 Well, thanks for that welcome. I call myself the Minister of New Stuff, Identity and Open, because it's easier to say than all of the mouthful of ministries that I'm responsible for. Kira koutou. Thanks so much for the invite to open your conference this morning. There's lots of you. I'm sorry I can't hang around and stay for the whole day. I'm inspired by your aim of working together to improve New Zealand's digital interaction with culture and heritage. Dunedin South. Is there anyone here from Dunedin? Good. The electorate that I represent, best part of the country of course, has contributed to New Zealand culture and heritage and it's produced cultural icons such as James K. Baxter and Janet Frame, amongst others. They had a knack for taking you on magical journeys with their words. Of course I'm not in the same league by any means, but I'm going to try and share a few words today about my vision for how my portfolios can contribute to a future-focused, modern, strong, democratic nation that is more open and transparent and empathetic. I spoke last week at Net Huey. I'm hoping that you all know what Net Huey is. It's an unconference of people who talk about technology sort of related stuff in Auckland and I gave a speech at that which was really a scene-setting speech to try and sort of lay out where I try and join up all of the things that I'm working on and what I want to try to achieve. And so my approach is about taking a joined-up aspirational approach to our digital economy, to increase productivity and the economic benefits of digital technology, while addressing the digital divides, to reduce, to close the gaps between the internet haves and have-nots. Don't think you can do one without the other. Strengthening protection of New Zealand's digital rights, looking at a framework for that and thinking about a digital bill of rights, enhancing the voice of independent public service media and people may think, why am I talking about public media in a digital environment? Well, it's because it's part of our identity. It's a gap that exists out there. It's very underfunded and as a result our democracy and our sense of national identity has been undervalued and has eroded in my view. And driving the ongoing transformation towards a more open digital government. So part of how we'll achieve this is by creating a digital roadmap for New Zealand for the next five to ten years and to do that looking at the appointment of a chief technology officer. Also, and I'm working on terms of reference for that at the moment as to what that process may look like. So very happy to engage further on that if anyone's interested. Also, collaboration. Collaboration is what will drive this new coalition government and doing things a bit differently. We need to be more connected to see our digital economy grow and realise the potential of the internet and the economic benefits that it can produce. But for the digital economy and the entire economy to flourish we have to use technology more effectively. History, government, NGOs, Māori, other players need to work together more to get the very best from the technology, create new jobs, re-skill old ones. See our New Zealand company succeed against multinationals here in New Zealand and on the world stage. Success isn't just about building infrastructure and hoping for the best. The old build it and they will come, mantra. It's about developing people's skills for those jobs of the future and that will come from collaboration. So you'll know the success of Mahuketh to Papa's Innovation Incubator which is a great example of working in partnership with the commercial and creative sectors through technology to connect people with their culture and heritage. Examples also like Craft Mapper, a social enterprise that uses technology to support indigenous communities, to support their unique cultural heritage and is also providing livelihood opportunities. Creating new opportunities through IT has so much potential to drive economic growth for small business which is the backbone of the New Zealand economy. We are an economy made up primarily of small businesses. But I want to talk a bit about digital inclusion because that's about access. It's about the gaps that exist now and about the access that people have. Because there is an irony to the way that we approach the internet in our lives. So on the one hand there's a demand and a willingness by government and organisations to deliver more and more services and interactions online. And yet one in five people at least in New Zealand use the internet sparingly or not at all. And so it is a matter for this government, it's a matter of high priority to understand the digital divide, to really understand, to get a stronger evidence based around what those digital divides are which separates the haves and the have-nots. Our position is that New Zealanders must have access to technology as a right regardless of their income, geography or other matters such as their skill levels, etc. All New Zealanders should know what it's like to feel connected and no one should be left behind. So to do that this new government will be embarking on developing a digital inclusion blueprint as a matter of high priority. Again, if you're interested, please get in touch. New Zealanders also have the right to know that the records of their stories, cultures, communities and heritage are not only available but also easily accessible to them. And so there's opportunities for the glam sector. I love that term, the glam sector. That's you, I presume. To collaborate across and beyond to digitise and make available to preserve more New Zealand digital heritage so that it can be available for all, forever. This includes working collaboratively to digitise and increase access to te reo materials, New Zealand music, audio visual content and other heritage materials that are yet to be digitised. He Tohu is an example of how government has collaborated in partnership with Iwi to develop an exhibition using technology to provide access to visitors to the exhibition and to classrooms across New Zealand. The stories of the documents, their significance and encouraged debate about how they'll influence the future as a people and as a nation. I know that Richard Foy, Acting Chief Archivist, will talk more about He Tohu in a session later in the conference. I feel assured that the glam sector plays a significant role in the education of our children. With the increased use of devices at schools and online classroom communities, it's important that we provide as much access to online resources, learning resources as possible. However, I just want to reference there the digital divide again and the fact that there are many children in our country who go home and do not have access to the online environment, they are being disadvantaged. Currently, libraries through the Aotearoa Peoples Network provide Wi-Fi and computer terminals across our country to the 40,000 households with school-aged children who don't have the internet. Now, I haven't really had a great deal of time to look into this yet, but I am very interested in the Aotearoa Peoples Network as a model which needs to be looked at in our digital inclusion strategy. That model has been existing for a long time. It's on the smell of an oily rag. And it can be the basis for something much more considerable in our country to provide public spaces where people can connect in a more meaningful way. And we need to do that better. One point, also, public libraries deliver almost, I think I've got here, 8 million Wi-Fi sessions to the public every year. There's over 2,000 free public internet terminals in libraries across New Zealand. And as I said, I don't think that's enough. 1.1 million or 1 in 4 New Zealanders have used National Libraries Papers' past site to explore their heritage online. There are over 10 million visits to Te Ara, the online encyclopedia of New Zealand. I use that quite a lot myself. I did a piece of research last year on the 100-year... the Labour Party's 100-year anniversary and some research on the main figures in Dunedin, in the formation of the Dunedin Labour Party. And Te Ara has been really useful in that. People interacted with digital content in DigitalNew Zealand.org over 27 million times in the last year. So, I think we know that libraries are the knowledge hub of our communities, and wherever we can make gains and greater access to this knowledge, the better our social inclusion will be. I'll just say a couple of things about digital rights. What has not kept up with the pace of technology has been the pace of developing the legal framework to protect New Zealanders' digital rights. In the digital environment, New Zealanders expect their information to be private and secure, and trust is important. So, we've got to find the right balance in guarding our citizens' privacy and using the information we hold to improve services for them. Whether it's protection from mass surveillance to the right to privacy, to the rights of what can be done with your personal information, these digital rights need a framework around them. I'll repeat a couple of things I said at Net Huey. Algorithmic transparency is a concept that needs exploring. How to grapple with encryption, data portability, reporting frameworks for data breaches, enforcement powers for the Privacy Commissioner, protection of whistleblowers, to proactive release of official information, and no doubt there's more that I haven't been thinking about. New Zealand is signed up to the Open Government Partnership, and I want to do more than pay lip service to that. So, how will I engage? How will that collaboration work? What will we do around that? Firstly, I'm going to create some reference groups or ministerial advisory groups across the three main portfolios I hold, broadcasting and digital media, ICT communications and Open Government, so that's the new stuff, identity and Open. This, it will be their role to bring together innovators and leading thinkers from across all areas. From inside central and local government, NGOs, Māori dim, industry, community groups, and help build out the detail of where we are now and what we should look like in the future. The groups will be focused around good ideas, solutions to issues and driving delivery. I hope that some of you might want to get involved. And finally, I'll just talk briefly about Open Government because all New Zealanders deserve a transparent, open democracy that is free from corruption and abusive power. New Zealanders also need to have confidence that there's sound democratic process and lawmaking and the parliamentary process. So, one of my jobs is to change the way we use and build technology in the public sector to serve our citizens, businesses, nonprofits and society as a whole. I see the Government working more as a partner and enabler for society. New Zealanders need to know that they're encouraged to be the best that they can be and that no one can be behind or diminished. And people rightly expect that Government should behave in a predictable, open, transparent way wherever it can and that is the basis of trust. Digital tools are fundamental to us achieving these goals. Knowledge is power. And our role in Government is to empower our citizens to participate in our democracy to have access to technology that can bring for them, build on our great culture and heritage and achieve their dreams. Thank you.