McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): I unlike the previous speaker am delighted to speak on this bill. I am sure the House will be pleased to know that I will not be speaking for 30 seconds on something so important; I will be taking this opportunity to share with the people of New Zealand why this the Farm Debt Mediation Bill (No 2) is so important. This bill is about supporting the wellbeing of farmers which this Government is committed to through this bill and a number of other measures that we have introduced. We are committed to working with farmers to move away from a volume-focused approach to one that focuses on value. This bill sits directly alongside that. In his contribution before the Hon Nathan Guy asked a very interesting question. Why is it" he asked "that farmer confidence despite being in a situation where prices are at an all-time high is so low?" I have an inkling. It is because if farmers were to listen to the party that is supposed to—if you listen to them—represent rural areas you would think that there is nothing but gloom and doom on the horizon. How on earth could farmers be confident about the future when those MPs that represent those electorates tell them that there is no hope? How can they have confidence when they tell the farmers that there is no point staying in the industry? What this Government says through this bill and through the many other measures like the $229 million Sustainable Farming Fund which boosts farm extensions advisory services and tools like OVERSEER to help on the farm decision-making and practice is that this a Government that stands up for farmers.What we hear on the other side is no vision—a total lack of vision and a desire to stick with the status quo. I think that is why in the nine years of the previous National Government there was no bill like this the Farm Debt Mediation Bill (No 2). They have stood up but not for long: David Bennett was the only one to do a full call. It was an appalling speech but at least it was the full allotment. We had Hamish Walker for five minutes; Tim van de Molen for three; and Nathan Guy a former Minister was another short call. We had Matt King for three minutes; and of course the best of the lot was Joanne Hayes—for 30 seconds. At no point did they talk about in their contributions—in the nine years of the previous Government—DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member has now had the obligatory three minutes rant so could the member now come to the bill. I've been fair. KIERAN McANULTY: Madam Speaker I take exception—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I've been fair.KIERAN McANULTY: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I take exception to my speech—which is countering some of the others—being described as a rant.DEPUTY SPEAKER: No I'm saying to the member that he will now come to the bill because he's had—as I've given to many others—three minutes which are not about the bill but are about politics. So he will now come to the bill.Hon David Bennett: Yeah come on get to the bill. He hasn't read it.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you I'm quite capable.KIERAN McANULTY: This bill's great. This bill is what has long been needed and in my view should have been introduced a long long time ago. This bill as I said earlier is about supporting the wellbeing because the fact is that there is a power imbalance in the relationship with farmers and the banks. That is nothing new. That has been the case for a long time. I ask the very relevant question—relevant to the discussion today and certainly relevant to this bill—as farm debt increased to record highs of $62.8 billion: where was the last Government? This Government has come forward under the initial leadership of New Zealand First. I want to acknowledge the original sponsor of this bill who took it on in Mark Patterson—the true voice of Clutha-Southland—who brought this bill in its original form to this House. This Government took it on because it was so important and it deserved the resources and the oversight that a Government bill gets over a member's bill.What that bill said to the people of New Zealand is that New Zealand First and Labour and the Greens take this issue seriously. We've heard complaints on the other side.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Oh come on come on now. The speaker knows very well that a second reading speech is when the bill as it comes back from the select committee is accepted by the House. So at some stage in their speech they do need to refer to perhaps what's happened in the select committee to perhaps some of the changes some of the detail of the bill. So would the member please do the House the service of focusing on the elements of the bill?KIERAN McANULTY: I'd be delighted Madam Speaker and I appreciate the opportunity. In fact it was the next part on my notes here—as I'm sure you'll understand and appreciate.Despite having an appalling chair in David Bennett the Primary Production Committee worked together very well on this bill—Nathan Guy up to the point that he left replaced by Todd Muller and Amy Adams. They worked constructively.Hon David Bennett: How much are you going lose by next year?KIERAN McANULTY: I believe I've hit a nerve because this is the most David Bennett's had to say all day.We have worked constructively and I know that my colleague and friend Mark Patterson has appreciated the contribution particularly from Amy Adams in amending this bill and recommending some changes. Indeed the Minister himself acknowledged the work that the select committee did to bring forward some welcome changes that were needed to make sure that this bill was fit for purpose.We heard some submissions. There were three that stood out in particular. One was from Rural Women New Zealand as my friend Kiritapu Allan mentioned. The other was from those that are actually in the game: the mediators the ones that came along to the select committee and told stories of this power imbalance that this bill seeks to address.There was a question raised previously in another contribution that again is completely relevant to this conversation. Tim van de Molen the representative from Waikato said that banks work at every opportunity to avoid default with farmers. The question I pose is that either he can't have either been listening or he didn't understand the submissions that were brought forward at the select committee process because submitter after submitter after submitter often in tears told us of circumstances where the bank wasn't working with them to save their farm.It is regrettable that this bill or something similar was not introduced earlier because those guys would have been able to have the opportunity to mediate. I won't go as far because it would be unfair to suggest that their farms would have been saved. That is not what we're suggesting that this bill will do. But what this bill will do is introduce mediation into the process.There is one particular gentleman from Wairarapa whom I have been dealing with directly. His story is deeply saddening. It has touched me. I won't use his name because of his privacy but I guarantee he'll be watching today. I wish that there was compulsory mediation in place when he lost his farm. It is something that has affected him and his family deeply and I was sorry that the options available to me as a member of Parliament resident in Wairarapa and representing Wairarapa along with two others—Hon David Bennett: You don't represent Wairarapa.KIERAN McANULTY: Along with two others there.The fact is that the other side might take the opportunity to have a crack and have a go but I'm talking about something very serious here. I'm actually using the opportunity—the 10 minutes allotted to me—to talk about a real story. This bill would have introduced compulsory mediation into that process. He would have had the opportunity to address the serious and genuine concerns that he had with the process that he faced. He doesn't have a farm now and I fear that the only option available to him is through the courts.But nevertheless we must remain positive. We must look forward because this bill will bring in the provisions that too many farmers didn't have available to them at the time. Of course we could just simply say that mediation should be a compulsory mechanism in this process and leave them to it but we on this side of the House believe in fair intervention. We might not leave it to the market like the National Party traditionally do but we say that mediator costs will be shared equally between parties until a farmer's contribution reaches a fair amount. Above that in order to recognise the financial vulnerability and stress on farmers going through mediation any additional mediator costs will be borne by the creditors involved in the mediation. That is fair and that is a provision that came out of the select committee.I acknowledge those members that worked constructively with us: Amy Adams worked constructively; Nathan Guy and Todd Muller worked constructively; Hamish Walker when he was there worked constructively. This is an example to the people of New Zealand that actually when there are things that are important to rural New Zealand this Parliament comes together. The examples under the last two years of this Government are countless. Time and time again I have made this point when I've spoken up to speak on a bill that is relevant to rural New Zealand. It will be welcomed by the areas that many of us live in. It will be welcomed by those that have come into our electorate offices and told us of the sad stories of when they lost their family farm. For them and for those that will face those situations in the future I proudly commend this bill to the House.Bill read a second time."