Bayly AndrewANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato) (remote): Kia ora. Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to be talking on this Commerce (Grocery Sector Covenants) Amendment Bill. The first thing I'm going to say is that National will be supporting this bill. As the Minister has identified this bill has come as a result of the review by the Commerce Commission into the food sector. The upshot of the Commerce Commission's finding was that there was less competition in the retail grocery sector than otherwise should be the case and it was also hard for competitors wanting to enter the market or to expand in the fact that they were facing extra barriers or challenges. So the report from the Commerce Commission which came out just a few months ago was very enlightening and helpful and obviously this is one of the key elements of it.I think in the context of what's been happening in New Zealand we've got a living costs crisis escalating prices of food—not always through a lack of competition of course; some of it's come about through a range of factors like supply issues but also largely the Government's own making with some of the policies they've imposed on businesses across New Zealand particularly around the way that they can employ labour. So it is a combination of factors that have led to rapidly rising food prices for New Zealanders. That of course is hurting virtually everyone in New Zealand and is so damaging particularly to the more vulnerable people of New Zealand who don't have as much income or are on a fixed income.So yes we agree with the changes. Our strong view is that the recommendations from the Commerce Commission should be implemented and that means first of all supporting this bill which is about ensuring land is not subject to restrictive covenants but also ensuring that the mandatory code of conduct is appropriate and in force. Obviously there's a process to establish codes of conduct which is common overseas and particularly in places like England. We want to make sure that there is an appropriate code of conduct that protects suppliers and also people who are wanting to enter that market and that there are good relationships and we do not see undue practices. There are some issues particularly around supply arrangements that need to be dealt with so suppliers have fair access and appropriate access and are not subject to these undue practices.The other one is we want to make sure that consumers have greater information on products and their pricing and that was part of the Commerce Commission's recommendation. The final key recommendation—although there are other subsidiary recommendations—is the establishment of a grocery sector regulator. And we want to make sure that that regulator is well resourced and effective in monitoring the sector so we get as much competition as possible.So this bill deals with one aspect of those recommendations which is making sure that land is not unduly subject to restrictive covenants. In the work of the Commerce Commission itself it noted that there are about 90 covenants that they identified. I think the big issue for us and this will be one of the questions that we will be wanting to explore in the select committee stage is how do we identify them how are these restrictive covenants identified. And whilst the bill seeks to make sure that the undue restrictive components are not enforceable it also gives rise to how those agreements if they need to be renewed—what is the compensation if there's any clause around that. All those sort of legal issues need to be explored and dealt with under the select committee process.We also note that there's actually been no analysis of the impact of removing these covenants other than by the Commerce Commission and there's no report in the accompanying documentation that I've seen to support the restrictive covenants. So I think the Minister's approach is correct but this is just one element. And if we think this is the panacea for fixing up the supermarket trade in New Zealand that is not the case. I would urge that we move forward on these other aspects because we want to make sure that New Zealanders get access to food at reasonable prices. And the types of products and the transparency around how they're produced and their pricing arrangements is the most important thing at a time when we've got a cost of living crisis in New Zealand.So we will be supporting it. Slightly disappointed that the select committee process is so truncated but let's hope we get good submissions during that process so we can move to a resolution on this matter. Thank you very much Mr Speaker.