Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Kia ora Mr Speaker. I'm very pleased to make a contribution to round off the second reading of this bill. As the only member of this House whose electorate spans the entire South Island I believe I have some interest in this legislation and I do commend Minister O'Connor for bringing this to the House.We've heard a range of wild contributions from the other side right throughout this debate. I know we're under urgency and I guess there is leeway but the bulk of the contributions from the other side are concerning a comprehensive review which we will be undertaking but that review has absolutely nothing to do with this bill. There is not one word in the bill under consideration that actually mentions anything about a review. So I do want to acknowledge my colleagues Dr Webb and Dr Liz Craig who actually were bringing this debate back to what we are supposed to be doing which is actually considering the bill at hand—and that is we are preventing the expiry of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA) provisions across the South Island.That is a major and urgent piece of action that's required because had we let these provisions lapse it would just place the whole dairy sector in the South Island into disarray. That is why the members opposite are supporting this legislation because they know that it's required. They know that it's required so all the talk all the bluster about a so-called review and all the scaremongering that's been going on is totally irrelevant to the bill at hand. So I do support this bill because what we are doing is providing certainty for the dairy farmers and dairy processors right across the South Island that the DIRA regulation will continue. That is vitally important.Yes we know that there are many farmers in the South Island. I know going up and down my electorate the importance of the dairy industry and the dairy sector to the people of not only the South but Aotearoa. But we've also seen the emergence of new processors as well whether it's Synlait in Canterbury Oceania Open Country Westland—we've got a lot of new processors that have entered the game all as a result of DIRA regulation. And so that is a good thing.And then we've also got the dominant monopolistic major player—three-quarters of the milk supply in the South—in Fonterra. So yes there are going to be some difficult and some complex issues that we will be talking to the industry about to progressively chart the way forward for the industry right across Aotearoa. All we are doing now with this bill is we are keeping the status quo. We are letting farmers know that hey we're not changing anything; things will continue as they are. We will still have open entry and exit. We'll still have milk price monitoring. There'll still be the 20 percent rule for farmers in terms of their supply to other processors. Nothing is going to change. That will continue.And why are we doing this? Well because the Commerce Commission in its report in looking at the competitiveness of the industry said that it's not required. They wanted to raise the threshold to 30 percent. Sure it's about 24 percent now in terms of the milk supply that is going to other processors but they thought that 30 percent is a fair threshold. So what we are doing now under this legislation is we're just getting rid of all of the triggers that were activated under this legislation. We have to pass this legislation under urgency so we can put a stop to all of those triggers. This is a very sensible way forward and we're using urgency to make sure that we can get it through in an expeditious manner so we can provide that certainty for the farmers and for the processors particularly in the South Island so they know what arrangements they are going to be operating under for the coming season. I do commend Minister O'Connor for his—Hon Meka Whaitiri: Leadership. RINO TIRIKATENE: —leadership yes in bringing this bill to the House. I know that we've heard talk about going on to farms. Māori are big players in dairy in the South—or emerging I should say. Ngāi Tahu farms in Eyrewell have got mighty big operations there which I've had a good look around over the years. Likewise my own whānau over in Mawhera on the West Coast have got our little operations happening over there. And you know if we look up in the North Island we've got Miraka just in terms of a new processor that's doing some outstanding things. [Mr Speaker holds up bill] I'm just saying sir that this legislation is very important to the industry as a whole. It's providing certainty. It's providing certainty that that Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA) regulation will remain in place because the Commerce Commission also said that taking away that deregulation far outweighs leaving that regulation in place. I think we need to take heed of what the Commerce Commission has been saying. We also know that the next phase from here in is to undertake a comprehensive review to look at all of the issues and give a proper consideration with all stakeholders to ensure that there is a pathway forward whether it means that regulation will stay in place or whether it will mean that there is a pathway to deregulation. And I think that's what we're looking at. We're looking at a pathway to deregulation to ensure that processors the dairy sector and dairy farmers in general have some certainty as to how they will conduct their operations and how they will be able to make their investments make their business decisions to ensure that they can get an optimal return from their assets from their businesses. That's all this legislation does. It's very straightforward. All this talk about moving goalposts scaremongering and goodness knows what other concerns have been raised on the other side they're totally unjustified—totally unjustified. When looking at this bill in itself it's very very simple it's very very clear and I commend it to the House.Bill read a second time.