New Zealand Business Number Bill

on behalf of the Minister for Economic Development: I move, That the New Zealand Business Number Bill be now read a second time. I would like to thank the Commerce Committee for its timely consideration of this bill. The committee considered 14 written submissions and heard from five submitters.

The New Zealand Business Number is one of several initiatives aimed at achieving the Better for Business - Result 9 programme commitment to reducing business costs by reducing the effort required to work with Government agencies. The purpose of the New Zealand Business Number is to enable easy and more efficient interactions for business in New Zealand. It will do this by allocating a unique number to corporate and public entities, and to unincorporated entities that are in business, such as sole traders, partnerships, and trustees of trusts. This number will link to a reliable set of data about each entity held on a register. Some of this data will be publicly searchable, and some will be public only if the business allows it. Government agencies will be able to access this data to update their own systems. Third parties will also have access to a business’s information if a business consents, or if the data is in bulk or aggregated so that no individual can be identified.

This combination of a unique number, a reliable data set, and access to that data results in a New Zealand Business Number ecosystem that will provide savings to businesses, savings to Government, and e-commerce opportunities. I am pleased to note that Air New Zealand has already integrated the New Zealand Business Number into the validation process for its airpoints for business programme.

The Commerce Committee reported the bill back without recommending any fundamental changes to the policy. The bill continues to be focused on making it possible for entities to interact more easily with the Government and with other entities. That said, the Commerce Committee has made a number of changes that will make the bill more effective and ensure that Parliament’s intent is clear. I would like to comment on the most significant changes in the committee’s report.

I think we will delay that. I regret that the time has come for me to leave the chair, and I interrupt the member.

Debate interrupted.

The House adjourned at 6 p.m.