O'Connor DamienHon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister for Food Safety): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I am pleased to be able to speak in support of the Food Safety Law Reform Bill which makes a range of improvements to the legislation that underpins our food safety system.Hon Tim Macindoe: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I apologise for interrupting the Minister but this Minister did not commence this speech and I'm just wondering whether you can advise the House whether it is permissible for a different Minister to continue the speech.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Thank you very much for your point of order. The Minister in charge of the bill is able to continue an interrupted speech. Minister Hipkins—Hon Tim Macindoe: Under which Standing Order?ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): It is convention. I will find the Standing Order for you. Just a moment the Clerk will find that for you. It may take a moment. We will permit the Hon Damien O'Connor to continue with this speech.Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. This omnibus bill amends the Food Act the Animal Products Act and the Wine Act to address the remaining issues raised by the whey protein concentrate—WPC it was known as—inquiry. The House will recall my support of the legislation when it was in the Primary Production Committee and my desire to see its passage sooner rather than later from a position of Opposition. I now have the privilege I guess of being the Minister.The previous Government committed to implement all 38 recommendations of the WPC inquiry which was set up after the Fonterra botulism false alarm of 2013. Most of the recommendations have already been addressed including several key initiatives such as the establishment of the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre and a Food Safety and Assurance Advisory Council. The bill sits alongside these and other multiple operational actions taken since the WPC80 inquiry.The bill was introduced in June 2016 and was considered by the Primary Production Committee and I'd like to acknowledge the efforts of that committee which approached this in a non-partisan way. It was reported back by the committee in December 2016 and was read a second time on 22 June 2017 so it has been around for some time. I'm pleased that the bill has unanimous support in this House. It shows the outcome that can be achieved when the House cooperates to pass legislation for the good of all New Zealanders. Many speakers in previous debates mentioned the importance of food safety and its regulatory system in New Zealand. I'd like to emphasise to the House that this Government is in complete agreement about the importance of food safety to New Zealand to its consumers and to its exporters. Protecting New Zealand's reputation as a world-class supplier of safe food that is suitable for its intended purpose cannot however be the role of Government alone. We must harness the combined efforts of others who are well placed to act such as food business operators and industry groups. Our system is designed to ensure the careful management of food-borne disease and illness risks while recognising the costs associated with that management so that we can keep consumers safe enable business to develop and maintain and increase international trade. The bill reflects the priority that this Government puts on food safety by making amendments that will be of benefit across the whole food system and the bill is a result of a very collaborative process at every level. In the bill's first reading debate many members talked about the key themes that run across the amendments and it's useful to emphasise these here. Firstly we need to continue to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of the food safety system. We need to make sure that resources are allocated according to the level of risk food poses and are used to deliver the greatest level of consumer protection possible. We need to be able to make sure we're ready and able to deal rapidly and efficiently with food incidents as they arise. These actions build and protect New Zealand's reputation which is so pivotal in our international trade success. The bill's provisions will improve the management of food safety and other risks across the whole system. Secondly we need to ensure that the level of regulation is justified and balanced against the level of compliance impacts for food businesses and I'd like to acknowledge our coalition partners New Zealand First who have had discussions to ensure that small food businesses are not clobbered by this new round of compliance through the Food Act. So we will work with them and the Green Party to ensure that small innovative food producers can carry on and develop their businesses without paying ridiculous compliance costs. Industry and advocacy groups engaged extensively with the development and progress of the bill and submissions from a wide range of perspectives helped inform and shape the recommendations made by the select committee and now followed through by the coalition partners in this Government. Thirdly we need to futureproof the legislation as much as possible so that it has the flexibility to allow food safety practice to evolve over time along with the creativity and the innovation that is the hallmark of the New Zealand primary sector and secondary processing sector. We harmonised the requirements where possible so that obligations are similar in a world of increasingly multi-ingredient food products. The original bill was adjusted by the select committee to make sure these three outcomes are achieved. The select committee members from both sides of the House have stated they consider we now have the balance about right and I welcome endorsement from the Opposition for the passage of this bill. The amendments that were made through Parliament will help futureproof the legislation and I acknowledge the Supplementary Order Papers that we've brought into the House. Firstly two provisions that have delayed commencement will now come into force within two years of enactment. This means that regulations for risk-based plans and programmes will have to be made speedily so that businesses know what the requirements are in a timely manner. They need certainty. The clauses throughout the original bill that related to operators providing full copies of their risk-based programmes to their verifying agencies have been removed as they were deemed unnecessary. We've also removed clauses relating to verifiers having to hold and store up-to-date copies of the programmes for the businesses they verify. These changes address compliance impacts that were raised in the select committee and they show we are listening to business. It also reflects the existing requirements where operators already have obligations to notify verifiers of changes made and must supply these programmes to the regulator within two working days on request. In particular the bill gives us the ability to deal with the interface between health legislation and food legislation—both important. The new regulation-making power that will let New Zealand companies use low THC hemp seeds in food products is something industry have been asking for for years. New Zealand worked closely with our Australian ministerial counterparts and we worked closely with our colleagues in coalition to make this happen. The move evolves our regulatory system to allow companies to innovate. The bill also makes sure that all the tools to rapidly inform and protect the public when a food safety incident occurs and to deal proportionately with any breaches of obligations by businesses are readily available. It allows the increased use of automatic electronic systems and electronic transactions—something that might have been considered automatic but we needed to make the legislative change. In closing I note that the bill helps strengthen and maintain New Zealand's world-class food safety regulatory system. Speaking as Minister for Food Safety food safety alongside biosecurity are the two most important elements of our primary production systems and this bill will make the changes necessary to take our systems forward and hopefully prevent any such WPC80 incident occurring in the future and offer both the capability and the legislative background to ensure that we produce the best food in the best way for the best customers in the world. This is our reputation. This bill helps ensure that we maintain that into the future. Thank you.