Webb DuncanHon Dr DUNCAN WEBB (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): Thank you Mr Chair. It's with great pleasure that I stand here today in this committee for the Grocery Industry Competition Bill. I must say this is an important bill for the whole of New Zealand and for this Government at this time when the cost of living is front of mind. And I do want to thank the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee for considering the bill and everyone who made a submission on the bill. This bill is really about benefiting consumers at the checkout by improving competition in the grocery industry. Everyday New Zealanders are paying more for their normal weekly shop and are being squeezed in the wallet as the largest expenses—things like housing and transport—are also rising significantly. Consumers have moved beyond skipping luxuries at the checkout and are straining just to buy the necessaries.This Government is committed to making a grocery sector where grocery retailers have to give a fair deal both to consumers and to suppliers. We want a grocery industry that's innovative and provides consumers with clever ways of shopping that save time and effort. And we want a grocery industry where suppliers have more grocery retailers that are interested in stocking their products and selling them to consumers. Thanks to the changes this Government has already made and signalled it will make we're already seeing confidence in other players like The Warehouse investing in the grocery range and providing different offerings and other newer internet providers trying to do things a little bit differently. I encourage new entrants to the market and encourage innovation; just different offerings so that families have choices and can help their families eat well and properly. This bill addresses the outstanding recommendations—they are outstanding recommendations—made by the Commerce Commission's 2022 study. Overall the Grocery Industry Competition Bill will regulate the grocery industry to benefit consumers by providing a platform for retailers to enter and expand in the grocery industry and to compete directly with the existing duopoly. The bill will create a grocery commissioner to monitor and regulate the industry and keep the New Zealand public informed of what is happening. The bill will impose new requirements on the duopoly to facilitate commercial agreements for wholesale supply of groceries to other grocery retailers on the same advantageous terms they give their own supermarkets. And the bill will provide a flexible tool kit as a grocery supply backstop to allow the commission or the Government to impose additional regulation if improvement is needed. The bill will provide new protections to suppliers such as a grocery supply code to limit the ability of the duopoly to pressure suppliers into accepting contracts that are wholly one-sided. The bill also paves the way for a dispute resolution scheme to provide timely and cost-effective resolution of any issues for suppliers and wholesale customers of Foodstuffs or Woolworths. The select committee unanimously reported this bill back to the House; that's very gratifying. It recommended some amendments which this House accepts. The committee made some excellent adjustments—improvements to the bill—especially in the wholesale supplier space and in the supplier space with a grocery supply code. These have balanced the views of the suppliers Foodstuffs Woolworths and prospective wholesale customers. I'll speak later about the Supplementary Order Paper that I have introduced. The Supplementary Order Paper makes four main changes to the bill as well as some editorial changes. These four changes relate to the grocery supply code the dispute resolution scheme the commission's monitoring function and the treatment of what are called ancillary services" in the wholesale supply regime. Generally my changes are consistent with the select committee's intent and in some places I needed to give effect to that intent. I'm pleased to put the bill over to this committee of the whole House for wider discussion. Thank you."