Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. Otirā ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. I'm proud to rise and contribute to the Consumers' Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill. I'm proud to rise in support of this because I come from the beautiful Tai Rāwhiti of the beautiful electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti where of course amongst other things we are the citrus capital of Aotearoa where we sell 75 percent of all oranges. Not to say that we are also the chardonnay capital of Aotearoa although some of our colleagues across the way will dispute that. But I'm proud because this bill goes some way from my perspective to not only protecting but enhancing and sharing the authentic Aotearoa New Zealand food story. This is what this bill enables.I too want to stand and congratulate the original ushers of this bill—mentioning the former Green member Sue Kedgley and of course I want to acknowledge a friend that I shared membership of the Primary Production Committee with Steffan Browning who has also joined us here in the House and of course a fellow Gisbornite Gareth Hughes who has ushered this bill through. It's exciting times.Like the bill says—the purpose is actually in the title—it allows the consumers the right to know what's in their food. Of course we've heard lots of contributions from various members in the first and second readings and committee stage of the bill about how the select committee decided to take an approach to get the bill through. I want to commend the vision and the collaborative way in which members of the select committee obviously supported by the officials ensured that we brought a bill to this House that we can unanimously agree will make a difference to like I said earlier protecting and enhancing the unique Aotearoa New Zealand food story.In that regard I just want to deviate slightly and acknowledge an ancestor of mine by the name of Hine Hākirirangi who travelled in the mighty waka migration. Her brother was Paoa who was the captain of the Horouta waka and comes from our region. She was renowned for bringing the kūmara plant to Aotearoa New Zealand. People will say How do you preserve a kūmara plant when you are travelling across the sea?" Well Hine Hākirirangi actually strapped the plants under her breast line. Research says that she created an innovative boob tube to keep the plants dry and warm. And she planted them when they landed here in Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa on my maunga of Manawarū. So we claim to be the first planters of the kūmara through our tipuna Hine Hākirirangi. So back to the bill because this was about celebrating our unique New Zealand food story. This bill although the debate has been on whether it goes deep and wide enough and what foods are in it and what foods are out I think it's an absolute starting point to ensure that consumers when they go into the stores like we in this House all do and make informed choices about what foods we want to buy then we want to be able to pick up those items and actually know where they've come from. And why do we want to do that? We want to ensure that we are making those informed decisions that the foods we are purchasing are safe. But we also want to flip it and say "Actually if we have a country of origin and we've got good New Zealand Aotearoa unique stories about our food then why can't we promote the provenance and competitive advantage that this bill can also enable to happen?" So it is a thought and I know it doesn't go far and not everyone's going to be happy on both sides of the debate but actually as a progressive nation protecting our unique competitive advantage it is definitely a bill that we need to celebrate in this House.Of course there's been mention around supermarkets versus community events in terms of you don't have to be subjected to this mandatory labelling. I just want to stand up in this House and acknowledge all the farmers markets again throughout my electorate—Hawke's Bay farmers market Gisborne's farmers market—because many of us frequent those farmers markets and they actually grow great local produce. Of course they will be relieved I guess knowing that this bill does not capture the food produce that they grow locally and sell in their own respective farmers market. Of course that's a phenomenon that's gone right throughout the country and it's uniquely New Zealand and it should be protected and celebrated.So again the bill that's been presented debated does go a long way to contribute like I said earlier and what everybody has said to ensuring that consumers are well informed when they purchase certain food groups. It is a starting point. We need to ensure when we pass this bill in its third and final reading—empowering the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs through the Fair Trading Act—that this bill enables him to enhance the regulations if we want to expand the capture of the existing food groups that have been identified through this bill. That again sends a very serious signal to our traders to our trading partners how seriously we take and protect the Aotearoa New Zealand food story.So I want to again acknowledge the original folk that brought this bill into the House and of course the hard-working collegial work of the select committee and without doubt the patience of the officials. When you look at the bill and how pretty much parts have been deleted it means that they have worked very hard to ensure that we are presenting a bill here that all sides of the House agree with.So I'm pleased like I said to say that I come from one of the most beautifully producing regions throughout this country. This bill will go a long way to ensuring that we have at least consideration for discerning consumers that frequent supermarkets as I do. I'm not like Mr Hughes there who goes and hunts out all the pork. You know it depends on how you feel about any given day whether pork is on the menu or not but I'm glad that the select committee took the pork industry submission seriously and made the last adjustments to ensure that bacon was included in this bill. Like Mr Hughes I have concerns around our pork industry and the importing of too much pork and not ensuring that our own local pork industry is allowed to grow and flourish. This bill isn't about addressing that but it does say that we do listen to our pork industry producers and hence we have included that particular food product in this bill.I don't have much more to add but it was important that we got up on this side of the House to support this third and final reading. It's important that we are giving consumers informed decisions around food choices. The Consumers' Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill is intending to do exactly that. It is a starting point; it's not an end point. And like we've heard other members say in this House giving the powers to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to regulate to add more foods to the list I think is the right way. I'm assured that the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs will ensure that the right checks and balances are applied before he adds to that list. That's an assurance I've heard him give in this House. I commend this bill to the House and look forward to its speedy passage in its final reading. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker."