Curran Clare: Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) Registration Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCurran Clare: Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) Registration Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 17 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9913. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): Happy St Patrick’s Day to everybody.Kris Faafoi: What’s a good Irish drop?CLARE CURRAN: Oh no. Nobody would like me to tell my Irish jokes as we are standing here tonight. I do think that mentioning St Patrick’s Day is important given the topic of conversation and I hope we have all been having a little wine tonight talking about the wine and whisky. Before we get into the serious part of the bill I would say that I am a bit concerned about the spelling of the word “whisky” in this discussion as we will take it through the select committee. In my view coming from an Irish background—and I think on this particular day I am allowed to have an opinion on this and the opinion is allowed to be respected—whisky should be spelt with an “e” and not just a “y”. So I just want to put that on the record for the House.It is a curious thing to be debating an amendment to an Act that was passed 10 years ago and was not enacted. It has been sitting in an un-enacted state—if there is such a term—since then. It seems that the impetus for the amendment that we have before us tonight in this first reading is an amendment that has been driven by the wine industry and imminent free-trade talks with the European Union whereas 10 years ago that impetus was not there from the amount of reading that I have been able to do on the bill. This impetus has now changed and I think the member across the House Jono Naylor who got up before me to speak was quite rightly pointing out that the wine industry is becoming an increasingly important part of our economy. I think somewhere in the regulatory impact statement it might have been there is a prediction that it is going to be $2 billion of value to our economy in the near future and that is clearly important. Our wine industry is a critical part of our economy and we need to ensure that we are doing the best that we can to protect it.I know we are talking about geographical indications which is a curious phrase and no doubt one that we will all become very familiar with over the passage of this bill. I am certainly keen for the geographical indication of Central Otago to become a meme and for that to be a powerful meme as I am sure it is in our export markets with our major export markets being Europe and Australia and the US as I understand it for wine. This bill seemed to come up again with a survey that was done by the Ministry for Primary Industries last year and there were a number of submissions on that and a number of options that are set out in the regulatory impact statement around how it should be dealt with again.As I said the impetus for this seems to have come from the wine industry itself around ensuring that it is protected in the European market. So Labour is supporting this bill’s referral to the select committee because we think that this needs to be looked at again. But as no doubt other speakers have canvassed through the afternoon there are some substantial changes in this amendment bill to the original legislation from 10 years ago in 2006 with the major amendment being to increase the percentage of local—being New Zealand—grapes in wine to 100 percent as opposed to 85 percent. That was the option that was recommended following that survey and in the regulatory impact statement. I think that is clearly something that will be debated in the select committee as to what the implications of that are and what the risks are of sticking with the existing legislation which is 85 percent. I think they used the phrase “cross-country blending” risks as being one of the major reasons for making that substantial change from the 2006 legislation and also the potential for abuse of wines being created in other countries that are labelled as being “in the style of”—for example Central Otago Pinot noir or Marlborough sauvignon blanc or whatever. I am only going to talk about the South Island because that is what really matters when it comes to geographical indications.What is curious—and this is what I would like to tease out a bit more as we go through the discussion on this bill—is that when this legislation was enacted in 2006 it was enacted at a time according to the regulatory impact statement “when it was expected that negotiations would soon begin on a Wine Agreement with the EU. Negotiations were never started and at the time the New Zealand wine industry did not support the implementation of [this legislation]. As a result [it] was never brought into force.” So I think what we have to do is some catch-up around that: why things have changed what the benefits are now what will actually occur as a result of bringing this legislation into force whether there will be any costs—well of course there will be costs but what the implications of those costs will be and whether they will be costs primarily to the industry—the extent to which there will be a bureaucratic system that is set up to keep a register of the geographical indications what that will involve and the pros and cons of that around the benefits to the wine industry generally and to our trade relationships with the European Union particularly as a consequence. So I am looking forward to that.I am also looking forward to—quickly Mr Assistant Speaker—any innovation that occurs as a result of at least having the discussion and possible legislative outcomes on this around tracing. I think this is a really important area of innovation for food and wine and any other beverages and produce from New Zealand around the innovative technologies that are emerging around tracing what you eat where it comes from including the history the soil quality the geographical surroundings etc. There is a lot of movement happening in this area. Fish is a good example of that. If you go into a restaurant anywhere in the world and you buy a fish that has come from New Zealand there is the potential for you to be able to then trace where that fish came from where it was caught when it was caught what the circumstances were of it being caught and what the surrounding environment was like. That is value-adding for New Zealand food and beverages and I think that this legislation is taking a step in that direction in marketing the importance to the world of the wine industry the grapes and the amazing environment in which they are grown. That can only be a good thing so we are supporting this bill’s referral to the select committee.