Mallard Trevor: Copyright (Parallel Importing of Films) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMallard Trevor: Copyright (Parallel Importing of Films) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 02 July 2013. Volume:691;Page:11470. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South):I want to join with the members who have acknowledged the ceremony that took place in the House during our dinner break commemorating the people who have fallen in the most recent campaigns. I think all of those campaigns have been in the time that I have been a member of Parliament and I know that Governments make very serious decisions to commit troops to them. We have done it in the knowledge that the chances were that we would lose people. We have but that does not make it any easier. As many of us know the families of people who have fallen it makes it harder still. One lives in the hope that we will not have to add to the names on our wall but in the end I think that the Governments of New Zealand will do what is right and that sometimes involves the deployment of our troops overseas.I would now like to move to the bill before the House the Copyright (Parallel Importing of Films) Amendment Bill. I commend the Minister of Broadcasting for listening to the submissions but I have to say that I am very disappointed that the bill has come up under urgency. I think that even if frankly Michael Woodhouse was still a whip and had something to do with the organisation of the House this bill would not have come up under urgency. It could have come up on Thursday afternoon next week when we have an extended sitting. It is something where I think the policy is supported unanimously. It probably could have gone through the House in half an hour in an extending sitting and we would not have had an extended debate as we will have after this on the referral. But whether a bill is supported or not because it has come up under urgency it is the tradition—and really the only approach that an Opposition can take—to use its time in order to debate this.I would say that having read the regulatory impact statement it is a bill that is not supported by the Minister’s officials and it is good to see a Minister acting with some backbone to stare down the officials and to make decisions.For the owners of around 120 cinemas as there are in New Zealand—I will just say that I am surprised that there are only that many. Because of the way that they have been developing and redeveloping and opening around New Zealand in recent years I thought there would have been more. At this point I do want to acknowledge and pay tribute to Dick Werry who is a local Hutt Valley former regional councillor the son of a former mayor and someone who bought the old Labour Party hall which was built in 1926 I think and opened in 1927 by the then leader of the Labour Party Harry Holland. Over many years—I cannot remember all of them especially in the early stages—there were lots of Labour Party dances concerts meetings and film shows. But that is now very well preserved and commemorated in that hall.Dick Werry has got it pretty much right with light meals lots of food available wine high-quality ice creams and other things. He gets a regular clientele because thereis a good range of movies. He has sessions for young mothers and kids and sessions that are designed in particular for older people. Both of those are run during the daytime and it works well to build up the use of the cinema.It has changed a bit since the days when from memory I think I used to be given 1s 6d to go from Wainuiōmata to what I think was called the Empire Theatre which was on the corner of Whites Line East. [Interruption ] What was that?Kris Faafoi: Were they silent movies?Hon TREVOR MALLARD: No no. They were not silent movies but one of the earlier ones that I can remember—I think I was 5—wasBen-Hur . I think it won an Academy Award.Kris Faafoi: It was an epic.Hon TREVOR MALLARD: Well it was. And I want to say to members that yes I did see it the first time round. It was not—Hon Member: Yes and it was in black and white wasn’t it?Hon TREVOR MALLARD: You cheeky young thing! It was not on a rerun. I think that it is fair to say that tastes have moved on and theatre styles have moved on a bit since that time.We have seen some unusual ones. I think that probably the most unusual theatre that I have been in is the wharekai at the—my friend Tau Henare might be able to remind me—main marae at Tikitiki where the van used to come around every month with the latest movies. There was one particular occasion just before we had been visiting up there—the van would back up to the door of the wharekai and the projector would go in and the screen would go up. All the locals would come mainly on horses because it was the early 1970s and that was the main method of transport around Tikitiki—[Interruption ] Yes around Tikitiki there were lots of hitching posts and people would come along. But as old KD—Koro Dewes—told me there was a cowboys and Indians movie going on and—Kris Faafoi: You can’t call them that these days.Hon TREVOR MALLARD: What?Kris Faafoi: You can’t call it that these days.Hon TREVOR MALLARD: Why can you not call it cowboys and Indians?Dr Rajen Prasad: Hang ‘em high.Hon TREVOR MALLARD: Oh steady on Rajen steady on! Oh come on—oh come on.Dr Rajen Prasad: Who are you calling a cowboy?Darien Fenton: Ha ha!Hon TREVOR MALLARD: Darien! The bad guy was lining up a shot at the good guy when from the back of the wharekai out rang a shot. One of the locals had put a hole in the temporary screen at the front and right out the back wall of the wharekai as well. So that was an unusual type of theatre and Koro Dewes did indicate to me that if I did not behave myself then he would call those people back.But times have moved on and I think all of us have our favourite movies. I am not ashamed to admit thatNotting Hill is mine. It is you know—[Interruption ] What?Notting Hill .Hon Members:Notting Hill !Hon TREVOR MALLARD: Oh come on! Can anything be more beautiful than Julia Roberts—you know Anna Scott. I have got some doubts about this. I mean I think we are unlikely to ever see another movie like it. Therefore waiting 5 months might not be the end of the world but back in the old days if I knew I had to wait 9 months forNotting Hill to come back I would have been very disappointed. That film of course had Hugh Grant who played William Thacker in it and Rhys Ifans whoplayed Spike. I think that that was an unforgettable character. I mean there is nothing like a decent romantic comedy.Hon Member: Ha ha!Hon TREVOR MALLARD: I noticed some laughter over there from the member sitting next to—this was in the pre - Divine Brown days of Hugh Grant. It was when we had him in a different class. A lot of us are not quite sure what we think about Hugh Grant these days.But the thing that we are certain about is that this bill is an important window in a transition that is occurring. I think the one thing that we do know is that we do not know what is going to happen as far as movies IT and the convergence of television and the internet are concerned. I think that what this does is give us a bit of a transition period so that organisations and people can invest in theatres. They are good social opportunities for people. They are a good place for people to get out to and this will help their survival.I will repeat right at the end what I said at the beginning: this bill would not be being debated now if it was done in normal time or in an extended sitting. We could have got through it in 10 minutes or a quarter of an hour. The fact that the Government has decided to take an hour and a half under urgency just seems to me to be disorganisation on its part. Thank you.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): And watch silent movies.