Bond Ria: Commerce (Supermarket Adjudicator and Code of Conduct) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBond Ria: Commerce (Supermarket Adjudicator and Code of Conduct) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 02 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8535. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RIA BOND (NZ First): I am pleased to rise on behalf of New Zealand First and take this short call in the first reading of the Commerce (Supermarket Adjudicator and Code of Conduct) Amendment Bill. Firstly I want to say that New Zealand First supports this bill and I will endeavour to outline just why we are supporting it.First this bill’s purpose has merit. Its main purpose is to amend the Commerce Act 1986. It is going to put in place an independent adjudicator funded by a levy coming from the suppliers and the supermarkets. So the main task this person will be tasked with is actually to develop a code of conduct and this will primarily target preventing or mitigating the restricted trade practices and unfair dealings towards supply of groceries to supermarkets.I just want to talk about that in depth because I have experience with codes of conduct through the sectors that I come from. I have to highlight that codes of conduct in New Zealand in the business realm are nothing new. There is an unspoken expectation that businesses and corporations should have a code of conduct in place. Australia has a code of conduct for their supermarkets and grocery stores and so does the UK which started off having a voluntary code of conduct that actually went to compulsory because it allows the sector and the industry to have a middle person—and if you like the word “referee” then I will use it—before it gets to the stage of having to bring in the Commerce Commission.Codes of conduct here in New Zealand are actually currently quite valid. They are very workable. They give the opportunity for the adjudicator to work with the supermarkets to work with the suppliers—the very industry that will actually need buy-in and will need to believe that they can set their standards; that they can actually not only perform best practice to not only ensure that their code of conduct is fit for purpose but they can also moderate if you like when new smaller suppliers come in and give them that base level field for a code of conduct to come into effect.I want to say that the former Government speaker Melissa Lee said that she did not feel that there was a need for this process to be put in place here in New Zealand. I just want to remind this Government that in July 2014 there was an allegation in this House that Countdown supermarkets were practising bullying behaviours towards their suppliers. The investigation into that was quite interesting because at that time—I was just a member of the public and could see this happening—it brought to mind a few occasions where my family have actually packed shelves in supermarkets where they have worked within supermarkets and there have been occasions where they have questioned the behaviour of supermarkets that were saying “You need to do this or we’ll take your preferred product away from the preferred shelves where buyers are actually attracted.” and statistics tell us that buyers will buy product from shelves at certain heights.So interestingly enough the Government officials at that time were investigating a voluntary code of conduct for the food and grocery industry here in New Zealand but due to that investigation they were recommended to just hold off and wait to see what the outcome of that investigation was. I think the term that has been tossed around has been that the Commerce Commission did not kind of see any problem.I want to reiterate that industries themselves if they get the power and we empower them to set their own code of conduct are more than likely going to be very proud of that and buy into it and ensure that that code of conduct is adhered to. Industries here in New Zealand have had codes of conduct—like the taxi industry the sports industry the education industry the medical industry the hair and cosmetics industry New Zealand boards of directors corporates and so on.Currently we are faced with having a duopoly here in New Zealand with two main supermarkets that hold 90 percent of the market competition. That concentration here in New Zealand is actually quite high in terms of the world global scale. The bill has been introduced by Mojo Mathers and I want to thank her for spending the time with me to give me a bit of history about why she felt the need to bring this bill to the House. What I will say before closing is that I am actually quite stumped. I am stumped that a Green Party member brought this bill to the House when in fact the Government tells us and reminds us constantly that it has a leadership role in this country. My question is: why do you not put that leadership role in place and bring such a great bill to the House? I want to reiterate that New Zealand First will support this bill. I believe that it will put in place a fair practice. It will bring us up to international standards and it will protect the small suppliers that need businesses as well.