Mitchell ClaytonCLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First): Thank you Madam Speaker. Welcome back to everybody after a great festive break. I just want to commend the previous speaker the honourable Jonathan Young for his comments in relation to the thorough process that we'll be running this bill through through our Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee which I sit on. You do a thorough job and I enjoy it on that select committee with you.I'd also like to congratulate the Hon Kris Faafoi for bringing this bill forward because as much as I've heard a couple of comments this evening to say that there's maybe not as big a problem as people think I believe there is a big problem there as Dr Deborah Russell has pointed out. Having been a small and medium sized business owner and operator for a large part of my life and having a lot of my friends and contacts who still are small and medium sized business owners and operators I see unconscionable trading regimes and sales techniques going on to this very day albeit not everywhere in every sector in every corner but it does happen. When you hear these stories you think: how is that behaviour able to continue in a modern society like ours?We've got laws around consumerism to protect businesses to protect our consumers but this is just a further tightening ratcheting up to ensure that we protect and bring back a balance to businesses both small and medium sized and create an equilibrium between those two sized entities as well as creating an equilibrium between the businesses themselves and the consumers that sometimes get caught up with bad sales practices.The word unconscionable" as we heard from Brett Hudson is one that seems to be raising some angst in their caucus. I am also very surprised that the party that stands by small and medium sized business and businesses in general is not supporting this bill through the House because it is set up and designed specifically to protect those people. If the only word that seems to be causing some angst is the word "unconscionable" then surely the best thing to do is set up a law so that you can actually take that law and you can test it to make case law out of that law.If we go back to the last Parliament when we talked about health and safety and we had "persons conducting a business undertaking" (PCBUs) introduced as a terminology and "legal culpability" they didn't have a problem with bringing in terms such as those that needed to be tested in law. But I'll tell you what that did: the moment you put legal culpability out there for PCBUs everybody lifts their game and with that word "unconscionable" being introduced into this bill instantly this bill is introduced people will need to think twice about their practices the way they operate the way they behave with other businesses and the way they treat their consumers and customers. So we absolutely support this bill moving through. I'm excited to see that it is coming into the select committee that I sit on with Jonathan Young. We will pull this bill apart.There are I guess times in our lives when we see things happening that we don't like the look of. In fact I can tell you if you want to put context to "unconscionable" where I know a farmer who was growing a crop who signed a contract with a large supplier who then invested into their farm to get plant and equipment to ensure that they could keep up with demand. They got more land to produce more product. The moment they were locked in they changed the terms of the contract and there was nothing that that farmer could do but slowly but surely go backwards. That is unconscionable; it's not too difficult to work out. Or where you see salespeople preying on the vulnerable whether it be door-to-door or by peddling wares that people don't need signing them up to contracts that they don't want that they can't afford—that behaviour is certainly unconscionable. Any fair-minded New Zealander which the vast majority of us are will be saying "I can give you examples of unconscionable too." Let's test it but first and foremost let's pass a bill that we can actually use to better off business to better off consumers and protect and create a balance between those two people and entities. Thank you very much. We will be supporting this bill through the House."