Waititi RawiriRAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) (remote): Tēnā koe e te Pīka. Tēnā tātou e te Whare. I take this opportunity for a short call on the Grocery Industry Competition Bill on behalf of Te Paati Māori. While the rest of Aotearoa is experiencing the worst cost of living crisis in a generation corporations including supermarkets are making record profits of the back of the misery of working people. This Government has been consistently warned about the impact of rising food prices on grassroots communities and yet prices continue to skyrocket. Food prices were at 10.1 percent higher in October 2022 compared with October 2021; this was the highest annual increase since 2008. The annual increase was due to rises across all the broad food categories we measure. Grocery food prices increased by 9.7 percent; fruit and vegetable prices increased by 17 percent; restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased by 7.5 percent; meat poultry and fish prices increased by 10 percent; and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 8.7 percent. Food is a right and a necessity for all whānau. We must remove the barriers that are preventing our whānau from putting healthy kai on the table for their kids. That is why we acknowledge the introduction of this bill which we will be supporting. While it doesn't go far enough in terms of breaking up the market duopoly once and for all it does increase competition in the sector and should help independent grocers to get into the market. This of course follows on from the Commerce Commission report released in March which showed how the duopoly had a stranglehold on the market with competitors wanting to enter the retail grocery market facing significant challenges including access to groceries and the impacts of the imbalance in negotiating power between major grocery retailers and their suppliers. The commission found that the current market locked out the potential for tangata whenua to own supermarkets that operate with Māori values—which would truly transform the market for communities across Aotearoa. Our people are eager for the opportunity to lead our own solutions in this space. One thing people talk with me about is the need for a Buy Māori Made licensing regime along our own grocers and suppliers.This bill opens the door for independent grocers but it needs to be more aggressive and more ambitious for our whānau. Independent grocers also need start-up funding and ongoing and productive regulatory support but even increasing competition doesn't go far enough. We need regulation to prevent supermarkets hiking prices unreasonably and making excessive profits and crucially we need to remove GST from kai. I call on the Government to support my member's bill which is in the ballot and ready to go. GST is a regressive tax that targets lower-income whānau who are forced to spend nearly every cent they earn. Meanwhile the wealthy have untaxed wealth accumulating in housing trusts and investment funds. The main argument that is used against removing GST and supermarkets not passing on the savings would be dealt with if we added food price regulatory controls into the bill before us today. This Christmas will be one of the toughest for our whānau. The least we can do is lighten the burden so they can feed their families well over the holidays.I urge this Government to use urgency on something that is actually urgent and would make a real difference for people over the holiday period. I challenge the Government to adopt my bill and pass it in time for whānau to see the benefits this summer. Our people have been through so much over the last few years and they deserve a break. I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora tātou.