Baillie ChrisCHRIS BAILLIE (ACT): Thanks Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT to speak to the Retail Payment System Bill. ACT opposes this bill for a number of reasons but mainly because ACT believes in free markets and the less Government has to do with things the better outcome for all. Having a Minister put his two cents in—or her two cents in—often creates more problems even if it might look good on paper. I suppose the Government can espouse how much they care about and understand small businesses but the unintended consequences in this bill must be considered because Government intervention in private transactions over time will eventually hurt the very people it purports to help.This bill will reduce competition in the sector. Why bother coming up with new innovations new technology if you're going to be told how to use it? Why would new providers want to enter the market knowing that there will be a Minister making sure they're not too successful? A sector that's constantly changing needs investment not restrictive regulations. Submissions in the select committee from ANZ Business New Zealand Visa and Westpac said that the Government should not intervene by way of regulation. They noted that market forces have been and continue to drive competition and if the profits available within the payment system can be reduced by regulation their ability to develop new services that will benefit merchants and consumers will be adversely impacted. This sort of tinkering and interfering with the way business is run as unhelpful.Several years ago I met with my business banking manager to discuss merchant fees among other things. After some negotiation—and I mentioned other banks in the process during that negotiation—the fees were reduced to what I thought was fair. Negotiation with providers already happens. Businesses don't need someone to hold their hand to make sure they run their business the way the Government thinks they should to be told what surcharge they can charge if they choose to charge one.Over the last two years providers have cut merchants fees for a period of time to reflect the COVID-19 impact. It shows that there is already competition in the system. Small businesses are going through a hard time—in fact they have been for the last four years and it's great that the Government are trying to help. Taking control isn't helping. It just seems like the Ministers want control of everything. We've seen many examples of that over the last year and there's a name for it. It's estimated that a 20 percent reduction of credit card interchange and a 30 percent reduction in online fees would equate to savings for consumers of merchants' fees of about $74 million. There are 550000 businesses in New Zealand. Divided up it amounts to about $130 each. Businesses are doing it tough during this pandemic. They've continually been hit with more costs by this Government. We've had two minimum wage rises with no expectation of increased productivity and at a huge cost to businesses. The first rise was two weeks into the pandemic when businesses were forced to close their doors. We've had a new public holiday which will cost businesses between $377 million and $444 million. There's been the doubling of sick leave provisions which will cost businesses almost $2 billion. Seventy-four million dollars isn't to be sneezed at but pales into insignificance when we compare it with the extra expenses that have been thrust upon businesses by this Government.The Government will trumpet about how they care about small businesses while business owners roll their eyes. It's incredibly frustrating but it's quite understandable when we have a Minister of Finance who daily blows his own trumpet and tries to convince the public that the COVID wage subsidy is an example of looking after businesses. The wage subsidy looks after workers and rightly so but costs the business money. The business has to administer it pay holiday pay and it costs them money otherwise staff would be on a benefit. I'm sure tomorrow he'll tell the New Zealand public how the wage subsidy helps business.This is unnecessary legislation Government getting involved when there's absolutely no need. There are many other ways this Government can help business—just by not hurting them any more would be a good start. ACT opposes this bill.