Mooney JosephJOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): Oh thank you very much Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise this afternoon to speak on the Organic Products Bill at its second reading. In short National supports this bill. The bill has a dual goal of increasing the confidence of consumers wishing to purchase organic goods and giving increased certainty to businesses producing and selling organic products in New Zealand. The bill also aims to facilitate more international trade of organic products.I'm proud to say that there is a great example in Southland that I visited with my colleague Barbara Kuriger: Aquila Farms. They're the largest organic milk suppliers in the Southern Hemisphere and they are a Southland operation. They have some 2970 hectares of organic dairy units across six different farms and they have 871 supporting blocks for that and they do quite an impressive job. It's been a big piece of work over quite a few years but they have done a really good job and as I said they're now actually the largest organic milk suppliers in the Southern Hemisphere.This is the second reading of this bill so this is about some of the processes that happened in select committee. Now I didn't have the pleasure of being in the Primary Production Committee in the last Parliament which I understand is when this was considered but I have had a look at the commentary and what happened there. So The bill as introduced would enable ministries through regulations to set standards for organic production and products [called] (the organic standard). [Those] regulations would set out the standard and include most of the technical detail about how organic approval and recognition would be granted. The relevant ministry would be responsible for administering the organic standard for its sector. For example the Ministry for Primary Industries could develop organic standards for food and beverages and would then be responsible for regulating businesses that made organic claims under those standards."There have been a few changes in this and some of the recommendations which I'll go through. The proposed title: the select committee thought that "the title of the bill could better describe what it would regulate." They said "The legislation would go beyond products regulating production and logistical matters such as the handling packaging labelling processing storage and preparation of organic products." They recommended changing the title of the bill to the "Organic Products and Production Bill".The bill as introduced also did not define the term "organic product" which the select committee felt could lead to confusion over what is organic. The select committee recommended inserting a definition into clause 5 that "organic product means a product in relation to which an organic standard is in force and that is produced in compliance with the standard by an operator." The select committee also felt that there needed to be some definition of what a "marae" is. The term "marae" is used in Part 5 of the bill which is about enforcement of the organic standard. The select committee recommended inserting a definition of "marae" into clause 5 to make it clear what it covered. The definition recommended by the select committee was that a marae is "an area of land on which all buildings such as wharenui (meeting house) wharekai (dining room) ablution blocks and any other associated buildings are situated."The select committee also had a look at the grant of the organic approval and recommended amending one of the clauses clause 13(1) "to enable the chief executive of the relevant ministry to set out how long an organic approval would last. As introduced the bill would commit all ministries to implementing a one-time approval instead of approval for a specified length of time." The select committee considered that one-time approval may not be appropriate in all circumstances so they recommended amending that clause so that a time frame could be placed on an organic approval and it would insert a paragraph to require the expiration date of an organic approval to be specified if the approval was of fixed duration.The select committee also had a look at the public register of operators and recognised entities and recommended amending clause 39(2)(a) "to make it clear that the organic register could be reproduced in electronic form." The bill as introduced implied at least that they felt that the register would be reproducible only in hard-copy form. Obviously in the modern era—in 2022—hard-copy forms are not necessarily always the best thing. Most of us are used to using other devices to access information and that certainly seems a sensible recommendation from the committee recognising the era that we live in today. The select committee also had a look—and this is I think indicative of the level of attention the committee had to this and I think that's quite appropriate and very good work by the Primary Production Committee—at the records of organic practice and recommended amending clause 44 to ensure all organic operators keep records related to their organic practice. The bill as introduced would not require exempt persons to keep records; in fact clause 108 provides for exemptions to be granted from the requirements or obligations of the legislation—for example some operators could state that their products are organic without having to complete the organic approval application process. The select committee considered that they and other exempt persons should still be required to keep records and that is obviously to underpin the certainty and the confidence that people have in this process.Quite an important point—considering that this bill is specifically trying to facilitate the international trade of organic products—is ensuring the assurance of organic status for international markets. Although we in New Zealand certainly think we are the centre of the universe that's not always the case and we need to prove to international markets the relevance of our place in the world and the importance we place on providing certainty and certification of the products that we provide to international markets. The bill as introduced provided for the chief executive to specify export requirements or restrictions on products described as organic. However it was unclear what could be required or restricted. So the select committee recommended amending it to make it clear that notices made under this clause may include requirements or restrictions about production inputs processing and preparation of organic products including requirements about sampling and testing. They also felt that it should be made clear that the chief executive of the relevant ministry must be satisfied that an organic product meets the organic standard and they note that clause 49 empowered the relevant chief executive to give a statement of compliance to organic operators and entities. However the bill as introduced did not provide for the chief executive to check that the specified processes had been completed to ensure the products meet the organic standard.The issue of converting to organic production was also considered by the select committee and they recommend amending clause 105 to allow the organic standards to specify how long it could be taken for conversion from non-organic to organic production. The bill as introduced did not provide for a time frame to be set by regulation and they recommended that paragraph (ca) be inserted into clause 105(2) to allow the length of the conversion period to be set by regulation.I can certainly say having spoken to organic farmers that the period of time for a conversion can be quite significant and quite costly in fact. There is certainly a transition period that is required and there is a drop in production and therefore a drop in income that has been experienced by some folks who have made that transition. Although having spoken to for example Aquila Farms they have seen their production rates actually increase and their financial viability. So it's actually become a very good going concern.There's attention also by this select committee to regulating organic inputs. This is definitely one of those challenging issues because the inputs that come into an organic farm are not necessarily always going to compliant especially when for example feed becomes an issue during a drought. So there needs to be some consideration around that issue. The select committee had a look at this and they felt that during the production of organic products different inputs—things that are used to assist organic production—may be used to improve the quality of the products. Common organic inputs include compost manure slurry and certain pesticides.They recommended inserting clause 111A(b) to make it clear that the type of input should be specified in a notice. The bill as introduced did not provide a mechanism to specify which types of inputs could be used during organic production processing. Currently different organic certifiers provide lists of allowed inputs. Thank you Mr Speaker."