Curran Clare: Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Curran Clare: Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:3879. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South) 
: 
 I would like to take a call on this bill the Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. It is actually one of the most important pieces of legislation that has come before this House in recent years. I do have to put on record because I sit on the Commerce Committee that I am pretty disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm or with the significance that is being given to this issue by the other side of the House which seems to think that a couple of minutes spent discussing it is important. I would like to remind that side of the House about the whole point of the Commerce Commission and the values that lie behind the role of the Minister of Commerce and that is actually to ensure that there is competition in this country that is for the long-term benefit of consumers—the long-term benefit of consumers. Cartel behaviour is one of the most significant issues—collusion and activities about price fixing that go on between companies—and all kinds of other activities that essentially impact on consumers on affordability of products and on the ability of businesses to actually operate effectively when up against the power that cartels can hold. 
I would like to say again—this is the second time in the House tonight—that I have actually given a great big tick to the previous Minister of Commerce Simon Power for the work that he did on this issue. I would like to draw the House’s attention back to— 
Kris Faafoi 
: He’s watching. 
CLARE CURRAN 
: —I think it was 2009—and I do hope he’s watching tonight because this is a significant moment for him to actually bring this piece of legislation to the House. The bill followed on from the work that was done by the previous Labour Government. It does not seem to be being taken all that seriously on that side of the House and I am a little bit fearful about what might happen to it when it gets to the select committee. 
I would like to remind the House that in 2009 the previous Minister of Commerce came before the Commerce Committee. He was asked point-blank whether he would consider criminal sanctions for cartel behaviour and he said yes. It took a couple of years to get that legislation together but he said that yes he would consider the possibility of jail sentences for those operating price-fixing cartels. Just so that everybody knows when that was it was 18 June 2009—more than 2 years ago. That was a significant moment and it followed on from the work that had been done in the commerce portfolio principally by my colleague the Hon Lianne Dalziel around bringing these issues to the fore and making sure that they were on the agenda. 
 I want to make a couple of comments. One is around some of the messages that were being delivered on competition law through the legal profession at that time in 2008—which was before this Government took over—around the absolute importance of this issue in our region across the world and particularly with our trading partners. They were taking this issue more and more seriously. New Zealand has lagged. Unfortunately New Zealand has lagged behind in this area and you have got to ask yourself why because catching people who are engaging in cartel behaviour is actually a really significant issue. Not only is it a significant issue but also putting sanctions in place that are actually going to act as a deterrent is the most important thing. That is what this piece of legislation does and what we should be saying to each other tonight—there is pretty wide support across the House around this—is that this is a critical issue. 
I note that my colleague from New Zealand First Andrew Williams raised a few issues around different industries. I would just like to say that New Zealand is a country of duopolies. It is a country that has two major telecommunications companies two major supermarkets and two major petrol chains. It is a country where our competitive environment is constrained by our size but as a result it is an environment where we need scrutiny. We need the sanctions in place to ensure that behaviours do not occur where consumers are affected. Particularly in an environment where industries and an infrastructure are being developed that are supposed to underpin the growth in our economy in the future then we have to be extra vigilant—extra vigilant around ensuring that there is not exploitation and practices going on that are ripping people off. 
I refer particularly to our ultra-fast broadband environment because that is the pipes that go into your home with the fibre but alongside that goes the content that is going to come through and into our homes. We have to ensure that we have a competitive environment. If we are going to be a country that is going to use technology as a transformational tool then we have to truly use it as a transformational tool and make sure that there is not rorting behaviour that there is not monopolistic behaviour and that there is not behaviour that is about ensuring that one company gets preference above another when it comes to tendering or behaviour in the market place. This is why we need an active Commerce Commission that is out there examining these issues has the jurisdiction to do it—and I would be interested to know what the Minister’s view is on this—and then has the ability to impose penalties when there is behaviour that is unacceptable. 
Cartels: the arrangement between two or more businesses to regulate output—that is what this bill is about. But there is a wider issue around the behaviour of companies in general in this country. If we are going to be a country that is using technological advances and using infrastructure to drive our economic future then we have to ensure that we have the regulatory underpinning to make sure that we are taking the best advantage of that for the whole of New Zealand not just for a few companies. Therefore we need to ensure that the effect of collusion the effect of the behaviour that cartels can have on economic efficiency—this Government likes to talk about economic efficiency. Well it needs to put its money where its mouth is. That is why this legislation is so important. It is just part of the regulatory environment that we need to ensure we have in this country which will ensure that there is adequate competition so that we have companies and businesses that are able to thrive in this country make profits produce exports and develop an economy that is going to thrive. Thank you.