Auchinvole Chris: Inquiries Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeAuchinvole Chris: Inquiries Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 22 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12766. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National):The Inquiries Bill has had as we have just heard from the Hon Trevor Mallard wide support in the House. Indeed it is a bill whose time has come. It is being passed in order to reform and modernise the law relating to public inquiries and we have heard in depth from the Hon Chris Tremain and the Hon Trevor Mallard on the background to that. What I would like to do in a fairly short address is just cover the purpose of the bill to some extent but also to see just why it is important and how this bill will be so relevant to the moment. The purpose of the bill is to address the forms of inquiry that we have. It establishes two forms of inquiry: public inquiries which include royal commissions and Government inquiries which report directly to a Minister. It provides both forms of inquiry with the same legal powers and protection maximising flexibility and freeing inquiries from procedural constraints.Just a comment on the significance of royal commissions. It was suggested that we could dispense with those but having sat through a large proportion of the royal commission hearings in Greymouth associated with Pike River it was a very significant event for the people involved and for the industries involved and it is one that is beyond—to the best of my knowledge—any form of criticism. The public place a very high level of trust in a royal commission so it has been determined that those will be continued.Inquiries are important and the opportunity to make inquiries is important in order to investigate mistakes and accidents and ensure that they do not happen again; to bring accountability and transparency often to the Government or to Parliament in fact; and to better inform Ministers and the public on important issues. The Inquiries Bill is important to the proposed inquiry into whey protein contamination that was announced yesterday. New Zealand has a reputation as a credible and trusted supplier of safe and suitable food to both domestic and international markets. It is very important that that isso. The well-deserved reputation is a vital element in the continuing growth and productivity of the food industry.I had the privilege of working in the dairy industry for some 23 years earlier in my career and also in—Hon Trevor Mallard: They always said the member was a cow.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: Yes. Well it gets better than that Mr Mallard. I was also a fish exporter. I would not have exported anything that was held up on that side of the House over the last week. In fact it is a tribute to the industry that in all the years of exporting fish every week for about 15 years I had I think two product complaints. We used to do about 4 tonnes a week. I had only two product complaints which is an attestation not of me but of the way the industry operates.New Zealand can be very proud of its food safety record. Being proud is not sufficient. We have to know that it is good. We have to be able to inquire when things go wrong. This bill will do that and facilitate that. It is a very significant bill. I am particularly pleased to see the way it has received support right around the House. I commend the bill to the House.