Faafoi KrisBRETT HUDSON (National): Thank you Madam Chair. Well it's great to see you again Minister Faafoi—a simple question for you. We'll start off with market studies I think because I noticed that that's gone up by a bit in the Estimates. They're getting a bit of extra cash. I want to know Minister what is the Minister's commitment to value for money for public expenditure and the example I would give is the most recent—in fact the only—market study completed to date. When we got a progress update from the Commerce Commission they estimated that about $1.2 million at that stage had been expended by them in the work on the study. They couldn't estimate but it might be fair to say that something similar will have been expended by those private sector organisations that were caught up in the study and at the end of it not a single new idea emerged. What came forward in their report was the same things that the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment had uncovered at least two or three years earlier in their report. So Minister what commitment do you have to value for money for public expenditure? How will you ensure should you return in the position you are in post-election that future market studies will not simply expend taxpayer money to tell us things that we already know the answer to? Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): I thank the member for his question and to answer it directly we place a lot of value on value for public expenditure. I believe the appropriation for the Commerce Commission to undertake a market study was $1.5 million per annum so if I am to believe the number that the member has used in the House they will have come in under budget. But I will have to double-check that number if in fact that was—Brett Hudson: That was a progress number. Hon KRIS FAAFOI: —the number that the Commerce Commission did expend. Off the top of my head Mr Hudson I believe it may have been a little bit more than that. But if I look at the function of a market study which is a new function for the Commerce Commission I disagree with the member who posed the question about the effectiveness of a response to that market study. He would know that a piece of legislation is traversing the legislative process at the moment in order to ensure that consumers and businesses here in New Zealand have transparency and that we see more competition in the retail fuel market. If I think about when we set out on a mission to have the legislation for a market study and about a year and a half after that point when we initiated the first market study I'm quite proud to say that on this side of the House in what has seemed to be a very quick three years we've (a) been able to initiate and (b) been able to pass that legislation to have a market study and to have a piece of legislation to have an enduring solution to a problem that most motorists around the country have found or have always wondered why they were paying so much for their petrol. As the member will know the Commerce Commission did find that people were paying above what they thought was a fair price for their petrol and it should have been at a competitive level. So when I think about the value for money that we've got from the Commerce Commission market study the Government's response to that and what that will mean to the savings that will come about because of the increased transparency in the structure of the fuel market and also in terms of the increased competition that we will see around the country I see more players in the fuel market. I think a lot of New Zealanders once they see changes of the prices at the petrol bowser will think it's extremely effective expenditure for the savings that they will make for their families from running their cars on a weekly basis. I'm very proud that we were able to get that piece of legislation in to instigate market studies and I would like to commend the Commerce Commission for its thorough work. We're one for one so far and watch this space for what other markets we think need looking at in the best interests of consumers.