Luxton Jo; Tolley AnneJO LUXTON (Labour): Thank you Madam Chair Tolley. It's a pleasure to stand and take a call on this the Food Safety Law Reform Bill. I would like to agree with the Hon David Bennett in what he said before in that this bill is a very important bill. It is important to give people confidence and it's important for people's health and well-being. He did mention that there will be compliance costs etc. and things like that but in all honesty and in all fairness if we don't look to pass this bill the cost to this country could be far greater than some compliance costs. As a country we pride ourselves that we supply food to consumers here at home and to other countries around the world and that they can be assured it is safe and of high quality and this particular piece of legislation is one that we should take note of. As we know it was the whey protein concentrate (WPC) contamination incident that brought our reputation into question. It caused significant damage to our reputation and damage to customer relationships. While this did turn out to be a false alarm it was a very expensive one that cost in excess of well over $180 million and that ultimately came directly out of farmers' pockets. There were two inquiries after the incident and this bill that we have before us is a result of the recommendations made from the inquiry. Although the inquiry was originally based around the dairy sector the purpose of this bill is to amend three Acts: the Food Act 2014 the Animal Products Act 1999 and the Wine Act 2003. This bill ensures that recommendations made from the WPC inquiry have been addressed. It is intended to better protect human health. We need to know our food is safe for consumption—don't we; we don't want to risk our health unnecessarily—and to ensure our international reputation as a supplier of food that is totally safe for consumption both here and internationally. Reputation is everything especially for an economy like ours that relies heavily on export. More than 10 percent of New Zealand's gross domestic product is from our food sector and that is actually quite substantial. In Part 1 amended section 43 set out in clause 7 is ultimately about managing risk and vulnerability; we simply can't risk having issues such as the botulism scare. It is simply too costly not only financially but also to our reputation. Operators will be required to submit food control plans for registration and this allows the registration authority the ability to have full and clear information about what the operator's risk management processes are. It is vital that there are robust plans and processes in place. It not only gives us assurance that there are actual risk management plans in place but also ensures that operators know what is required of them and how they will demonstrate competency—that is in regard to how operators intend to demonstrate that staff have appropriate training in food production processing and handling. This bill takes four tools that are currently in the Food Act and puts them into the Animal Products and Wine Acts. These tools will encourage compliance and incentivise behaviour which is more favourable than immediate prosecution. These tools are improvement notices infringement regime compliance orders and court order penalty for commercial gain if found guilty. This bill is about managing risk and our vulnerability.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Just before I call the next speaker I know the member's a new member but you really should not be reading a speech in the committee stage. Try and do it without reading it.