Commerce Amendment Bill

We know that any discussion in the Committee of the whole House in respect of clauses 1 and 2 are wide-ranging and comprehensive debates, and do not—

💬 Hon Lianne Dalziel: Since when?

They are, as opposed to the particular discussions that the Committee may have had, in some detail, surrounding Parts 1 and 2. It is not my intention to engage in a wide-ranging debate on clauses 1 and 2, because it would seem that the Committee—apart from, I think, one party—is largely in agreement with the provisions. We have canvassed in detail many of the matters relating to the appeal provisions in respect of price setting and paths for price setting for electricity lines companies and gas companies. We have had lengthy discussions this afternoon about issues surrounding Part 2, although I believe we had those discussions in the Committee stage on Part 1 when talking about airports and airlines. We have canvassed matters around consumer-owned lines companies.

We have talked about the capacity of the Commerce Commission to deliver the input methodologies at the time they are required. We have had further discussions about merits review, and the potential for gaming and how that issue has been dealt with. We have had further discussions on matters relating to the purpose clause—in particular, the Minister addressed the Committee about the confidence she has that the consumer of tomorrow is protected by the purpose clause being wide enough. We will see how that goes. We have had further discussions, and heard from the Minister, about the Supplementary Order Paper. The Minister has addressed some of those matters and given the Committee an undertaking that the Commerce Commission has the capacity to deliver those input methodologies within the appropriate time frame.

This has been a slightly shortened debate, I think for only two reasons. The first, as I said earlier, is the near-unanimous support for the legislation by parties in the House, but, more particularly, because the select committee process itself was a detailed and painstaking process, which saw us move through many of these issues in a very, very detailed way. So for that reason there is probably not a lot I can add to this debate, except to say that overall what we will be looking for when this legislation is eventually bedded down, is that the intention of the legislation is actually occurring. Peculiar to this legislation, that will not necessarily be so in the short term for the large bulk of the matters that are passing through the House this afternoon, but we believe on this side of the Chamber that there will be many opportunities during the course of these provisions being enacted and being utilised, for us to stop and pause, not in a legislative sense but in a policy sense, to ensure that what this legislation is intended to do is actually occurring. Of course, that is always the test—the theory being applied in practice. Having said all of that, I will leave the matter there, unless any other member, including the Minister, has a contribution to make at this time.

Clause 1 agreed to.

Clause 2 agreed to.

Bill reported with amendment.

Report adopted.

Third Reading