Watts SimonSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I rise to talk on behalf of the Grocery Industry Competition Bill first reading. As has been noted by prior speakers National will be supporting this bill through to select committee process. We are keen for that select committee process to thoroughly review this bill because I think the points raised that the cost of living crisis that Kiwis are facing is caused by the grocery duopoly is absolutely rubbish right? That is absolutely rubbish. Don't forget the role in which this Government has played to shut down all those small butchers and bakeries and fruit shops while Auckland was in lockdown. We heard the member for Auckland Central before articulate Don't worry this is a winner." It was their decisions that shut down all those small businesses. You know what? In my electorate of the North Shore a number of those businesses no longer exist. They were pushed out of business because decisions made by that Government to allow the duopolies to only operate and no one else and that is a decision that that Government made. So to stand up and say that this is going to solve all the problems the cost of living is absolutely rubbish.This is the politics of envy. This is a socialist Government playbook to try and distract everyone else and say "Those guys over there there—or girls—are causing the problem." It is absolutely a load of rubbish.Are there issues in a discussion and debate required in this sector that needs to be had? Yes. The Commerce Commission's done the work done some review made some recommendations around a code of conduct. That aspect sounds sensible. But to think that this in terms of putting in place a regulator and all that and bringing in other elements is going to solve the problem it's simply not going to be the case.No one talks about the 24000 Kiwis many of which are on minimum wage who work for one of the duopolies that is 100 percent owned by New Zealanders. No one talks about those 24000 workers on that side of the House. They're meant to represent many of those workers but I think they've forgotten that. So they're quite happy to talk about competition and we absolutely support competition in the free market. But don't forget the major players who can have scale to create competition will be overseas entities. They're going to come into the market under this Minister's proposal and they will cause a number of Kiwis in that area to potentially lose their jobs. So I think we've got to be very open around the fact that actually 24000 Kiwis that work within one of the companies that are 100 percent Kiwi-owned are impacted. So this is not just some big international beast.The cost burden and regulation imposed by bills like this also needs to be thoroughly discussed at select committee. What is the implication and what is the cost flow on to consumers? Because you can introduce regulation without introducing cost and someone has to pay for that cost.Lastly the aspect is around the commissioner that they're going to look to put in place. It is absolutely essential that the select committee review and make sure that that role is independent—not some ex - trade unionist. No one like that. Someone who is politically and independent to the market because it is critical to make sure that that role—and I'm sure on that side they'll probably try and make it so it's not. But we need to make sure that the security around making sure that that role is independent is critically important.Lastly the aspect around profit. We heard this "million dollars a day" - type conversation. I know that some of the grocery firms are actually transparently publishing the impact of supply chain inflation caused by a number of decisions made by that side of the House in the public domain. The inflation of food prices is not driven by the duopolies. It's driven by supply chain challenges that are impacting the economy and other decisions that this Government has made. But this whole conversation around profit is about greed. That is an ideological socialist position. They believe any firm that makes profit is greedy. So just don't be tricked by that type of narrative when they hear this. This is the politics of envy. This is a socialist Government on the ropes. We will be supporting this through the select committee. Thank you."