Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Thank you Madam Speaker. I just want to thank the Minister Hon Damien O'Connor for the way that he has engaged with the Primary Production Committee and dairy farmers throughout New Zealand on this bill and I think you will see the support from the National Party and the Labour Party on this bill together which shows that politics can work together in a way which gets the best result for New Zealand's primary industries going forward.I'd also like to thank members of our select committee that were on there and now thank them—from all parties. Now I know New Zealand First Labour and National had members on that committee and I thank them for the way that they conducted themselves in the hearings and got to a solution which we can all live with and go forward with. So thank you very much to those members involved.I also just wanted to thank all those submitters as the Minister did. People are very in tune with this issue in the dairy industry. It is something that has been at the forefront of many farmers' minds for many many years. Since the formation of Fonterra it has been an issue that has been raised at many farmer meetings on a constant basis and has been reviewed in this Parliament on numerous occasions. I think today we get to a defining point in that review process where we essentially do not have the open entry requirement on Fonterra any more. There still will be an open exit requirement and that will enable farmers to leave if they wish to and to pursue their own opportunities as they would determine as any commercial business.Now as the Minister said the open entry requirement has been taken out and it's quite a big change in this bill from what was initially put forward. I'd just like to thank again the Minister for the way that we were able to work together to achieve that. I know we're on different sides of the political divide but I do think that we both have a common view for the industry and it was good to see that we were able to put this in place in legislation here tonight so I sincerely thank you for the work you've done in enabling that to happen.This removal of the open entry has been refined with a clause that we have seen that needs a little bit of work on drafting because it is a little bit rough and ready at the moment but I'm sure we'll get to that point where we'll get it into a nice concise clause. Essentially what the Minister had talked about is that there are two parts to that clause as it is at the moment and they look at the ongoing viability of the farm and also the land-use sustainability of that farm. So put together that will be what we would be wishing to see in the clause when it comes to the House in the Supplementary Order Paper (SOP). That one phrase or one test that's got two limbs to it you could say would give a little bit of comfort to anybody that is an existing Fonterra supplier. That clause as I understand it—and we have not got it in front of us in writing apart from what I've got from the Minister's office—is effectively only applying to Fonterra suppliers. It does not apply to non-Fonterra suppliers—so that clause will only apply to them.Now the Minister's made a number of other major changes in this bill which we haven't had the fortune of seeing in writing. It would likely be good for Labour members to talk about them more as they go through their speeches. But in essence if I get it right the conversion clause is now removed Minister. So that was a clause in the legislation which effectively—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I just remind the member—I'm sorry to interrupt but the SOP is debated in the committee stage and can be referred to at the second reading but of course it's not before all members and it's not on the floor to be discussed in detail.Hon DAVID BENNETT: No and those issues—thank you Madam Speaker—they had been raised by the Minister and I'm just wanting to make sure that members are very much aware of them because they are considerable departures from the existing bill. They're not departures that we would necessarily disagree with either—it's not in that sense at all that I'm raising it.So the dairy conversion—if you look at clause 22 and applying section 96A my understanding now is that will be removed and also so that test that Fonterra could have used to prevent new supply will no longer be there and also the three seasons review is no longer available to Fonterra in that condition either. So those changes—and there was one other I think the Minister indicated that I'm sure will go through—don't make a lot of difference in the end to the end result we're getting to which is that the open entry requirement will effectively have been removed.When we come to why that's important many submitters made it very clear that they felt that Fonterra had achieved its purpose in the sense that there was enough competition out there in the market. When we look at the statistics around that competitive pressure that's out there in most parts of New Zealand there is that ability to choose another manufacturer rather than the existing manufacturer—for example Fonterra—that they may have been with in the past. Now that ability to choose gives a certain dynamic to the New Zealand industry which many farmers have taken upon themselves to be part of but it does also present a challenge to Fonterra long term in its capacity requirements. That was the essential argument that submitters came to the committee in favour of—removing that clause—because they felt that that was too much of a commitment that Fonterra had to make in its capital contributions to be able to meet any and every supplier that may just determine to come back to Fonterra at some point in time.In some ways the Minister has indicated that the Government is willing to support the arguments of those submitters and also in essence the arguments of Fonterra in that regard as well. One can only assume that that generosity that we're seeing from the Minister must have a caveat somewhere at some point in time. He shakes his head in disbelief—Hon Damien O'Connor: Always generous.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Always generous. So the sceptic in me is saying that there must be something that the Minister has planned for the dairy industry in the future that isn't so favourable and we could go through a number of what those unfavourable aspects could be in regard to environmental requirements or taxation requirements or just general taxation requirements that could be put upon farmers if this Government was re-elected and God hope that it never is. So there must be a catch to everything and we're waiting to see what this Minister has planned as his catch to being able to be so generous in his decision making with Fonterra and Fonterra suppliers at this time.But in all seriousness this is something that farmers have been looking for for many many years. It will give a lot of dairy farmers peace and certainty around their cooperative—a cooperative that we should acknowledge has done an amazing job for New Zealand. Not many other countries can have an organisation of that size and scale on the world market that performs to the level it does. That is good for New Zealand Incorporated" as a whole. It's not only good for the farmers it's not only good for those that are employed with the organisation but it is also good for the country as a whole.We also need to recognise the importance of those non-cooperative supply companies that actually have a vital role in the market as well in providing that competitive tension to the cooperative and giving farmers a choice as well. I think we've got to a stage in our industry now where we do have that fine but nice balance between an international player that is competitive on the world stage on a scale basis but also we have a number of other players that are also internationally very effective in what they do and give farmers choice but at the same time we give farmers some security around the cooperative that they're part of. So I think that's the balance that we all seek to achieve and it is achieved in this bill here tonight. Thank you Madam Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Just before I call the next speaker—just for the information of the speakers who referred to the SOP it is now on the Table."