Hughes GarethCONSUMERS' RIGHT TO KNOW (COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF FOOD) BILLSecond ReadingGARETH HUGHES (Green): I move That the Consumers' Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill be now read a second time.Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. As a vegetarian of 18 years I've recently found myself in an odd situation of standing in supermarket chillers going through piles of bacon looking at the labels using my phone to try to work out where the bacon has come from and frankly it's impossible for any New Zealander. I was recently on a television show preparing for an interview to talk about our labelling laws in New Zealand. So I went to the supermarket and bought a bunch of bacon to try and illustrate the inadequacies of our labelling laws. But there I was: walking out of a TV studio with an arm full of bacon a vegetarian literally bringing home the bacon but I couldn't touch it. Luckily my dog had a bit of a treat.Now I was looking at the labels to try and work out where the food was coming from and any consumer in New Zealand would be hard-pressed to know where that bacon had come from. Most of the packs said Made in New Zealand from local and imported ingredients". But given that 85 percent of New Zealand's bacon and ham comes from countries other than New Zealand—imported meat—consumers are none the wiser from existing labels. It's not just a problem with the bacon; it's a problem with our total labelling laws and that's what we're here tonight to fix.Many people care about their food and where it comes from for environmental reasons like maybe they are avoiding genetically engineered ingredients pesticides or antibiotics; maybe they are ethical consumers and they're wanting to avoid food from countries with poor working or animal welfare practices; or maybe they just want to know. No matter the reason Kiwis should be able to find out where their food comes from. You can't have a choice if you don't have the information. Fifty-five other countries already have country-of-origin labelling laws including the US the UK and Canada. Australia has a comprehensive labelling regime that actually even indicates the percentage of Australian-grown products within it. New Zealand has required country-of-origin labelling for footwear and for clothing since 1992 but not for our food. Opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Kiwis want to know where their food comes from.The Green Party has long been the champion of country-of-origin food labelling because we believe Kiwis have the right and deserve the right to know where their food comes from. I want to acknowledge the advocacy over many many years of Sue Kedgley who originally drafted this bill and Steffan Browning who shepherded this bill through a unanimous first reading vote.The bill went to the Primary Production Committee and it has gone through two tranches of public submissions. I'd like to thank everyone who made a submission and the members of the committee as part of their deliberation and constructive engagement. Going through the submission and consideration process it was clear that the bill needed some amendments to make it more effective and workable—for example rather than a stand-alone Act as originally envisioned the committee has recommended food labelling be achieved through the existing Fair Trading Act. This is to avoid the confusion of having legal requirements spread across several Acts and it also gives access to the existing enforcement regime under the Fair Trading Act. Going down this Fair Trading Act path also allows the existing regulation-making powers for consumer labelling to allow other foods to be an included or excluded.The committee also made some clarifications that food sold by restaurants cafes takeaway shops or in fundraisers would not be included. The bill is designed to cover food sold in supermarkets shops or online.A red herring raised by some large corporate submitters was that it risked breaching international trade obligations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade advised the committee that it would be possible to implement the proposed regime in a way that is consistent with our international obligations. The key here is having a fair uniform system that doesn't discriminate against imported products. At this point can I please thank the officials who advised the committee and supported us. So that's some of the details but I'd imagine most people are interested in what is actually in the bill.What is food? The original bill covered all single-component foods but this has been amended by the Primary Production Committee to only include single-ingredient minimally processed foods. The rationale for this is that the committee wanted a scheme that was the simplest to implement with the least cost and to avoid confusion around definition they recommended the regime should apply only to single-ingredient foods that are fresh frozen unprocessed or minimally processed—for example cut filleted or minced. It's a quirk of Parliament that while this was a Green Party member's bill there was no Green member on the committee or a Green Party vote and it was a tied select committee which meant every single party on the committee had to agree on the bill and the amendments to make progress.I'm deeply thankful to the committee who allowed me to sit in and participate in the discussions. In some respects the bill has been significantly improved but by limiting the scope of foods covered I imagine it may disappoint some consumers and confuse them about why some products have labels and others don't. This means for example that dried cured and pickled foods are out. Nuts grains seeds and oils are out. I think people shopping will be wondering why tomatoes are in but canned tomatoes are out. Fruit is in but nuts are out. A cucumber is in but a pickle is out. The line had to be drawn somewhere and the committee has drawn it here but I hope that over time the list of foods can be expanded and we can get closer to the more comprehensive Australian regime.Bacon was the most controversial issue and a glaring problem of the bill's watering down of foods covered. The overwhelming majority of our ham and bacon comes from imported meat and 95 percent of that comes from countries with lower animal welfare standards. As a vegetarian it's a little odd for me to be promoting New Zealand bacon products and a little bad for my vegetarian street cred to have NZ Pork put out a press release thanking my advocacy but look if Kiwis want to buy New Zealand pork products because they aren't raised in terrible conditions like cages under animal practices that would be illegal under New Zealand law bacon had to be included.I'm very grateful to the committee that they listened to the overwhelming call from submitters—from New Zealand Pork Consumer New Zealand and hundreds of individuals—for bacon to be included. I'm also grateful for the work of the committee.I still think the bill however needs to be beefed up a little bit more and include more foods like nuts grains and seeds and I'll be canvassing other parties for their support. The bill though does act as a flexible first step a foundation on which further foods can be added later through regulations. Passing this bill is a positive step and it does give Kiwis increased consumer information power. It aligns us closer to other countries who have country-of-origin food labelling and I believe the cost is likely to be minuscule for families in New Zealand as labels are frequently changed already. It's a great foundation for the Government to build on adding foods through the Fair Trading Act.I want to thank parties for their support tonight. I want to make sure that in the future Kiwis whenever they're in the supermarket investigating the labels and wondering where their food comes from can actually get an answer. I want to make sure Kiwis actually have consumer power. We've got some of the best food in New Zealand and we've got a great story behind it. Why on earth would we want to hide that away? So I'd like to thank parties for their support.Can I just on this 125th anniversary of suffrage acknowledge the fantastic speeches in the House and the amazing contribution of women to our country in Aotearoa New Zealand. Kia ora."