Boyack RachelRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise and take a call on the Fuel Industry Amendment Bill which is finishing its second reading tonight and this is quite timely for me in my seat of Nelson as the local MP. One of the matters that has been recently raised with me is the issue that we face across the country with a range of fuel prices and there has been a lot of commentary over many years and evidence to show that those of us who live in the South Island often pay a higher price for our fuel. I must say even with additions of things like the regional fuel tax in Auckland fuel was still more expensive in my electorate of Nelson than it was in Auckland. This is one of the reasons why in 2019 the Government conducted a market study into fuel pricing and what it showed was that there are a number of markets that operate in a similar way. We've also been looking recently at the supermarket industry and in the past the previous Labour Government—the fifth Labour Government—looked at the telecommunications industry where we often see a real tension and challenge between the wholesale part of the market and then the retailers. This is what this bill is seeking to address. When we have markets that don't provide for new entrants to be able to enter easily it does require the Government to act and it's appropriate that the Government does intervene at that point. We know at the moment that with the cost of living being the way it is one of the particular challenges we face is around the cost of fuel and the impact that that has not only on household budgets but also on businesses that rely on fuel in order to transport their goods and there are the challenges that that brings. So I want to talk a little bit about some of the things that the bill specifically does. What it does is it introduces what's called a terminal gate price known otherwise throughout the select committee report—it is a nice acronym; I think perhaps I might need to talk to them about my plain language bill—as the TGP. The bill specifically looks at the terminal gate price for the wholesale fuel market and so what this regime does is it requires the wholesale fuel suppliers to publicly post the price on which they would sell a specified engine fuel to wholesale customers on a spot basis. So what that does is ensure that there's transparency around those prices. It's one of the things that I think causes people a lot of frustration and certainly this comes through to me as the local MP in Nelson—how do we get to the point where we have prices the way that they are? So allowing that transparency is a very important part of the regime that we are introducing through this bill. The other point is the ability for the bill to allow the Commerce Commission to recommend price regulation of these—apologies for the acronym—TGPs. One of the matters relating to this is to ensure that if it is appropriate the Commerce Commission can intervene. We've certainly seen over the last couple of years with the cost of living a significant increase in fuel prices due to issues in Ukraine in particular. But we're also mindful as a Government that it's important that we have that transparency and that we do have that ability to intervene when we need to. This is an excellent bill. It is one of the ways in which our Government is focused on the cost of living for New Zealanders. It is ensuring that our markets operate in the interests of New Zealanders and I commend it to the House.