Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill

The Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill came about basically because two airports in New Zealand had been deemed to be international airports, then lost the ability to be international airports, and then found new contracts that potentially could start that up again.

Of course, any airport at any stage could apply to the Civil Aviation Authority, the Customs Service, and Biosecurity New Zealand to become an international airport. When that happens there is, of course, a cost. So, in the interests of making sure that those services would be able to be provided and that the State was not going to be liable for costs that were short term, it was decided that there needed to be a change in legislation to allow for the recovery of those costs. To that end this bill was promulgated and brought to the House. Effectively, what the bill does is give the Government that ability.

The main objectives of the bill are to ensure that international airports or requesters of non-routine services factor the border agency costs into the business decisions. For example—and this is an airport that I know is very close to you, Mr Chairman; it is in my own electorate—the Hamilton Airport may apply to become an international airport if a carrier or a business venture is put forward in terms of setting that up as an international destination. There is a lot of merit in the notion that that might happen at times, because it would be a very credible alternative to Māngere Airport in the event of some kind of accident there or some kind of inability for Māngere to operate.

Of course, at that point, customs officers, Customs Service’s X-ray equipment, biosecurity people, and aviation authority personnel with their expertise etc. have to be recruited, have to be trained, and have to be stationed there, and there is a cost for that. So the Crown, in its desire to manage its fiscal responsibilities sensibly, without having undue or large numbers of liabilities outstanding, has come forward with this suggestion. I think it pretty much enjoys widespread support in the Chamber.

The bill completes the funding arrangements agreed with the aviation industry back in 2004. It builds on the original policy to provide a simple, clear, and efficient cost-recovery system. The status quo exposes the Crown to fiscal risk, as I said, and a large cost when international airports are set up or re-established.

Under the current funding model, new international airports create a funding shortfall for the Government border agencies. Of course, what we are always conscious of is the essential need to provide for much-needed biosecurity services, as we are very vulnerable in that regard, as we are also with, of course, the Customs Service. So what it effectively does is it removes that risk, that liability, from the Crown balance sheet, but it also removes, I guess, a subsidy or an uncertainty that could be created in a business model if those costs were not included.

The bill came to the Primary Production Committee and we listened to the submitters. There were a number of them, and they raised a range of concerns, and those concerns were taken on board. Some of those changes were made at that point, and I think it is a very smart move on the part of the Government to move forward with the Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill at this stage.

I am pleased to make a contribution on the Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill.

💬 Hon David Cunliffe: Get the last word.

I think I will have the last word before the Easter break.

Labour supports this bill. Indeed, when Labour was in Government we were proposing to impose the recovery of costs for international airports. So it is a good, positive piece of legislation. We are seeing a rise in the number of international airports around the country, which is a good thing. It is good for our economy. We want to see more tourists coming into our country. So it is good to see that Invercargill and Rotorua and other places now have international airports. But with that extra international dimension that they have, obviously there are extra costs in processing all of the visitors coming in and all of the travellers moving out of those airports. It is a big cost to the Customs Service, the good folks at the front line, who are there to protect our pā, as I like to say, here in New Zealand—the good folks in security, the Customs Service, and also Biosecurity New Zealand.

This is a very worthwhile piece of legislation. I would just like to touch on a couple of things. There are a lot of processing responsibilities and tasks that do fall upon our front-line staff, such as the Customs Service and Biosecurity New Zealand. We know—I know we are at the final, sort of, stage before we break—that our airport staff are having to work a lot these days. There is a lot of processing. A lot of people are emigrating—moving out of the country. There have been 1,000-odd whānau saying their goodbyes every week. So there is a lot of processing that has to be carried out and there is a cost to that. It is indeed an unfortunate fact that we have to overwork those front-line staff in terms of having to process so many of our good people who are leaving our country, particularly for Australia.

There are also other important tasks in terms of the processing of incoming and outgoing visitors, and one of those tasks concerns money-laundering. I know that there are quite strict rules now in place in terms of the movement of cash in and out of New Zealand that the Customs Service has to undertake. Indeed, if you come in with $10,000 in cash or in some other form, you have to declare that, and the border cash reports get transmitted right to the special Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand, I think they call it, within the police. I think the agency does a bit of work with the Government Communications Security Bureau. Those reports have to go through to report any people who are receiving money or actually bringing money into the country.

There are quite a lot of processing responsibilities that the Customs Service and Biosecurity New Zealand have to undertake, so it is incumbent on the Government to recover the costs. I think it is commendable that in this legislation there is an opportunity to recover the costs, particularly for these new international airports—those that have been newly established or re-established as international airports.

We also see from the legislation that the time frame for the cost recovery is a very reasonable period. It is set at only 2 years, and I understand that it will be prescribed in regulations for a 2-year period. I believe that we were initially proposing 1 year, but I think 2 years is actually a very fair compromise for the Government to be able to recover its costs in terms of setting up the processing of all of these international travellers, but also it does not place too much of an ongoing burden on the owners of those international airports. It does strike a fair balance.

I think back to when I was looking at, you know, the—[Bell rung] Mr Chair.

The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Rino Tirikatene.

I have been encouraged to continue. I hope you are enjoying it.

💬 Kris Faafoi: It’s a privilege to speak in this House.

It is a great privilege to be speaking on this great bill.

The other day I was at Christchurch International Airport and there was a front-line customs officer in the row just next to me. I had a chat to this good person and asked how they were going and how things were getting on with customs. It was interesting. I asked how many sniffer dogs they have at Christchurch International Airport, which has undergone a substantial redevelopment recently and is looking really great down there. Well, wait for it, there is a grand total of one dog, one customs dog, which—

💬 Andrew Little: How much?

One dog. One good little dog, which services—

💬 Simon O’Connor: It’s a very good dog.

It is a great dog. That one sniffer dog looks after the whole of the Christchurch International Airport. So, yes, there have definitely been cuts to the front line.

I think we need to think of the extra burden that is going on not only the customs officers but also on the little beagles that are really working overtime. That is why it is important that we recover the costs and make sure that we do not overwork—that we look after—our little dogs that are protecting our pā and all those thousands of visitors who go through Christchurch International Airport. So we need to commend that little dog and those customs officers for doing their work.

Of course, we also know that there have been technological advances. We have got the SmartGate system now. That is a really good system whereby we can go through processing quite speedily with our new passports. Instead of having to fill out these forms such as border cash reports about whether you are bringing cash into the country or giving it to people on the other side, it is all done electronically. Those things are processed more speedily, but with that processing, as we know, there is a cost. That is why this bill is a very good bill.

Progress reported.

Report adopted.

The House adjourned at 5.56 p.m.