Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour—Hamilton East): Thank you Mr Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to take a call on this bill. On a probably rather rare occasion I agree with much of what Andrew Bayly the previous member said and I do appreciate his invitation to visit his electorate in the north Waikato region. In fact I was actually passing through his electorate on the Te Huia train recently and as I looked out the window I saw the beautiful fields there. I'm sure the member would like to join me at some point on that journey as well which obviously passes right through his electorate.I stand as the chair of the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee a role that I am certainly honoured to hold in this Parliament at this time. In that role on behalf of the committee I'd like to thank the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs the Hon David Clark for bringing this bill to the House in a timely manner.In terms of the requirements under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). It was the TPPA; now it's changed to the CPTPP but it's basically a trade deal that was signed in 2018 with a number of countries around the Pacific Rim. It's already had significant benefit for New Zealand's economy and I'll move into that a little bit soon. I'd also like to thank all of the staff who have worked incredibly hard on this bill as they work incredibly hard on all the bills that go through this House. I know all the members regularly join with me in terms of thanking the staff at this wonderful institution that we have. I'd like to thank the submitters who submitted on this bill. It really was a pleasure to hear from these submitters. We had a very diverse range of submitters primarily in the horticulture area. As we've heard from the Minister and the previous speaker there has been a slight change in the bill in terms of the potato area where there's been a change from 20 years to 25 years and that was based on one of the submissions. We had a submitter come in who brought potatoes with them and actually really went into the details in terms of the R & D and the investment that goes into a potato. Now I'm sure many people would cook up a potato at dinner and eat that potato without really thinking about how much money has gone into creating that potato. As I move on in this bill I will give other examples of intellectual property (IP) and R & D and how we protect those really important New Zealand businesses in terms of their trade agreements. The R & D goes in early and often there's quite a long time before businesses can reap the economic benefits of that R & D that goes in. If they put the R & D in and don't have the protection of the IP then those businesses will fall over. So it's absolutely important that this bill goes through the House. The bill represents a new and uniquely New Zealand approach to plant variety rights. We've signed up to the CPTPP as I said before and we've already seen benefits—particularly in our kiwifruit industry—in terms of some of the free trade in areas like Japan but what we've done is we've taken a uniquely New Zealand approach. We have fulfilled the requirements of the CPTPP but we've done it in our way so we've linked in the Treaty of Waitangi some of our local indigenous plants—we've taken the opportunity to protect the IP around those—and we've done a few other things that are unique to other countries but we have satisfied what's required under the CPTPP. I'd just like to touch on kiwifruit a little bit. Our kiwifruit sector returns over $3 billion a year through our economy. I was at the Fieldays around two years ago and the next Fieldays is coming—a little plug there—in November. It's an absolutely wonderful event which showcases much of our agriculture and horticulture from New Zealand businesses. While I was at the Fieldays I tasted a red kiwifruit from Zespri—Angie Warren-Clark: Wa-hey!JAMIE STRANGE: —and I acknowledge other members in the House who have also tasted one of those red kiwifruit. And—[Speaker gestures]—oh there we go; even the Speaker of this House has tasted these red kiwifruit—the reason I highlight this is as an example of what's possible in our horticulture sector and the value-add that we can add in terms of bringing money into New Zealand. Zespri—full credit to them—have done an absolutely fantastic job—Simeon Brown: When are they making blue ones?JAMIE STRANGE: —in terms of developing—yes—red rather than blue on this occasion Simeon Brown. But who knows? Maybe a blue one might come at some point. We'll have to wait and see. But look I highlight this in terms of the value-add and in terms of the IP. Now if Zespri don't have certainty on the IP for that red kiwifruit then it begs the question: will they make that significant investment? If they don't have guarantee of that IP there's a good chance that they won't make that investment because the risk is too high. So what the Government is doing here is lowering the risk threshold for wonderful businesses New Zealand businesses like Zespri. So it's certainly important. For example SunGold which I believe is the biggest seller returns $1 billion to New Zealand's economy every year and there are many other examples right across the horticulture sector of this value-add. So as I was saying the bill satisfies the CPTPP. It makes good strides in terms of protecting IP and it does it in a uniquely New Zealand way. Inadequate plant variety rights legislation has been a problem for 30 years in New Zealand and this Government is solving this problem. I acknowledge the support from the National Party and hopefully other parties in this House will also support this bill as it goes through. Trade is the lifeblood of our economy. We are a small nation. The reality is as a small nation we can't and we shouldn't make all the products so we make the products that we specialise in and we sell them to the world. Other countries make products that they specialise in and they sell them to the world. If we didn't have free and open trade across the world countries the size of New Zealand would really struggle. Our standard of living would be nowhere near where it is at the moment.I'd like to acknowledge the arable sector in New Zealand. The previous member spoke about seeds and the IP that goes into seeds and he is exactly right. I think it's important that we continue to highlight this. Look as someone who lives in the city I feel like I have a connection to our rural New Zealanders. Both my uncles are in the agricultural sector; both have farms. I've worked on those farms and it's important for people who live in the city to have an appreciation of our agricultural and our horticultural sector and some of the risks that they take in terms of business. They are very dependent on the weather at many times and we have seen in terms of climate change some of the challenges that are coming and as a Government we will continue to work with those in the agricultural and horticultural sector to support them. But everything that we can do we will support. Just touching on some of the changes that the select committee made—and the Minister highlighted them but just to dig into them a little bit more—the first is the inclusion of the right of appeal to decisions made by the Māori Plant Varieties Committee and our select committee felt that this was important in terms of fairness. We felt that there needed to be a right of appeal and we're obviously making that recommendation to the House. In recognising that Māori should be self-determining about issues affecting Māori the bill as introduced did not include an appeal right which meant these decisions could only be challenged through judicial review. But it's important for legislation to provide adequate pathways for those whose rights are affected to challenge a decision. The bill as reported back includes the right of appeal to the Māori Appellate Court. Just a couple of other changes: revising the purpose clause and including a separate Treaty of Waitangi clause to better reflect the Crown's obligations; aligning the definition of an essentially derived variety with the wording in UPOV-91—and obviously it's important that we are consistent with UPOV-91 to achieve international consistency—as I mentioned before extending the term of a PVR for potatoes from 20 to 25 years; and finally adding a requirement to consult with Te Puni Kōkiri before making appointments to the Māori Plant Varieties Committee. This is an excellent piece of legislation. It's certainly needed and in a country like ours where we are so dependent on trade this bill will support our horticultural sector—our many businesses who do absolutely amazing work in the horticultural sector. So this bill will continue to support them as they trade internationally. I commend it to the House.