Carter David: Hop Industry Restructuring Bill — Second Reading Procedure Third Reading 
Carter David: Hop Industry Restructuring Bill — Second Reading Procedure Third Reading 
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Hon DAVID CARTER (NZ National) 
: 
 As I start my contribution to the debate on the Hop Industry Restructuring Bill I take the opportunity to congratulate that member both on his remarkable renaissance and on now agreeing to support yet another deregulation of a producer board. 
Hon Damien O'Connor 
: Supported by the producers. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Absolutely but I thought I would take the time to quote from  
Hansard 
 when we had a similar debate back in 1999. Mr Damien O’Connor said then that a blind ideology was driving the Government to deregulate producer boards. “Blind ideology” the member said. He made comments like: “This will be the death knell of the dairy industry.” He said: “This legislation will lead to”— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: This is about the hop industry not the dairy industry. Would the speaker come to the point. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am outlining my congratulations to the member on supporting this bill and pointing out the remarkable change in the member’s own philosophy on producer board deregulation. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member is perfectly entitled to do that but not when referring to another industry. He must refer to this bill which is the Hop Industry Restructuring Bill. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: In referring to the Hop Industry Restructuring Bill I want to again congratulate the member Damien O’Connor on his remarkable about-face since only a couple of years ago we last deregulated another producer board the name of which I will not refer to in this particular debate. But I say to you Mr Speaker that I am thrilled that Damien O’Connor has matured so greatly and so remarkably in a relatively short period of time. 
Of course National whole-heartedly supports the deregulation of yet another industry that for too long has been shackled by legislation produced by this House. I was intrigued by the comment the Minister himself made when he said: “This legislation gives the company power to raise capital and to make its own decisions.” I have no problem at all supporting legislation that gives an industry the power to establish a company to look after its interests to raise the capital that it then decides it requires and most important as the Minister himself has said to make its own decisions. The Minister also referred to the fact that there are only 26 hop producers in this country so I guess to be fair to the Minister it was relatively easy for them to present a united position and to come to Parliament and ask to be unshackled from the burden of legislation. It is interesting that the industry has been able to make that move and I support it whole-heartedly. 
The other thing that should not be forgotten is the significance of the hop industry to New Zealand society. It is essential clearly in the brewing of beer and it has had a remarkable impact on the social fabric of this country. Therefore we must not underestimate its significance. 
It is relatively easy in the hop industry to get a consensus position. There are 26 producers as the Minister said. Of those producers only one made a submission to the Primary Production Committee and as I go through my notes I see that the committee took just 38 minutes to consider that submission and the officials’ report to deliberate and to present the report-back to the House. It is with some regret—although I guess we are getting used to it—that yet again we have had to change the enactment date of legislation because of the Government being unable to present it earlier. 
Paul Adams 
: Why not? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Why not? The Leader of the House would have to be asked as well as the Associate Minister of Agriculture who does not seem to appreciate the urgency with which those 26 hop growers have waited with baited breath for us finally to address their very valid concerns. 
We have worked very hard. I do not intend to take too much more of the House’s time except to congratulate the Minister on his renaissance. I am thrilled to see that he now realises the benefit of allowing producers to get on and do their own thing. May that renaissance live long and hard in the Labour Party philosophy. National of course supports the second reading of this bill.