Kaye Nikki: Food Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaye Nikki: Food Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 27 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18336. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NIKKI KAYE (Minister for Food Safety): I moveThat the Food Bill be now read a third time. I am very pleased to stand here and speak on the third reading of the Food Bill. This bill has been a long time coming. For over 10 years it has been in development and its passing represents a very significant reform of New Zealand’s law. We cannot underestimate what this bill means to New Zealand from an economic perspective. We know that there are thousands of people in New Zealand who are employed in the food sector—in fact 18 percent of our working population. We know that many livelihoods and thousands of businesses rely on our food exports. In fact more than half of our exports are in food. We also know that there are many overseas visitors who come here and want to experience our food and beverage and that is why this bill is incredibly important for New Zealand.Given the importance of this bill to the food sector in New Zealand it is important to realise that the broad agreement in the previous debates about the need to replace the1981 Food Act has been very clear. As has been acknowledged the prescriptive one-size-fits-all approach of the current regime causes unnecessary cost to food businesses and also fails to ensure that all food safety risks are properly managed. There have been estimates that this bill could reduce compliance costs by over $40 million and that is a great thing for New Zealand. The need to move to a more flexible and risk-based approach to food safety was also recognised in last year’s report from the inquiry into the whey protein concentrate incident.Most New Zealanders understand that the way a food safety system works is that when you are exporting hundreds and millions of food products there will always be error. But what matters is that your food safety system is strong and that you can manage a decent response to that error. That is why it was pleasing that the inquiry found that New Zealand’s regulatory system for dairy food safety is considered to be among the best in the world. It did recommend though that there were areas where we should strengthen our food safety system. That is why this Government is incredibly proud to have developed a number of initiatives including progress on the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre but also in setting up a New Zealand Food Safety and Assurance Advisory Council. We have also moved on recall provisions which are in this bill. The need for new legislation is therefore widely accepted and this is incredibly positive.I do want to acknowledge that there were concerns during the passage of this bill through this House and some of those concerns related to community fund-raisers. So what I have been very clear about since I have become Minister for Food Safety is that we need to strike an appropriate balance to achieve good food safety while also ensuring that New Zealanders can get on and do what they have always done like community sausage sizzles.There are also of course some differences between sides of this House in the debate. I want to acknowledge the discussion that we had in terms of country-of-origin labelling. As I have said the House of Representatives in Australia is conducting an inquiry in this area. Although I do not have confidence in a comprehensive mandatory country-of-origin labelling scheme I think there is more work to do in this area and I do want to acknowledge that we have about 70 percent coverage in the area of voluntary country-of-origin labelling with regard to single-ingredient foods.The passing of the Food Bill is not the end of the process of law reform. There is a significant programme of work ahead to ensure that the bill is properly implemented. This will include developing and consulting on a package of regulations and other legislative instruments that will refine the final shape of the regulatory regime. The Ministry for Primary Industries has been working towards the implementation of this bill for some time as members across this House know.Finally I would like to close by again acknowledging not only the importance of this bill to New Zealand from an economic perspective but also that this is a modern risk-based framework that will reduce compliance costs in New Zealand. It will also enable us to improve our food safety in New Zealand whether that is through the greater intelligence that will come as a result of our system or whether that is through the on-the-spot fines that we will be able to give in areas like labelling.Also there are provisions in this bill that show our compassion as a nation. There are provisions in this bill that enable us to have more companies that are able to donate food in good faith and I do believe that those provisions—the good Samaritan clause—will be very helpful for some of the food banks of New Zealand.The process of reform has spanned two administrations. I acknowledge the contributions particularly of the Hon Annette King and the Hon Kate Wilkinson. The bill has been considered twice by the Primary Production Committee and I would reallylike to thank Shane Ardern in particular for his excellent chairing of this committee and the Opposition members of the committee for their constructive approach. I do want to thank all Opposition members for the work that they have done on this bill.I would also like to thank the many officials who have worked over the years on this legislation. I am not going to name all of them. I recognise that I will leave people out but can I acknowledge HilaryEade Karen Adair Carole Inkster as well and HowardStaveley. I have definitely missed people out and I apologise at this point but thank you. I understand the huge work that many public servants do in this country. Some will never be on the front page of the paper but they work behind the scenes to do a great job on legislation.I would like to acknowledge as well the many industry groups and other people who contributed to the development of this legislation. It is going to be a great piece of legislation for New Zealand. After many years of its development I commend this bill to the House.