McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Deputy Speaker. It is indeed my joy and good fortune that it appears that every time I stand to speak in this House you're adjudicating in the Chair and what a pleasure that is indeed as it is to stand here and speak on this bill. This bill as you may have heard if you were listening—oh not you Madam Deputy Speaker. I do apologise. Crikey dick I've done it again. I do apologise. I've brought you into the speech. I think I've done that every time as well. I'm going to slow down and concentrate because this bill deserves our concentration not only as individual members of Parliament but as parliamentarians as a whole. Hon Meka Whaitiri: That's right. We take it seriously on this side. KIERAN McANULTY: I will take this seriously. I will take the whole 10 minutes and I will talk about this in detail because the brand of this country as a food producer deserves just that. It deserves our attention and it deserves the full scrutiny of the House. I note that this bill will make a range of improvements to the legislation that underpins the food safety system in this country. Our exports our economy—a large part of our economy as I touched on earlier—depends on the brand that we hold our exports on. If New Zealand does not live up to its clean green" "100% Pure" image the value that we can extract from our products is severely undermined and food safety plays a big part in that. So in amending the Food Act the Animal Products Act and the Wine Act we are addressing many of the issues that were raised as a result of the whey protein concentrate inquiry. Now this inquiry came about as a result of the false botulism scare. Thank the Lord that this was only a scare. What damage could have been done to this economy going forward if the botulism scare turned out to be true? I think we should acknowledge the efforts of Fonterra in that regard because in many respects there weren't the safeguards that were needed for the industry at the time. As a company they were proactive and withdrew before even finding out if it was indeed true and I think that is worth mentioning. What is also worth mentioning is that this is a bill that was originally introduced by the previous Government—the National Party; the party that is no longer in Government—and well done to them for doing so. We've said this a wee bit over the last couple of weeks. We said it about the Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill and there are some similarities between the two. The main similarity is the fact that the National Party fluffed about on both. Both are vitally important—this bill and the previous one—and both were introduced in the previous term but they fluffed about. This was introduced in June 2016 and here we are in February 2018 finally getting the job done. I do like the previous speakers want to acknowledge the Ministers that were involved in this but I particularly want to acknowledge the Hon Damien O'Connor. A visionary. A visionary—the man that has taken this by the horns and has finally got this across the line. Now we could sit there like those on the other side of the House and point fingers and call names—like the Hon David Bennett who spent all of his five minutes getting told off by the Assistant Speaker and calling the Hon Damien O'Connor names. But the man is a visionary. Just like this side of the House he takes this issue seriously.I would if I'm permitted—I don't know but I'm sure Madam Deputy Speaker will let me know if I'm not—read a contribution from the Hon Damien O'Connor to this debate when it was first introduced to the House just to demonstrate what a visionary this man is. He says "In order for this bill to get through it will require the change of a Government."—because the previous National Government were fluffing about so much. Damien O'Connor said in the House that he "can commit that the incoming Labour Government will progress this as quickly as possible" and that is exactly what we've seen today. This bill once passed will make a significant contribution to our economy in ensuring that what we produce and what we export will live up to the high standards that we portray our products as. We do need to continue to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our food safety system. We need to make sure that the resources are allocated accordingly to ensure that what we produce is frankly safe. One scare that's all it will take—one scare to undermine the economy and the significant contribution that not only primary production but food production and export play to that. We also need to ensure that a level of regulation is justified and balanced. It could go heavy-handed here just like there have been many examples in the past sometimes under a National Government sometimes under a Labour Government. These things happen but it's important to learn from the mistakes of the past. We need to make sure that any regulation that we place on exporters and on business is justified. I note that in clauses in this bill it does impose more requirements on those that export but I do believe they are balanced. It is up to those that export and produce food to ensure that what they are producing is indeed safe. There are two questions that I am certain that those who have been watching and listening to this House today would have wanted answered. The first is of course why does the Director-General of Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) need wider powers to require information? Brett Hudson: Oh they've been waiting all day to hear this.KIERAN McANULTY: That is a good question and I am delighted to have the opportunity to provide some insight to the members on the other side of the House. Now information is often needed to determine answers isn't it? This will be able to require the Director-General of MPI to actually do the job. No one wants to go off half-cocked. This provision will ensure that the director-general actually has the oversight and the powers to do what is needed to do this properly. But what about future-proofing the bill? We could bring something in now and five years later it becomes irrelevant or ineffective. So looking at the automated electronic systems in here is one way in which the Minister has identified that we are able to future-proof this bill coming forward.Of course it is not just our view; I think it's important just for the reassurance of the House and also those that might be affected by this to consider the contributions that were given to this bill by those who made submissions in the select committee process because we want to ensure—not just those in the export industries but the general public as a whole—that there is confidence in this bill. There's no point playing silly political games. Just give it the respect it deserves which I'm pleased that on the whole this House has done today.The New Zealand Meat Industry Association stated in their submission that they do support this bill. They identified that it is vital for them their industry and the people that they deal with that they can absolutely demonstrate what they claim as a country—that their food is safe. But it's not just exporters as well. Organisations and companies such as Foodstuffs submitted a submission to this bill demonstrating general support because they themselves know that if they as a large-scale retailer in this country get implicated in a food safety scandal then that affects not only their customers but also themselves. The same can be said for the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council which has a much broader mandate than just one individual company obviously. They demonstrated support for the bill. They don't represent just exporters but they also represent those that are domestic players as well. [Deputy Speaker's phone rings] If I may continue Madam Deputy Speaker—I wasn't sure if that was the Deputy Speaker's opportunity to interject but it wasn't so I will continue even though I now have only 34 seconds remaining which is a real shame.The Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand also submitted in favour of this bill. They actually identified the high importance for New Zealand of maintaining a robust fit-for-purpose food safety framework. That is exactly what this bill does. I think the people of New Zealand will be pleased to see it happen and they'll be pleased to see that the Labour Party at least has given it the respect that it deserves. I commend it to the House.Bill read a third time."