Twyford PhilHon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): Thank you Madam Chairperson Williams. I find it remarkable that the National Party Opposition who claim to be the great friend of the farmer negligently allowed the progress of this bill to just sail forth towards the automatic expiry provisions seemingly without a thought for the state of the industry and the important decisions that needed to be made about the future of the dairy industry.So many members in this debate have pointed out how important the dairy industry is to this country.Hon David Bennett: Their heritage. Yes I've learnt a lot.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Notwithstanding the heritage of various members and we're not going to go any further into the heritage of members of this House.Hon David Bennett: Come on. Tell us your heritage.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: We'll stay right out of my heritage thank you Mr Bennett. So this bill prevents the expiry of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA). Without this bill we face two possibilities. The first is that the bill that the previous Government had before the House would've pre-empted an important consideration of strategic issues facing the dairy industry.CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Order! Could I just ask the member to take a seat. Can we just have a little bit of order. If members are wanting to interject across the Chamber the interjections need to be helpful to the debate; currently they are not. Let's just take a deep breath and start again.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I would say that any interjections that are helpful to the speaker would be most welcome—Hon David Bennett: I asked about your heritage.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: —but no interjections about my heritage thank you Mr Bennett. So what this bill will mean is that the DIRA provisions will continue to apply throughout the whole of New Zealand allowing time for the new Minister the Hon Damien O'Connor to undertake a comprehensive review of the DIRA before any other changes are made. The alternative to that is just to let the automatic expiry provisions run their course. But it's our view on this side of the Chamber that that would not be helpful to the dairy industry. The main purpose of the Act was to manage the dominance of Fonterra until there was enough competition in the market place to make regulation unnecessary. That's why the DIRA contained those expiry provisions that were triggered when Fonterra's market share fell below the threshold specified in the Act. So the expiry process that's contained in the original Act necessitated a review of the state of competition in the dairy markets to be undertaken by the Commerce Commission. The Commerce Commission did that review in 2015 when Fonterra's market share in the South Island met the threshold. So as we know the Commerce Commission found that there wasn't sufficient competition to let parts of the DIRA expire in the South Island.So keeping the DIRA in place now will give the industry certainty about the regulatory environment and it allows the new Government to undertake the very review that the past National Government should've conducted if they were serious in their claim to being the great friend of the dairy industry.The review that I know the Minister Damien O'Connor has under way now is intended to allow a much more strategic focus to be taken to the issues facing the dairy industry including for example environmental issues the likes of which Gareth Hughes set out; the need to get the industry on a much more sustainable footing; to reduce carbon emissions that are such a feature of our dairy industry right now; and to find new policy settings for land use in this country that will allow the industry to continue to generate the prosperity that it does for New Zealand without putting further stress on our waterways and our land. What this Government wants to see is the best outcomes for farmers for consumers and for the economy overall.I said before that preventing the expiry of the DIRA will mean that the current regulatory settings will continue in place. The key provisions that are being maintained are the open entry and exit the milk price monitoring regime and the 20 percent rule. This bill provides certainty for the dairy industry while the essential review is carried out.