McClay ToddHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): I start by saying National will support this legislation or continue to support it because it is a step in the right direction albeit a small one of the 14 recommendations that came forward from the Commerce Commission. This is around two of them and I've got to say for those out there who are struggling with the cost of living and think the food costs are too high and they're having to face choices over feeding their kids or paying the bills for the Government to send this to committee with nothing else around it actually will leave them wanting and disappointed.The reason for that is that yes there is an anomaly in law that means that others have been able to put covenants on land which in the end stifles competition—whether they did that knowingly willingly or for other reasons it did have that effect. But this piece of legislation itself when it goes through the House won't do a single thing in the short or medium term when it comes to the cost of living crisis that every household in New Zealand is currently facing—nowhere more so than their rents and the food that they buy. I've got to say to the Minister it is a step albeit a small one but it is nowhere near enough.Some time ago when I was on the committee that dealt with this the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee the Commerce Commission came before us for a hearing and we talked about this and I pushed them on whether or not they were looking at other reasons why the cost of food had increased and was going up. They said no the Government had directed them with a very narrow scope only for the supermarkets. They therefore didn't look at the role that the Government themselves has played in the escalation of the cost of food not just on the supermarket shelf but on every single shelf in New Zealand. I'm sure we'll hear from Government members that it's just the supermarkets alone and those bad people from Australia who are solely responsible. But what they are not able to answer is if it is the supermarkets alone why is it when you go to a market as far away from a supermarket as you can find without restrictions of covenant over the land or trading that those costs have gone up as well? And why is it that in the takeaway shops and the fish and chip shops that every single part of New Zealand where food is sold fresh frozen processed or cooked the costs have gone up? That is because of the role that this Government has paid in red tape in rules in bureaucracy and actually I think in deciding that businesses can just suck up extra costs imposed on them by Government and it has no implication at all.We're very happy to support this. We equally will be happy to support more meaningful changes the Government brings forward that mean that food prices already stop escalating so very very quickly but actually perhaps have a chance to go down. But sadly I think we'll be waiting a long time. Because it feels that when the Government came under pressure before the last election—because things were so very expensive and going up quickly—they called for an inquiry on the part of the Commerce Commission exactly the same as in their first term in Government at the very beginning when fuel prices were ramping up and the Government was piling taxes on fuel. When they came under pressure what did they do? They didn't take tax off then. They didn't actually have a look and decide for themselves what to do to help the poor old motorists—and by the way when the Government puts tax on fuel and prices go up that flows through to the cost of food as it's driven around the country from the producer to the supermarket or to the shelf. What did they do? They called for an inquiry into the petrol stations themselves and when that inquiry came forward with recommendations they put a lot of money aside for the Commerce Commission to continue to monitor it but actually continued to put tax up until very very recently where we have a short-term relief of tax even though petrol is through the roof and that tax is flowing through.So in this respect I am quite deeply concerned that all we will see from the Government is this inquiry. They'll pick up a couple of things in it but they will continue to pass laws or pass regulations that have the impact or the consequence of prices going up in New Zealand particularly on food. It's not good enough for the Prime Minister to send this Minister out—who is very very hard-working; actually he's probably done more in the area of commerce under extremely narrow circumstances in as far as what the Prime Minister and Cabinet will allow him to do. But it's not good enough for her to send him out and say Here's a report into supermarkets go and do a little bit there and if it gets really bad—I know we'll call for another inquiry." We see this time and time again. And I'm making the point through other examples of where the Government does this to show why this isn't going to have the impact that the Government is saying it will and prices will continue to go up in every single outlet that sells food in New Zealand because of Government action and in this case inaction.Think about what we've seen just recently for our builders and homeowners and those who are struggling because there's not enough plasterboard in New Zealand. Do you know what the Government's done? They haven't gone out and sourced more. They haven't changed the rules instantly so we can bring it in from overseas and actually have it available so the houses that are sitting there not finished will get built. What have they done? They've called for another inquiry. Another inquiry. Well the point of this is the Minister has stood up and every other Labour MP has stood up and taken at least two minutes of their 10 minutes to say "What a wonderful thing this is!" and "Aren't we all doing a great job?". But in the case of fuel in the case of plasterboard all they do is call for inquiries and make the bare minimum of change so that the public is led to believe or hopes—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! Can I invite the member to now come back to the bill.Hon TODD McCLAY: I will. So the good news here for New Zealand households is that no longer will supermarkets and others be able to put covenants on land that don't have supermarkets on them and therefore stop them from being able to sell food. But what we know is the speed with which it takes consent to be issued in this country through building consents and resource consents and other things I guarantee that as a result of this legislation we won't see a single additional extra supermarket built anywhere chain or otherwise between now and the next election and that food prices will continue to go up during that period of time.So the Government needs to look at itself. This is good in that it is dealing with two of the 14 recommendations issued by the Commerce Commission on the very narrow scope they were given in their inquiry but there are things that the Government can do right now today to relieve the pressure on households who are struggling and they need to dig more deeply and do that. The reason they need to do that is the majority of people in New Zealand don't have the luxury of the large salaries that a Cabinet Minister has when it comes to meet extra costs going up. And that's why this country needs these Cabinet Ministers to do their job properly to work harder and to identify things they themselves have done that are pushing the cost of food up.I say it again actually: if it was solely the responsibility of the supermarket and these two chains—the reason that the prices have gone up so much—as the Government has said to New Zealanders when they called for the inquiry with that very narrow scope then it would only be food in supermarkets that had increased in cost. But it's not it's in every market it's in every fast food outlet it's everywhere that food is wholesale or retail in New Zealand. The Government bears as much if not more responsibility for that as the supermarkets do themselves.We'll support this because it's a small step in the right direction. But if this is the only step the Government delivers between now and the next election it will be the same as what's happening with plasterboard. It's the same as what happened with fuel. These costs will continue to go up because of the Government's role in this not the people in the marketplace alone."