Hughes Gareth; Tolley AnneGARETH HUGHES (Green): What a farce. I can't believe the speech that I just heard from the member David Bennett. Probably the most damning thing I could do is table the Hansard in this Parliament in response to that speech. Here's a member who said that the one institute in this country we should not give more power to is the Commerce Commission. The member said he couldn't point to a single thing it had done in 30 to 40 years that was beneficial. The member said this was a place we should not give extra power to. I can't believe that that member is siding with the duopolies the monopolies the price-gougers—all the scourges we've seen of consumers in New Zealand and there have been many many abuses over those 30 to 40 years. The National Party despite the genesis for this exact legislation being in the National Government is railing against it. The only word I could think about was farce".I'm happy tonight to be saying in this House that consumers will be better off as a result but it's disappointing that the National Party is not being part of this because really this should be an entirely non-partisan common-sense reasonable issue. Supporting New Zealand consumers to get a fair go surely is something every member in this House could agree with but apparently not and apparently not with David Bennett.This is good simple common-sense legislation. What we're simply talking about is giving the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Commerce Commission the ability to do a market study into an industry. Just this very week we've seen on the front pages of our newspapers in the headlines on the news what happens when markets aren't working when information isn't being provided transparently to the public where we see apparent unfair pricing ripping consumers off. The very week this is hitting our news. National was saying we shouldn't be giving the power to look into these markets. I acknowledge the work of the former Minister Judith Collins for doing the energy market review that the current Government is following up on. But it's simply staggering that National members in their speeches aren't supporting this.This is something that not just the Government and many players in the New Zealand economy are calling for; it's what the Productivity Commission is calling for. It's what the OECD is calling for. It's what various dozens of other countries in the developed world have: the ability to conduct market studies. Ultimately what this is about is protecting New Zealand consumers. We've seen throughout our history—being a small country an isolated island nation—where some market players have had outsized influence and who's been the worst off as a result? It's been Kiwi consumers be it in the telecommunications market in the past or energy. Just look at the state of our housing and building industry and the inflated costs we pay versus other countries.The second area that this legislation addresses is it makes it easier for the Commerce Commission to recommend to apply further regulations to airports. We see quite a strong debate in this country between the airlines and the airports because the airports are regulated under the Commerce Act and have a guaranteed price income based on their regulated asset base. Quite rightfully we have that tension because essentially if you have a monopoly that's regulated such as this you do have a licence to print money. There is the incentive to overinvest in infrastructure and their assets to increase their revenue base going forward.While the documents—I note prepared under reviews by the former National Government—pointed out it's working relatively well it was important to have this secondary reverse protection lying in reserve in case it was needed. Ultimately what we're seeing tonight is the Government standing on the side of consumers making sure they're not paying inflated costs be it at airports be it in various markets such as energy the petrol industry or the supermarket duopoly. Yet we see National standing on the side of those who would not give greater information to consumers; the National Party standing on the side of those market manipulators who would charge consumers more; the National Party actually going against their original work when they were in Government; the National Party going against common-sense reasonableness; the National Party going against the advice of the Productivity Commission and the OECD—it's simply staggering what we're seeing tonight. But I'm proud to say that this side of the House is standing up for Kiwi consumers to make sure they get a fair go. Kia ora.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The next call is a split call—a five-minute call."