percent had problems with both. That is too high. What we want to do is we want to use this bill to actually drive a far greater accountability to consumers and we note that the submission from Consumer New Zealand into the options process had some very sound recommendations for how to do that. The key is the ability for consumers to be able to compare services and prices so that they can switch providers. That kind of provision is not yet included in this bill and we think it should be.There should be provisions around fair and complete contracts with consumers. At the moment I cannot read my contract—and I think many cannot—without a magnifying glass. There needs to be access to effective and fair dispute settlement rather than the voluntary industry dispute settlement at the moment. There need to be high standards for protection of personal data included in the core of the Act. A really important consideration is that there needs to be representation by consumer interests in the regulatory processes themselves and funding for that. It is not only Consumer New Zealand that is saying that; it is also the submission by the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand. So we think that is really important.Another consideration that we want is ambitious targets to drive further coverage. We want innovation and openness to new services. We want particularly support for those who are behind the digital divide noting that that is particularly Pasifika and Māori communities and we want a lift in digital competency across our country. With those considerations for the select committee we support this bill. Thank you.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Raymond Huo—5 minutes.