Fenton Darien: Third Readings — 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fenton Darien: Third Readings — 
[Sitting date: 16 October 2012. Volume:684;Page:5851. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to take a call on the third readings of these cognate commerce bills. As my colleagues have said we support the original bill the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation and Fees) Amendment Bill which has been divided into the following bills in the Committee of the whole House: the Commerce (International Co-operation and Fees) Amendment Bill the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance (International Co-operation) Amendment Bill the Fair Trading (International Co-operation) Amendment Bill and the Telecommunications (International Co-operation) Amendment Bill. 
As many people have observed the original bill was introduced by that excellent Minister of Commerce of the former Labour Government the Hon Lianne Dalziel way back in 2008—a long long time ago. It was adopted by Simon Power who has now gone elsewhere and now we have Craig Foss. It was reported back from the Commerce Committee in November 2010. Since then we have had a general election and here we are now in 2012. Finally after seeing the bill languishing on the Order Paper for some time we are finally getting to what we agree are very good bills that need to be passed tonight. 
It is very instructive to look at the report from the select committee which as I said reported back in 2010 and to look at exactly what the process was. It is hard to see looking at that why this legislation has been so difficult to pass. There were seven submissions from interested groups and individuals and the committee heard two submissions. So this was hardly controversial. There was a high level of agreement around this legislation. There was also of course advice from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development which has since then gone through a whole other evolution. What is it called these days? Is it the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment—something like that? Yes it has gone into a whole new thing. 
I was also interested in the select committee membership way back then. It is a bit of a who’s who of who was in the ACT Party in 2010 and who is no longer here. There was John Boscawen. I do not have a problem with John Boscawen. He has gone on to better things I am sure. He was on the select committee. Hilary Calvert had a very very short career in Parliament actually. I think my abiding memory of Hilary Calvert is that—you know I cannot do it—that clown face that clown thing that she did in Parliament. You know that was her face— 
Hon Simon Bridges 
: Nah nah nah it was the building with her eyes on top. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Oh OK. Yes that is right the building with her eyes on top. That is right: “This is not a sex shop”. That is the one. Also Sir Roger Douglas the Hon Sir Roger Douglas was on the select committee. As I said this is a bit of history that we are debating tonight in these third readings—a bit of history. We are looking back to some honourable members who were here for either a long time or a short time or who came back after a career when perhaps they should not have. I could probably make some analogies about current ACT members but I will not. 
The proposals in this legislation are part of the work programme supporting the Memorandum of Understanding on Coordination of Business Law with Australia. The legislation aligns us with Australia which passed similar legislation in 2007. I do have to say that it is really nice to be debating legislation in the third reading where we actually are aligning ourselves with Australia. Apart from the promises that we had from John Key in the 2008 and 2011 elections and the 2025 Taskforce which was all about catching up with Australia—remember that? Half a million dollars went to Don Brash and friends to make recommendations about how New Zealand was going to catch up with Australia. 
Of course the only thing that has caught up is this legislation. That is evident. We certainly have not caught up with wages; we are dragging way way behind Australia. John Key’s famous hoarding during the 2008 election campaign “Wave Goodbye to Higher Taxes. Not Your Loved Ones.” has become a joke. He has become a laughing stock because day by day week by week month by month and year by year tens of thousands of our kids our best and brightest are going to Australia. Actually a lot of them are in the 18-30 year age group so we are losing a lot of young people to Australia. So that promise— 
Hon Nathan Guy 
: I saw you on telly tonight having a laugh. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Yes that is right I did. I like laughing and I certainly like laughing when we talk about catching up with Australia. So it is really good as I said to have some things that we can talk about where we are aligning with Australia even though it passed similar legislation in 2007 which is a long time ago. It just reminds us of the dragging that this legislation has taken. Five years later here we are at the third readings passing this legislation. 
The legislation is expected to facilitate greater reciprocal assistance from equivalent overseas regulators. This is increasingly important for effective enforcement of competition and consumer law where businesses operate in multiple jurisdictions. That is an increasing issue as people are aware. We support what this legislation does with this but I think there are other issues that over time we will need to address—issues around similar jurisdictions and particularly the relationship between New Zealand and Australia. 
How often do we have people talking to us about the job they do here compared with the job they do in Australia where the wages are so much higher? They ask how that is fair and why it is different. We have this relationship with Australia we have had this treaty with Australia for so long yet New Zealand seems to be positioning itself as a low-wage country. So it is really good that we are going to be able to enforce competition in consumer law and protect people where businesses do operate in multiple jurisdictions. 
The legislation will allow Government to Government cooperation arrangements or regulator to regulator arrangements subject to ministerial approval. That was inserted by the select committee. I think that is probably a really good thing although I always have reservations about ministerial approval as well. But it is another check and balance that probably needed to be added to this legislation. 
It is interesting to read the select committee report. In submissions the Commerce Committee requested that this legislation also apply to information gathered under the Telecommunications Act. Obviously that was a big discussion at the select committee. Telecom and Vodafone opposed the inclusion of the regulations that were included in the Australian legislation but this has been included by way of a Supplementary Order Paper. We support that. 
The select committee has also recommended a consultative procedure where the commission is concerned that a request for assistance might have significant international trade implications. The commission may consult the Minister of Trade after consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and then rely on a statement by the Minister of Trade as to whether providing the information or assistance would significantly prejudice New Zealand’s international trade interests. That is a good provision because it is looking out for New Zealand’s international trade interests. 
We hope certainly that our negotiators on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement are looking out for New Zealand’s international trade interests as well as our sovereignty interests. And we will wait with interest and some anticipation that the Government will do what it says it will do. When it comes to that particular trade agreement there is a lot of concern about this. However there is a flexible regime that will come about because of this bill. It facilitates enhanced cooperation between the commission and overseas regulators and it seeks to do this while ensuring that there are appropriate safeguards in place to address public interest considerations. 
So all in all I think the Commerce Commission the select committee and others have done a very good job on this bill. There will be new powers for the Commerce Commission—statutory powers—but they can be used only in relation to enforcement and adjudication in New Zealand. There are legal constraints on the provision to overseas regulators of confidential compulsorily acquired information already held by the commission. 
Most overseas regulators consider the likelihood of reciprocity as a factor in determining whether to provide assistance or information to the commission. As I said when I started out Labour supports these cognate commerce bills. We are pleased that we have finally got to the third readings of these bills. We are pleased that we are finally passing this legislation— 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: After all these years. 
DARIEN FENTON 
—after all these years—and the excellent work done by the Hon Lianne Dalziel not only as a Minister but also as a chair of the Commerce Committee. It is very fulfilling to see that the work of the former Labour Government is coming to fruition at last. Labour is very pleased to support this legislation.