Beaumont Carol: Dairy Industry Restructuring (New Sunset Provisions) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Beaumont Carol: Dairy Industry Restructuring (New Sunset Provisions) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:672;Page:18522] 
CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise and speak in support of the Dairy Industry Restructuring (New Sunset Provisions) Amendment Bill. Before I start talking about the substantive provisions in new sections 147 to 149 I say in response to comments made by Shane Ardern about the lack of empathy and interest in the dairy industry on this side of the Chamber that those comments could not be further from the truth. Both Jacinda Ardern and I took real umbrage at those comments. We are both rural girls. We both grew up in the important dairy farming industry area of the Waikato and we would certainly like to put our rural credentials on the table. Jacinda as is well known is from that important place Morrinsville and I grew up in a place called Ohaupo which is a very important dairy farming area. 
As I said Labour supports this bill and its intention which is to extend the period of time for which Fonterra must provide fixed-price dairy solids to other dairy processors in order to foster competition in the domestic industry. I am sure that we see across the Committee the desire to have a competitive and healthy domestic dairy processing market so that consumers have low prices and good choice when it comes to dairy products. That matter of course is subject at the moment to much scrutiny because consumers currently do not have access to high-quality products at affordable prices. It has become an item of major concern for New Zealanders especially as we live in a country producing dairy products. It is one of our main exports. 
Getting on to new sections 147 to 149 which are the main substantive provisions of the bill the three new sections together extend the application of subpart 5 of Part 2 of the existing Dairy Industry Restructuring Act by resetting the market-share thresholds at 20 percent for both islands as others have commented. Once those targets are met it triggers the sunset clause which is the provision that obliges Fonterra to supply milk to independent processors. At that point the Minister must sign a certificate which is published in the  
Gazette  
and notifies that the market-share threshold has been met. 
New section 148 institutes a new process for expiry whereby the reaching of either of the new market-share thresholds will trigger a comprehensive competition review of the New Zealand dairy markets enabling the Government of the day to make informed policy decisions relating to deregulation including further legislative amendments if required. That provision is really important. On this side of the Chamber we are very much in favour of evidence-based lawmaking and policy-making so we are pleased that this provision would trigger a comprehensive competition review—a very necessary thing. 
That provision will also require the Minister to request that report as I have said. I was not on the Primary Production Committee but as I understand it the select committee made a recommendation on that matter because there was no time limit on it and it could have resulted in uncertainty for the dairy industry while it waited for the review recommendations. I think that matter has been dealt with. Certainly the Minister once a decision has been made after that comprehensive review will have to signal the Government’s policy direction within 90 days of receiving the report. Again that provision provides some certainty for the industry which is important. 
Going back to the point I was making earlier it is of considerable concern to members on this side of the Chamber that the price of milk and other dairy products has skyrocketed under National and this bill will do little to change that. I thought a quote from the chief executive of Manaia Health was quite telling. In February of this year Chris Farrelly said that the cost of cereal and milk means “55000 children go to school every day without having breakfast.” In respect of this bill a decision was made in the end to look at the pricing of dairy products. But the timing means that this bill is going through prior to the outcome of that review process being known. It seems to members on this side of the Chamber that it would have been logical for that review to inform this bill and perhaps even for us to make some relevant changes as a consequence of the review.