Seymour David; Rurawhe AdrianDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Well thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I rise on behalf of the ACT Party in opposition to the Commerce Amendment Bill. I have to say to the speaker who just resumed her seat Willow-Jean Prime that the intentions as so often is the case with the Labour Party are very noble. Of course people would like more affordable stuff. Of course we'd like a more competitive and efficient economy. Of course people would like more affordable living. There's no question about that. But that's not what's being debated.What's being debated here today is whether the Commerce Commission who have more powers to inquire and subpoena information than the police should have the ability to sui generis off their own initiative or with the instruction of a Minister—who is a politician—and be able to decide to go into an industry demand information and make recommendations that could lead to the restructuring of private businesses. Is that what should be allowed? On the one hand you've got a situation where there are enormous problems in New Zealand with excessive bureaucracy with too much Government holding New Zealanders back from being more productive and this Government's way to make the economy more productive seems to be to add yet another layer of bureaucracy yet another layer of Government power on the assumption that somehow the Commerce Commission—after they've used their powers to demand information from private businesses under threat of criminal conviction—will somehow be able to recommend that the industry be broken up have new competitors enter the market. Who knows?The fundamental problem is that the Commerce Commission doesn't know how many competitors should be in a particular industry. The Commerce Commission doesn't know exactly what a particular industry such as the retail fuel industry should charge. You just have to ask yourself this question: if you knew what the correct time for a new competitor to enter a market such as supermarkets was if you knew what the competitive margin for fuel retailers to charge was would you be (a) working for the Commerce Commission or (b) making a huge amount of money while delivering cheaper prices for New Zealanders? Well of course people who know what the structure of a market should be are not working for the Commerce Commission. If they knew that they would be making a lot of money out-competing the current market and bringing down prices.But it's worse than that because not only will this new market study provision allow the Commerce Commission to impose bureaucratic costs on businesses not only will this new market study provision fail to make anything cheaper because they don't know what the right prices should be and they don't know how many competitors should be in a market; it's actually an invitation to corruption.Imagine if you will a Minister going to a wine and cheese industry event at an evening where everybody in that industry knows that the Minister has the ability—at a whim with no justification of his own—under this legislation to unleash a market or a competition study by the Commerce Commission that has more powers than a police inquiry. That is not the kind of position that New Zealanders would like to think a politician should be in. But that is the position that a Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs will be in under this legislation. That is why this bill not only will be ineffective not only is a distraction from the real task of raising the standards of competition and productivity in New Zealand but is actually dangerous because it erodes an inheritance that all of us have—a political body and a Civil Service that is supposed to be above suspicion and above corruption.The way that this legislation is being rushed through so that a market study into retail fuel can be done when the Prime Minister has already announced the result—i.e. those industries are fleecing consumers—is yet another reason to oppose this bill and why it's corrupt. I wish I could say that only the Labour Party think that this is the answer to high prices but of course this is a bill that National agreed to in Government too. I'm proud to be standing for ACT—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! The member's time has expired.