Patterson MarkCONSUMERS' RIGHT TO KNOW (COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF FOOD) BILLSecond ReadingDebate resumed from 19 September.MARK PATTERSON (NZ First): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Well I'm actually slightly disappointed because I know that I got cut off halfway through in full flight and I know there'll be many—there were going to be many many people coming in to tune in to my finishing of the Consumers' Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill but they may have been slightly distracted. I feel a little bit aggrieved that my moment in the spotlight has been taken by others.Just to review where I was for those that maybe didn't catch the first part of my speech I was reiterating New Zealand First's strong support for this bill. I had commended Gareth Hughes and actually previous members of the Green Party who had also championed this bill over a long period of time and it is good that we have got ourselves now into position to bring this important piece of legislation forward. Consumers have voted enormously in favour of this: 71 percent of consumers in polls have declared that they would want to have this information so it's widely supported by the public. We know that in things like clothing and footwear we already have these provisions so why not our food which is something we actually consume in our body? As New Zealand First we are totally behind New Zealand producers and the fine food and beverages that we produce here and we want to see them showcased as highly as possible.I also did go on to talk about the pork industry for which we have a special carve-out within this legislation because we now have 60 percent of our pork imported which is a huge proportion of our pork obviously that has crept in over the years. We are a trading nation so we're not out to put non-tariff barriers in front of other countries. In the select committee process we looked through this very carefully and we consulted with foreign affairs officials to make sure we weren't creating a bill that maybe would be used against us when we tried to export our food products to the outside world. So we have managed to satisfy those proposals.Of course 55 countries in the world already have this type of legislation so this is not world-leading legislation and that's something that we normally do pride ourselves on especially in the food space as leading the world. So we are Johnny-come-latelies to this particular debate. Of course there is the animal ethics side of things as well with pork which was something we considered strongly because 85 percent of that 60 percent that we consume in New Zealand is pork and pork products that are not raised in conditions that would meet New Zealand's animal welfare standards and that is something we're taking increasingly seriously. We've just had a new set of animal welfare regulations which come in to play on 1 October so I think consumers and a growing list of consumers want to know that the food they're consuming has been produced ethically and this will give New Zealand consumers of pork in particular that ability to know that. I know from a personal perspective there's no way I'd be buying anything that is not New Zealand pork or bacon.Marja Lubeck: Beef.MARK PATTERSON: And of course beef and lamb. That is a very good point Marja. Beef and lamb: in parts of the year especially in winter—coming out of the winter when there is low production—up to 20 percent of the beef can be imported from Australia and I would imagine that not many people know that. So under this bill we will know that when we go to our butcher or our supermarket.The other thing that Gareth Hughes the proponent of the bill has suggested I think within the committee stages of this bill is that we might look at incorporating a wee bit wider—nuts and seeds I think are a couple of things that he has listed that we might be able to bring within the scope of this bill as well. I think we should consider that take it back to our caucuses. But my instructions were pretty clear from our caucus: that we need to make this as simple as possible at the start. It can get very complex very quickly as we found out during the select committee process. So we're open to looking at those extensions but we are very keen on this bill and we commend it once again to the House. Thank you.