O'Connor GregTUESDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2022(continued on Friday 25 November 2022)GROCERY INDUSTRY COMPETITION BILLFirst ReadingDebate resumed.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Good morning everyone. I hope everyone slept well ready for another good hard day at the office. We are in the first reading of the Grocery Industry Competition Bill and the next speaker I believe—is someone going to take the call?Hon Todd McClay: Yes. Mr Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Hon Todd McClay.Hon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): Mr Speaker thank you very much. This is an important issue although I would say I'm not sure the legislation is as important or will achieve as much as the Government and the Minister say. We are supporting it because we think it's important that you know there's discussion around this and that a select committee will have an opportunity to dig into it much deeper. But unfortunately in this area the Government doesn't have a good record because what they've done is solely pointed blame towards the supermarkets who do have responsibility and as the Commerce Commission found there are things that could be done. But what the Government hasn't done is looked at the impact or effect they themselves through their own decisions and regulations are having upon costs across the board in all parts of our economy and particularly for consumers of food in New Zealand.When the Government first announced that they were instructing the Commerce Commission to do an inquiry into the supermarkets at the time I was our spokesperson and said Well actually New Zealanders don't need to wait a year for findings and then another year for the Government to take action. There are things the Government could do on that day that would have a direct impact." And if we look at all the decisions they've made that to one degree are well meaning—extra holidays more sick leave all of these other things—they come at a cost and inevitably businesses either have to absorb costs which is not possible in New Zealand any more for large or small businesses because there have just been so many as a result of regulation from this Government or that business must pass them on.I challenge the Minister when next he has an opportunity to speak on this issue to explain to the public why on the one hand the cost of food and supermarkets has gone up and he is saying this is how he will fix it and it's nothing to do with the Government but in the fish and chip shops and the takeaway shops and in the markets the farmers markets costs have gone up equally—often to the same amount—and yet he's not talking about that or saying there should be an inquiry elsewhere. There are things that need to be looked at: the code of conduct I think is a good idea; we see it overseas and we don't have one here. That we very much support. But the Government can't be allowed to get away with saying it is all the responsibility of one part of the economy—in this case the supermarkets themselves—when actually costs have gone up across the board everywhere for every type of food production and every type of outlet that sells food not just the supermarkets.It'll be very important that we dig into this when we get to committee and see exactly what is going on and the reason for that is it's a little bit like when they did an inquiry into fuel and I know we're going to be debating that later on it was all the fault of the fuel companies. On the one hand they were saying this; behind the back of the public they were raising taxes on fuel as fast as they could.So we're supporting it and I commiserate with the Minister because I think in the end he's been passed a challenge greater than this legislation is going to fix—not because there aren't solutions there but because of actually what the Government has done elsewhere that drives cost. This may well get on top of costs as the food cost increases in supermarkets to some degree but it will only be to some degree. It's a little bit like the overall cost of living and inflation: the Government talks about what's happening around the rest of the world and fuel prices and the war in Ukraine and all of these other things and so on; they will not talk about what they are doing that pumps up domestic inflation and domestic cost increases which is the largest part of why we have such a high inflation rate—in this case the Government is saying if we do what the Commerce Commission has said all these things everything will be OK. But actually much of the cost increases of food is a result of decisions this Government has made and those costs are being passed on to consumers. This bill doesn't do anything about that."