Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): It is a real pleasure for me to be able to stand in this Committee stage and acknowledge the support across the Chamber for this legislation. I am very sad to hear that New Zealand First is having trouble with this bill and sadly we are not able to support its Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs). It is not really appropriate for the Geographic Board to be making recommendations. The trademarks advisory board has the equivalent expertise it is in place under the trademark legislation and there has not been a great deal of difficulty or complication involving it so it makes sense to use it in relation to this legislation. So we will not be supporting New Zealand First's SOPs but it is great to have the support of the Labour Party and others I hope for this bill.Ultimately this is a piece of legislation that is designed to help what is one of the most innovative and successful industries we have in this country—the wine industry. It was only in the late 1990s when the country broke the $100 million mark for exports for the wine industry. We are now this year at $1.6 billion and on track to increase that further to $2 billion and more over the next few years so it is a phenomenally successful industry. It is one in which the New Zealand winegrowers are able to command one of the highest—if not the highest—premiums on wine in the world and that all comes back to essentially the story. Well that is not entirely true—it comes back to the quality of the wine obviously which is a very important part of the process but it is reinforced by the story and the branding that is developed based on quality but also on the terroir the landscape in which the wine is produced. So the ability to protect the intellectual property and the integrity of the wine that is developed in specific regions in New Zealand is an important part of securing that value proposition for New Zealand longer term. That is why this legislation is important. It has had a long gestation and I am very pleased to be part of a Government that is actually getting on with it and getting it in place so that we can carry on.I do want to acknowledge the hard work of the Primary Production Committee members and note their recommendations to change clause 9 of the bill particularly the payment of renewal fees so that the sustainability of the funding is better. They were suggesting having the first renewal after 5 years; that all makes sense. My SOP 244 is there to fix up a little problem in that we wanted to have only interested persons able to oppose the registration of a geographical indication and/or its removal or alteration. Removal and alteration have been left off so that SOP deals with that.I do also want to pay tribute to the work across the House in terms of putting this legislation together. My hope is that this will be an industry that continues to thrive and grow and expand over the years to come. This legislation is only a small thing but a small but important thing so that the industry can have confidence in the integrity of the branding that has been developed and can go with confidence into markets over the next little while. So thank you very much and I look forward to hearing some of the other comments made by other members. Thank you.