many market studies. What's that going to do for business confidence
continue to tank and they don't even know why. I understand this is a
split call. I call the Hon
Meka Whaitiri.
Whaitiri.
Speaker, and greetings to all members gathered in the House. Madam
Speaker, after that
last speaker, what can I say, we are a coalition
Government, we are a
coalition Government, wanting to get on to do
the hard yards. We had
a speaker that talked about apparently
being the party of the free market and had
every opportunity, Madam Speaker,
to usher this bill through. But I
want to commend my colleague the Hon
Kris Faafoi for bringing a well
considered bill, a bill
that actually gives the tools necessary
to the Commerce Commission.
As the Commerce Act says, and I quote, the
main aim of the Act is to
benefits of consumers and the market in
benefits of consumers and the market
Commerce Act be achieved if the tools are not readily available to
the commission. So what this bill
does is enable the
Commerce Commission in their wise judgement
to initiate market studies. Of
course, the Minister himself can
also initiate market studies. That's
all on this side that we want to be
informed when we make
decisions and we want to do it on good
evidence, and that's what the
market studies are about,
are about, Madam Speaker. I just wanted to point
are about, Madam Speaker.
because I am a member of the Infrastructure
Infrastructure and Transport select committee, Madam Speaker, and I'm
somewhat confused because in the
report back to the House from the
select committee, we've got this
piece that
select committee, we've got this
Party members do not support the bill in its current form. The
amendments proposed in
the departmental report do not address
the issues we have with the bill. We
therefore recommend
therefore recommend that the bill
confused, Madam Speaker. Is the Opposition supporting this bill or
are they not
Opposition supporting this bill or
I've been listening quite carefully to the contributions on that side of
the House in terms of their concerns
for not supporting it or, now, are
Scott from the select committee and hopefully we'll
hopefully we'll have another member from that side to get up and
actually make it clear to
the House whether they're supporting a
very sensible bill,
sensible bill, a sensible that gives the Commerce Commission the
right to undertake market studies. Yes, of
course, address the issues
around certain airports around our country.
That's really critical, particularly
for people like myself, a
tourism is a big economic opportunity for the areas I
come from. So making sure that we've got
the right tools that we
are ensuring that we are enabling more tourism to
come into our regional parts
of Aotearoa New Zealand. This is a
really important bill that
does, like I said, enable the Commerce
Commission bill to do
the market studies. Yes, people will
share what those market studies will be
but ultimately, the test is
the public interest
ultimately, the test is the public
Commission like my colleague the Hon Eugenie Sage, they will make the
right call. Led and
discussed with the Minister for Commerce himself,
the Hon Kris Faafoi. It is a
the other side didn't enable to get it through the House. I
absolutely commend it to the House so
we can ensure it gets through so we can
start doing the
things New Zealanders want from this
Government, and I commend this bill
to the House. I call
Lawrence Yule. It's a pleasure to make a call
on the Commerce Amendment Bill. I
wasn't on the select committee but
I do have some knowledge in this area.
For the Hon Meka Whaitiri who spoke
before us, I want to make it very
clear from my humble position on the
backbenches that the National Party
is supporting this bill