Cunliffe David: Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) Registration Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) Registration Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 17 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9911. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn): It is a pleasure to take a call in support of the Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) Registration Amendment Bill. I would like to acknowledge speakers who have gone before and the contribution from New Zealand First with some of the history of this. It has been a week in this House of bonhomie and consensual decision-making and this is not the first bill that has gone through with most probably unanimous support. I guess that is what the public likes to see—Parliament speaking with one voice. The last one was about protecting fish in the Kermadec Islands and in respect of this one you might say some people drink in that way. This will improve the quality of the perception of our wine. Amongst other things it will require geographical indications that will go from 85 percent to 100 percent of the grapes for the wine coming from the regions that are on the indication and that is a good thing—a good thing.There is an interesting history for this bill. The original Act was passed in 2006 by the Hon Judith Tizard. It lay in a veritable legislative stupor. It was not actually set up and now we are back 10 years later to give it a kick along and improve it with the amendment. I think we are all probably of the same mind that the industry has come of age and it is time to lift the bar on geographical indications to 100 percent. So that is good and we expect that when this bill goes through with the broad support of the House the implementation steps will be taken.We will get such great names as “North Island” “South Island” and “New Zealand” thrown in and then beyond that it is going to be up to the regions to define and agree on their geographical indications. So for members opposite they will have a great interest in Marlborough Martinborough Hokonui in the case of the member for Southland—God knows what it is going to come up with—and Central Otago. He is a member who has got a vast swathe of Southland and a little tiny weeny bit of Central Otago so that he can do his odd weekend clinic in the vineyards so I guess that is a fair apportionment. We all smile because this subject matter brings to mind some of the finer parts of recreation and life in New Zealand.I do want to acknowledge the wine industry—the viticulture industry. There are a lot of hard-working people there doing very well. They have had their ups and downs. Grape prices collapsed a few years ago and they have recovered a bit like dairy being down at the moment. There has been a lot of consolidation in the industry. There are a few people who went to set up vineyards and their own wine labels as a kind of lifestyle choice or retirement hobby and it has turned out to be bloody hard work and there has been a lot of consolidation to group that into more economic unit sizes. But it is a high-quality industry. New Zealand wine can hold its head up very high by international standards and arguably there is no finer sauvignon blanc grown in the world than that which comes from Marlborough in New Zealand. I have yet to taste a Pinot noir that I prefer to the one from good old Central Otago.I want to acknowledge Waipara which is doing extremely well and Martinborough as well as Hawke’s Bay and other regions. We have of course in west Auckland—where I have the privilege of being an MP—a fine tradition of the Dalmatian winemakers. There are the Babiches the Brajkoviches and many others who have come up with brands like Nobilo Wines Soljans Estate Winery and Kūmeu River which makes some of the world’s very finest chardonnay and we are very proud of that tradition in the west.Of course Labour will be supporting this bill. We commend the bill to the House. We look forward to its I think unanimous passage and along with the Kermadec fish reserve we look forward to many more years of research of the product. Thank you very much.