Smith Stuart; Dean JacquiSALE AND SUPPLY OF ALCOHOL (CELLAR DOOR TASTING) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingSTUART SMITH (National—Kaikōura): I move That the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Cellar Door Tasting) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice Committee to consider the bill.It's always a thrill to have a member's bill pulled out of the ballot. And tonight it is a special occasion because earlier on this evening we celebrated downstairs the successful nomination of Dr John Barker who has been appointed Director-General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine which is called the OIV but is often referred to as the UN of wine. It is a very important international body. It has 50 member States and it really handles all the regulations and international rules around the grape-growing and wine industry. I acknowledge in the Speaker's gallery members of New Zealand Winegrowers who were here earlier this evening. So it's quite appropriate that we have this cellar door bill up in front of the House today. We've got this anomaly in the law that I'll go into shortly that is really quite anomalous. It's quite a lot of silly bureaucracy that just needs to be fixed so that's what this bill endeavours to do. The wine industry is the sixth-largest export good by value and actually what's not covered in that is that the main markets for wine are actually OECD countries so higher-income countries where higher values can be obtained for goods exported there. And the halo effect of our wine exports into those markets is I think often undervalued. Those customers that buy our wine are discerning consumers and they from buying our wine get an impression of a country that can produce high-end high-quality products and that goes much wider than the wine industry. But it's also very important the wine industry as a tourism offering. It's the second-largest export industry effectively—the tourism industry. And that brings in a lot of valuable foreign exchange for New Zealand and all of our wineries cellar doors are benefiting from that. High-end tourists go around the country to cellar doors. They incorporate that as part of their tourism experience in New Zealand. I asked the library to research for me where cellar doors were in New Zealand and in which electorates because I thought it would be quite a good idea to lobby the members of Parliament. Many of you have been lobbied and some of you have done a great job of lobbying on my behalf and I really thank you for that. I was surprised by how many electorates have them. Who knew there was one in Taranaki - King Country? They all provide—Hon Member: Barbara Kuriger knows.STUART SMITH: Yeah Barbara—yes Barbara knew. [Interruption] Yes I know; I'm coming to Tukituki. This is great. I'm having quite a bit of input from the other side. I really appreciate that. So it actually touches almost every electorate and I have visited cellar doors from Northland and all the way to Otago and as you can see I have not suffered from it. So I highly recommend it. But on to serious business. There are two gaps in the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 that have really caused quite a lot of issues for the wine industry and this bill seeks to deal with those. Cellar doors cannot charge visitors for the wine samples that they taste. They are not able to do that. It's a premium product and a premium experience but that devalues it. Of course cellar door profitability is impacted by that and it often leaves the customer in an awkward position feeling like they're obliged to buy some wine. I've been in that position. I know how they feel and it's awkward for the winery as well. This bill allows winery cellar doors to charge for the samples of their own wine they serve to their visitors. Reflecting current industry practice a sample will be defined which is not currently defined under the Act and it is limited to a maximum of 40 millilitres. Currently—we have tested this—most of the samples are about 30 millilitres but if you make it 30 then people are likely to be occasionally over the limit. So if we make it 40 millilitres that is approximately 18 samples per 750 millilitre bottle. So it's not a lot of wine.Second the limited categories of off-licence available to a winery under the Act mean that all the winery cellar door licences are granted under section 32(1)(b) which is available to retail businesses where at least 85 percent of their revenue comes from off-sales. So this means in effect that if a winery is both a cellar door and a cafe or restaurant their revenue from the restaurant will normally mean that there's much less than 85 percent of the winery's total sales coming from off-sales. So to fit within that they're typically forced to create a separate legal entity as a cellar door and then apply for an off-licence. This forces wineries into creating a new business adding cost and complexity and does nothing actually to advance the objects of the Act—and I'll come back to that shortly.This bill corrects this anomaly by adding a category of off-licence available to wineries holding an on-licence such as a winery or a cafe. Definitions of winery" and "winery cellar door" which reflect the current use of those terms are in the bill.So the object of the Act is that the sale supply and consumption of alcohol should be undertaken safely and responsibly and that the harm caused by the excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol should be minimised. This bill will further that object in my view.Regulations under the Act already recognise that winery cellar doors are the lowest risk category. So that's already been covered in the Act—it's viewed as a very low-risk entity and I think anyone who's ever been to a cellar door will know that.For any members who feel a little bit of a reluctance to support this bill I urge you to vote for it and send it to the Justice Committee. I'm sure we will get lots of submissions from wineries and from people involved in the licensing of such entities. I think it's a really good opportunity to air those views in the select committee.I know I'm biased—I came from the wine industry. I remember some years ago before I came into Parliament when I was on the board of New Zealand Winegrowers we thought about if could we get to $2 billion worth of exports and we would make that as a target. Well it is $2.41 billion currently. Part of the success of the wine industry actually comes from the cellar door experience of people coming to New Zealand to visit it. We see tourists from all over the world in a campervan going around and visiting cellar doors all over the country. And that is so good for our regional employment. It's good for the cellar doors obviously but it's also good for the other businesses that benefit from it. After Cyclone Gabrielle—so Anna I did say I'd get to this—in Hawke's Bay and Gisborne really they're struggling as it is. They've had a terrible experience with that cyclone. Let's make it easier for those wineries to make some more money and sell some of their wine and get them back on their feet. So I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to."