Shearer David: Food Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Food Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 14 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17867. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert): I just want to take a short call. Part 4 is a significant chunk of the Food Bill. It runs for about a third of this massive tome that we have here which the Primary Production Committee has been working on assiduously for nearly 3 years bringing it to a tumultuous and very exciting end as part of this Committee. Part 4 goes through the nuts and bolts in terms of the need for this bill and how it is going to operate in practice. I believe that what it will do and this has been touched on before by the Minister for Food Safety as well is ensure that the compliance charges and complications and some of the ambiguities of the previous legislation are removed. It will enable compliance issues to be simplified so much that it is estimated that about $40 million or $50 million I think will be saved particularly by small businesses which are obviously very concerned about that sort of money. It will make a big difference to their ability to make a profit so that is very good.The second part to what I think this bill does in a sense is that it really identifies the risk and how we are going to deal with that risk. As I said in the beginning at the introduction of the bill I believe that what this bill does is move the emphasis from the premises or the proprietor across to the risk that that particular food poses and then on to how to mitigate and build regulations around that risk. This part in a sense gives the guts and it gives the detail in and around that.My colleague mentioned the ability to search. This is something that is very much on the minds of New Zealanders as the Government Communications Security Bureau legislation was smashed through Parliament ignoring protocols and opportunities to argue it and negotiate it sufficiently. It is also relevant at the moment to the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) that is being looked at because that bill will give immigration officials much greater ability to conduct searches knock down doors in the middle of the night etc. which was not previously possible under the existing law.So I would like the Minister for Food Safety to perhaps take a call on this issue and reassure people because I do think that it is at the front of people’s minds that the search procedures as contained in Part 4 of the bill will be sufficient to ensure that we are able to crack down on those operators who are not operating responsibly but also at the same time that we do not step over the bounds of our ability to have basic human rights—that people do not come crashing through our doors and kick over our chip fryer or whatever. So that is I think the balance here and I call on the Minister to give us that assurance and just outline the procedures that are in place to ensure that that balance is maintained.I refer also to what the previous speaker Rino Tirikatene was just talking about in terms of marae. I do think that is quite a specific and in many ways quite a unique situation that exists in New Zealand the way that marae food is prepared and distributed to people but I think the bill deals with this adequately. It comes in on clause 294 on page 274. That gives you the idea actually—we are only halfway though this bill but we are up to page 274. People who are sitting at home watching this must be thinking “We’re really making big progress here!”. It is the day before the Budget and we are thumbing through 400 or 500 pages of the Food Bill. Not that it is not important but it is just building up to that momentous day tomorrow when for the first time this Government will be able to announce a Budget that is in the black. I think that is wonderful. I think that it is wonderful that after five tries the Minister of Finance has finally got a Budget that is going to go into the black. I think that is wonderful and he deserves recognition. The only thing that we do not mention is that every year that you run a deficit you have to borrow. So what we have ended up doing is having a $60 billion debt that somehow—[Bell rung] Mr Chairman I am getting back on to the bill now.The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy): Please do.DAVID SHEARER: There is a way forward. There is a track that is leading inevitably back to this bill. I will take only a couple more minutes and then I would really appreciate the Minister talking on the issue of search and surveillance.But certainly the $60 billion debt is a big debt to overcome. That means that we have to be sure that we are able to export confidently—see I told you I was going to segue back on to this bill again. Being able to confidently export our food and make sure that our food is safe will enable us to give confidence to the export markets that they will be able to buy our products. So it all comes back to the same thing.I do not want to say too much more. Once again Part 4 has been gone through very comprehensively. There are pages and pages and pages here from the previous draft of the bill that have been eliminated and whole new sections have been written in. I think those people out there in the food industry and in both importing and exporting food will have some confidence that the bill has struck the right balance with the exception with the clarification of the search provisions that are contained in Part 4. I would welcome the Minister being able to speak to those.