Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Thank you Madam Chair. It's good to see that—Hon Louise Upston: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. We had asked for a clarification on the issue of whether the speaker who's just resumed his seat was able to do that speech and we would actually have liked to have heard that before the speaker concluded.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Thank you for that. I have just received some advice from the Clerk about Ministers speaking on behalf of another. Ministers are entitled to act in the House on behalf of absent Ministers. That is a long-established convention in the House. You could see McGee page 212. In this instance a Minister moved the third reading of the bill on behalf of the Minister in charge of the bill. That speech was interrupted. If the Minister in charge of the bill is present in the House then he or she is entitled to continue the speech commenced on his or her behalf. However if the Minister in charge of the bill is absent any other Minister may continue the speech instead.The same event has arisen in the House previously. In 2007 a Minister moved the third reading of a bill on behalf of the Minister in charge of the bill. The debate was interrupted. When it resumed a third Minister continued the speech. You can refer to Hansard on Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Remedies) Amendment Bill Volume 641 at pages 11251 and 11298.The situation is different to any other speech made on a bill. The Minister in charge of a bill must move a motion in relation to the bill and may speak in support of the motion. Because this must happen in order for a bill to be debated it is permissible for another member to act on behalf of an absent member. The remaining speeches on a bill may be made but are not essential to the progress of the bill. If a speech subsequent to that of the member in charge is interrupted then only the member who had the call is entitled to resume it. I hope that clears the matter up for members of the House.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I'd just like to thank members of the House for supporting this bill. It is a very important part for New Zealand agriculture and horticulture making sure that we have a strong biosecurity and food safety network and that is really important in part of the food security area.Now we know that we've got the most slippery Minister of Agriculture that we've ever had that fails to answer questions that has been abject in his failure in many basic issues since he's taken over the role—how he's destroying the New Zealand dairy industry through the Mycoplasma bovis how he's destroying the New Zealand dairy industry through the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA) reforms how he's destroyed the New Zealand honey industry through his failure to get mānuka honey right and how he's going to destroy—Hon Meka Whaitiri: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. All due respect we're here on the third reading of the Food Safety Law Reform Bill. I would hope that the learned colleague across the way would address the bill that's in question.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I'd encourage him to do so.Hon DAVID BENNETT: If you gave me a chance to get to my point I would have made the point very clearly that the Minister made a lot of talk in his speech about things that he as Minister has done especially in regard to his coalition partners and there hasn't been one single change in this bill from what was introduced by the National Government before the election and debated in this House—not one single change. It is very very rich for the Labour Party and the Minister—a failed Minister that has a history of abject failure in the three or four months he's had the job—to actually come into this House and then say that he has been such a master of food safety and delivered such a great result for this country when he has not at one stage even helped in preparing this bill. He has not done one thing that actually added to this bill and then says that he has worked with his coalition partners to make that a reality. So I'm just bringing some reality to the debate and showing the truth of the situation and not letting the agenda of a Minister who has completely failed in everything he has done since he has been a Minister to take advantage of this House at this time.Now that Minister of course is completely protected at question time by the Speaker who makes it extremely difficult for questions to be undertaken in this House. There's been a loss of democracy in this country through the way that question time has been attempted to be run—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Excuse me if I could just bring the member back to the substance of the bill.Hon DAVID BENNETT: And it is very important for the substance of the bill because if one cannot debate a bill in this House and one cannot have a decent question time to look at—Hon Aupito William Sio: What's the name of the bill?Hon DAVID BENNETT: It is the food safety bill my friend and we introduced it to the House rather than the Labour Party at all. Part of the legislative process is also to be able to hold a Government to account and that is a very important part of any legislation. When we're in the third reading of a bill it's also important that we are able to hold a Minister and the Government to account and you just cannot do that in the current environment we are in. There is no democracy at question time. The example today with the Rt Hon—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! If the member has an issue with regards to question time I believe that the Speaker at the time offered some remedy to that: to either speak with him directly in his Chambers or to write back. We are on the third reading debate of the Food Safety Law Reform Bill and I will encourage the member to come back to that bill. This will be the last time I do so.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. It's important that we do that but if opportunities are not made that are actually realistic for anyone to take up then people have to take the only opportunity they have and that is to speak in this House because there is no realistic opportunity to debate with the Speaker his actions in this House and this is the only time that we have that opportunity.Hon Ruth Dyson: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. It's not appropriate to bring the Speaker into disrepute and I'd ask that the member be required to withdraw and apologise.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I didn't actually hear the comment. Hon DAVID BENNETT: So the bill has something that—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Sorry I haven't called you yet; I'm just referring to the matter that the Hon Ruth Dyson brought. I didn't actually hear the comment so—this is a very robust debate. There is lots of interjection from across the House. If I'd heard the comment I might agree with the member but in this case I will allow the Hon David Bennett to continue with his speech.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. And it is good that all parties in this House—I presume all parties—are going to support this bill.Greg O'Connor: He does tend to repeat himself so it will be back.Hon DAVID BENNETT: So is that member over there saying something? The member that was a big protester and a big supporter and told us how great a dairy farmer he was and who at the same time was putting the knife into the New Zealand dairy industry only a week ago through the DIRA legislation at the same time telling us his pedigree as a dairy farmer. When it comes to a bill like this talking about food safety how can that member sit in this House and honestly say he represents or even has any linkage to the rural sector when he has attacked deliberately the rural sector and made it very difficult for farmers to actually survive in this country.I don't want to take too much time in this House. There has been a gross failure within the system that we see in this Parliament. It's a disgrace for the New Zealand Parliament to be acting in the way that you see at question time. That makes this place a farce. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker.