Williams Andrew: Third Readings —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Andrew: Third Readings —[Sitting date: 10 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15398. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First): I take a call on behalf of New Zealand First. This is the third readings debate of what was originally the Consumer Law Reform Bill now split into a number of bills: the Fair Trading Amendment Bill the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill the Weights and Measures Amendment Bill the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Amendment Bill the Carriage of Goods Amendment Bill and the Auctioneers Bill. There are now a number of bills that have split out from that Consumer Law Reform Bill. What better party than New Zealand First to stand in support of consumers? It is a party that has been in existence for 20 years standing up for consumers’ rights and the rights of New Zealand citizens and residents in terms of what they are rightfully owed. In this respect we do support this legislation. We have supported it throughout because they are bills that do ensure the rights of consumers—particularly vulnerable consumers consumers who may otherwise be put at risk. It ensures they are protected.In terms of the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill we note that it includes a surety around delivering guarantees so that particularly in the case of people buying over the internet—and increasingly more purchasing is being done via electronic means—there is a delivery guarantee and the recipients are not liable until they have actually received the goods and have signed for them. That is a good thing. It also means that in terms of quality there are rights of recall here. The Minister of Consumer Affairs can have compulsory recalls on products. Again that is a worthy inclusion because increasingly there is questionable quality of products as we are seeing more and more products coming on the market of questionable source of questionable quality and of questionable longevity in terms of their reliability. Again it is good that we have this option where the Minister can have compulsory recalls on products that may not be up to standard.I also note that in the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Bill it includes gas and electricity supply—so a guarantee that there will be an acceptable quality of supply of gas and electricity. It goes into all the various aspects of that to ensure consumers are provided with that basic provision in life—electricity and gas—that meets a quality supply situation.It is interesting in regard to that and I wonder how long it will take for many areas of New Zealand to have moreundergrounding of power. So many communities around New Zealand continue to have power supplied by overhead wires. Increasingly every time we have a major storm in this country we seem to see more and more power lines toppled by trees or other natural causes. More and more consumers are increasingly out of power for considerable periods of time in this country which is now quite different from areas in Europe and other sophisticated places such as the United States where power is increasingly underground and less susceptible to the elements.Some of the other parts of the Fair Trading Amendment Bill include provisions about false and misleading representation of goods and services. Again with goods being offered so often now over the internet and by electronic means we are not necessarily shopping physically and handling the goods. So this legislation does bring in a greater liability on the part of suppliers to not provide false or misleading representation about the goods. Also for unsolicited goods and services the responsibility lies with the supplier. If any goods and services are supplied that are not asked for by the recipient again the recipient has the right to return those if they are unsolicited. Also in terms of contracts this legislation tidies up some aspects of consumer contracts where in the past there had been a proliferation of all sorts of variations on consumer contracts. The legislation provides for the tightening up of consumer contracts to ensure that consumers are not subject to unwarranted and perhaps dubious forms of contracts.Also in terms of disclosure of trader status on the internet too often we do not know who the people offering products on the internet are. Often they are actually acting commercially but put themselves up as private individuals. Again they are perhaps moving goods through and not necessarily doing that with the right intent. Under provisions in this legislation there will be a requirement to disclose trader status. Unsafe goods are covered under the legislation as well so there will be greater certainty about goods that are provided. It will ensure that they are safe and not subject to any unknown problems when the person puts them on the internet or sells them through retail.It is also interesting to note that this legislation includes the Auctioneers Bill which is a little bit out on a limb in terms of this whole thing. In terms of auctioneering increasingly there are all sorts of things being auctioned and sold via the auction method. The Auctioneers Bill as a part of this legislation includes registration of auctioneers and tightening up of aspects of auctioneers—such as that they can be struck off and removed as auctioneers if they are not meeting the required standards. There is also a requirement for auction records to be kept by auctioneers for a period of 3 years to ensure that the records are obtainable and can be audited to ensure that the auctions were conducted correctly. The bill also includes aspects of vendor bidding. We are seeing increasingly more vendor bidding in many auctions. This bill tightens up areas of that so that vendor bidding must be disclosed and must be known to those who are participating particularly if vendors are bidding prior to any reserve being reached in the case of a property auction.Again those are all sensible things to bring into legislation. It tightens up a great many areas. If you look at all the bills there is a huge number and I have mentioned only a number of aspects of these various bills. But it is all to do with protecting the consumer providing greater protection in terms of their rights and ensuring that New Zealand residents and citizens are given far greater protection and that increasingly we are not being ripped off in our daily lives by unscrupulous traders vendors and others who would gladly take the money off you.So in that respect New Zealand First stands by this legislation. As we have said time and time again in this Parliament we are a party that stands by good policy that supports New Zealanders. In this case we see nothing at all wrong with any of the aspects of these bills. They are in support of good New Zealanders who are wanting to live a law-abiding lifestyle and be protected by the Government of this country. Therefore New Zealand First will be supporting this legislation.