Regulatory Systems (Transport) Amendment Bill

Members, we now come to the debate on Part 4, clauses 21 to 33 and Schedule 3. This is the debate on amendments to the Maritime Transport Act 1994. The question is that Part 4 stand part.

Just a brief comment on this part, and that is because I do want to speak briefly on Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 17, which has been introduced and does affect Part 4 of the bill. It’s a relatively short SOP, as members will see, but it does do something quite important, which is to make sure that our seafarer welfare centres are able to be funded on a sustainable basis through the application of the maritime levy.

This is a really important change. For members who haven’t been particularly familiar with them in the past, seafarer welfare centres, which are located at most of the major trading maritime ports around New Zealand, perform an incredibly important function in terms of ensuring that visiting seafarers to our shores have access to basic welfare services and things like a place off the ship to be able to have some quiet recreation, access to chaplaincy and counselling services, and—really critically over the recent period of COVID—the provision of Wi-Fi services, so that seafarers, many of whom have been stuck at sea maybe for a year or more are able to have some kind of connections with their families back home.

Those are important services that I think all members of the House would want to see continue. Importantly, New Zealand does have an obligation under the Maritime Labour Convention as well to ensure that these services are in place, and obviously there is a reciprocal implication that benefits our seafarers when they’re visiting ports in other places. The problem that we face is that those welfare centres for—well, for a long time have been funded almost exclusively through charitable donations. That is not proving to be a sustainable way of funding what is a critical service that we are internationally bound to provide to seafarers, particularly in the COVID environment, where the ability to access charitable donations has dried up somewhat and there are increased costs and pressures on those centres.

That creates a real funding gap. The Government is currently meeting that gap provision through the Essential Transport Connectivity fund. We are, basically, putting money in through that fund to ensure that those welfare centres can meet their obligations, but we need to make sure that there is a sustainable funding footing for those services. So allowing the maritime levy to be used to support those services is the best way through that we can see. It means that those commercial entities who access New Zealand’s maritime system are making a contribution to ensure that these services are provided.

In the greater scheme of things, it is likely to be a relatively small portion of the total levies that are received. The current funding for the centres across New Zealand is around about $700,000 to $800,000 per year. They’re a pretty small operation. I think they collectively across the country employ seven, eight, nine people—something like that. But this SOP will enable us to have a secure funding base for these very, very important services.

I just wish to draw members’ attention to that particular change. Again, I’m happy to take any questions on that or on any other provisions that are in Part 4.

The question is that the Minister’s amendments to Part 4 set out on Supplementary Order Papers 16 and 17 be agreed to.

Amendments agreed to.

The question is that Part 4 as amended stand part.

Part 4 as amended agreed to.

Part 5 Amendments to Railways Act 2005