the way that the study is conducted or the choice of study or the cost
of the study, the accountability is
that that minister gets
voted out. Thank you. I call the Hon Eugenie
Sage. Tena koe, Madam Speaker.
Tena koe. What is not to like about this
is interested in protecting is interested in protecting
consumers. We've just
had Alastair Scott again, as Mr
Mitchell talked about dancing on the
head of a pin. National seems
National seems to be reluctantly supporting this bill, giving
all the reasons why it doesn't really want
to support it. Giving
all the reasons why it doesn't trust
the Commerce Commission but,
Madam Speaker, this bill is about
ensuring that markets operate well by
giving the Commerce Commission
and the minister the ability to
conduct market studies because this
Government is interested in ensuring
that consumers are protected
and that we have some checks
and balances on the way in which the
market operates. So there is
a test of whether or not it is
in the public interest. I have a great
deal more confidence than the previous
speaker that the Commerce
Commission will be able to
determine whether a market study is in the
public interest or not. It
is also ensuring that New Zealand catches up
with the rest of the OECD and with around
40 other
other countries internationally, which have a similar power of
doing market investigations. But, oh
no, market investigations. But, oh
no, the National Party only wants
these to happen if the minister decides,
it doesn't trust
the Commerce Commission. So when we want to
ensure that New Zealanders
get really fair and
appropriate treatment, as the minister said
in his first reading speech, by
delivering competitive markets
and supporting honest business, this is
one ball that will help
make that happen. My colleague, our
commerce spokesman Gareth Hughes has
sucked that one of the
spokesman Gareth Hughes has sucked
that one of the first times this market investigation should
be used when the bill is passed is to
look at the duopoly around
supermarkets and to do
and to do a market study there because we have seen
in the submissions that have been
done by organisations like
organisations like the Food and Grocery Council and some of the
concerns that they have raised about
the duopoly powers that this
is ripe for a proper study. So that's what
this bill is intended to do. The
National Party seems to want to
protect its idealogical base of
markets working virtually
untrembled.
markets working virtually
the House we want to make sure markets work well
and protect consumers. The
consumers. The National Party when consumers. The National Party when
in the Government set about
doing the marketed review
of the Commerce Act that developed some
of the proposals that are in this bill
be it failed to proceed to intro
traduce legislation to this House
and that is what the Government and
the minister the
Hon Kris Faafoi has done.
the minister the Hon Kris Faafoi has done. So when we've got
a tourism industry that is so important to our
economy and 3.7 million arrivals
in 2017 and that is expected to
increase to over 5 million by 2025,
most of those
international arrivals come in via our airports and this is
another area where it would
be entirely suitable for the Commerce
Commission to undertake a
market study because of the concerns
that have been raised by the board of
airline representatives and others
about the
about the potentially, cessive profits that some airport companies
airport companies have and the fact that they are
targeting that, they are charging users
highly and they are not recognising that if
we are going to have a
successful tourism industry, we need to ensure that
airports are operating so that we
get the regional benefits of
distributed tourism, that we get an
ability for airlines
to negotiate effectively with those airports,
effectively with those airports,
that they don't abuse the power that
they have of being the sole operator
in our major metropolitan areas
and so, this is another example of why
we need this bill and why
it should always be possible for
the Commerce Commission and not
just the minister, to initiate these
market studies, because I would have
thought, Mr Scott,
that the National Party would recognise
that good decisions
decisions. That if the Government is going to intervene with more
going to intervene with more
regulation and, for example, the
supermarket sector or with airports,
that you would want that to
have been preceded by a market study
to see how that market is operating
to see
see what regulatory interventions are needed, to see whether
there are other levers that the Government
should be pulling. So this bill is
a very
should be pulling. So this bill is a other
should be pulling. So this bill is a very sensible bill
because it enables that to happen and
gives the Commerce Commission more teeth. If
you were going to have an effective
market regime, you
need that market regime, you need that
regulator to have a variety of
levers available to it. So,
if Green Party commence this bill and hopes
that it passes promptly.
Party commence this bill and hopes that it passes promptly. Thank
you. I call the Hon Jacqui Dean. Speaking
to the Commerce Amendment Bill and
the last speech that has just been
given has
given has illustrated very neatly and very clearly why business
confidence is tanking in
New confidence is tanking in New
confidence is tanking in New Zealand. Absolutely,
Zealand. Absolutely, undeniably, when you have a minister inside
of Cabinet who