Allan KiritapuKIRITAPU ALLAN (Labour): Madam Chairperson Williams thank you for the opportunity to provide a contribution this afternoon. Yesterday I proffered a relatively animated contribution because I personally am so concerned about the lack of attention that the previous administration paid to the implications that the absence of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA) amendments have for the primary industries. Now before I turn my mind specifically to Part 1 which repeals the provisions for the expiration of Subparts 5 and 5A of Part 2 of the primary legislation I just want to make a brief note about the fact that the Opposition yesterday waxed lyrical—[Interruption] CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Order! Order! Order! KIRITAPU ALLAN: —about the fact that us having to go through this process of taking this legislation through urgency was in some way us trying to lack transparency. Right now we are in the committee stage where there is every opportunity for the Opposition to ask questions of our Minister and to ask questions of our officials who are sitting in this Chamber. As I've been sitting here listening to the contributions or lack thereof from my Opposition counterparts I have been trying to understand why—really have been trying to understand why—when they had their DIRA amendment bill up on the Order Paper in March of last year and they knew that the order—the revocation of the Dairy Industry Restructuring (Subparts 5 and 5A of Part 2 of the Act Disapplied to South Island) Order 2016. Now that was enacted because Subparts 5 and 5A were triggered by the fact that the South Island had reached its 20 percent quota as determined in 2001 when the original Act came into being and the provisions were triggered almost two years ago. This order was gazetted by our former Governor-General Jerry Mateparae noting that this provision—Subparts 5 and 5A—would cease to apply to the South Island in May of 2018. Now that's in three months' time. That's in three months' time and the Opposition the former Government has the cheek—there are two parts. One is to say that they're a bastion and friend of our dairy industry but the reality is that they're completely fine to accept uncertainty within this industry knowing that we are three months out from this order coming into effect which will mean that the DIRA provision would cease to apply to the southern island. Because they were the Government at the time they know that the Commerce Commission found that albeit in 2001 when it might have made sense that 20 percent of the sharemilk contributions going to independent processors—that might have been sufficient to debunk the competition that Fonterra held. But when the Commerce Commission came out with their findings last year I can only imagine the beads of sweat and the tears in quiet little cracks and corners around the former Minister for Primary Industries—what he must have been doing at that stage—knowing that a huge stoush was about to be on his hands. He was going to have to deal with a battle between Fonterra—and of course they want to be the dominant provider. Why wouldn't you? This is commerce and business. And then they wanted to compete with the interests of their farmers. Now we saw the submissions from Federated Farmers—and those guys waxed lyrical yesterday about the 105 submissions that they received. Well they weren't 105 submissions all in approval of their hack provision—the compromise legislation that they were going to rush through. No they weren't. They know that; we know that. This piece of legislation is being rushed through under urgency because the former Government failed the farmers of the South Island. They failed the farmers of the South Island.