Jones ShaneHon SHANE JONES (NZ First): Madam Chair thank you very much. It's time for some common sense to be injected into this debate. We've just had a raft of exhibits that represent special pleading for corporate New Zealand. They serve up this notion that somehow Ministers—without looking at their own track record—are going to show less interest or perhaps a dangerous level of interest. My response is: Countdown. In 2013-14 we took a host of concerns to the former Minister Craig Foss—widely recognised sadly not spoken about today. Did he move forward and support an inquiry into the egregious conduct of Countdown ripping off producers not well serving ordinary families but gouging the heartland of New Zealand's productive sector? No. In fact he went to John Key. John Key was totally uninterested. So with my characteristic modesty it fell to the first citizen of the provinces to stand up and take on Countdown.What did we do? We went to the Commerce Commission only to find eventually that they had inadequate power. Today we have the National Party MPs saying they're going to vote for this bill largely because they've recognised that in their nine years they did jack. Now they've dreamt up a way of saying Ah but you can strengthen the bill if the Commerce Commission is required to come and get the permission of the equivalent of Craig Foss." Well we know that that will not actually come to pass—I'm not talking about my Polynesian cousin in the chair there Kris Faafoi; I'm talking about the fact that we just look backwards to see the future. When we look back we have absolutely no confidence that if characters of that nature are back God forbid on this side of the House again they will take the lance to destroy that pernicious behaviour which passes for the ordinary course of events in banking in insurance in the oil industry in the supermarkets. They all require the laser-like attention of the Commerce Commission because they enjoy extraordinarily large privileges in New Zealand society the banks in particular.I would say this: don't ever forget the fact that it was the Aussies who actually underwrote their banking system and after the Aussies had done that that then spilled over into New Zealand and Dr Cullen had to give quite a hefty guarantee to the banks. So why should the banks not be required to submit their information like the oil industry to an enhanced and empowered Commerce Commission? There's not a single Kiwi—individual business whānau—who does not suffer the full impact of banking decisions and banking policies. Without a word of a doubt which is why I'm very very happy to announce that at our party conference we actually passed a levy which may or may not see the light of day—sorry a remit which would require a levy but that's more for a political discussion and I'm here in a constitutional role today ensuring that the nonsense being talked about on the other side of the Chamber is called out for what it is.They had a chance to tame corporate behaviour over the last nine years. They won't do that because they are the political extension of corporate New Zealand; on this side of the House we're not. We stand up for the provinces. We stand up for small to medium sized enterprises. We stand up for ordinary garden-variety households that are struggling to deal with the pernicious effects of monopolistic behaviour in oil companies in supermarkets—look the list could go on and for fear of exhausting the English language I won't say too much more on that list but rich it is—an array of targets and it's absolutely legitimate for the Commerce Commission to be given that power. Now if they use the power egregiously the High Court and the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court stands there willing to receive complaints and the High Court will move against the Commerce Commission. The notion that somehow we've weakened the Commerce Commission is an absolute load of codswallop.What will actually happen is that the message will go out to the executives and the decision-makers in corporate New Zealand—sneaky egregious manipulative behaviour will now be shown the full light of disinfectant sunrise as a consequence of this side of the House agreeing to pass the bill."