Mentions of Commerce Commission in New Zealand Parliament debates

KEITH LOCKE ... that have search powers, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Commerce Commission, the Customs Service, etc., and all of these agencies, for the next 6 months, until we deal with the Search and ...

KEITH LOCKE ... the law that allows for an officer to go inside a liquor establishment and leave a covert video camera there. The Commerce Commission has search powers under the Fair Trading Act. Its officers can go into a shop and leave a covert video camera there. ...

HONE HARAWIRA ... police any more—but to the Inland Revenue Department, the Department of Internal Affairs, fisheries officers, and the Commerce Commission. I can think of innumerable families in and around where I live who are likely to wake up with a camera in their ....

KEITH LOCKE ... points. I made some points about what could happen with agencies—the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Commerce Commission, the New Zealand Customs Service, etc., etc.—leaving covert video cameras as a result of exercising search warrants on ...

KEITH LOCKE ... said, this applies not just to the police but also to any agency with warranted search powers, which can include the Commerce Commission, the Department of Conservation, the New Zealand Customs Service, the Department of Internal Affairs, and the New ...

Hon SIMON POWER ... Treaties and Enforcement) Amendment Bill, the Māori Purposes Bill, the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2), and the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill, and of any bills into which those bills may be divided, and the ...

Hon DAVID PARKER ... The rate of increase dropped dramatically to, essentially, the rate of inflation. Then, under our watch, the Commerce Commission tried to get a handle on whether there was overcharging in the electricity wholesale and retail markets. That report ...

Hon DAVID PARKER ... is its failure to strip out some of the billions of dollars of excess pricing we have in electricity, as found by the Commerce Commission in its 2009 report—$4.8 billion of overcharging. Dr Smith will get to his feet and say we did nothing about it while ...

Hon DAVID PARKER ... know that the electricity market is uncompetitive. There were $4.3 billion of excess profits stripped out of it. The Commerce Commission found that out just after Labour left office, when the commission reported back on the inquiry we had started. Since ...

Hon STEVEN JOYCE ... appear in, and be supported by, legislation, as they have been since 2001. We have found a way to ensure that the Commerce Commission can have oversight over the wholesale pricing of the fibre network, while also maintaining an appropriate certainty of ...

CLARE CURRAN ... up under the structural separation, especially now that the Minister has guaranteed it that any costs incurred by Commerce Commission regulation will be worn by the taxpayer—an indemnity to Telecom; that is truly selling the law. What incentive will ...

Hon TREVOR MALLARD ... thought Government involvement in broadband was a waste of money, was critical. We have made it very clear that the Commerce Commission will be involved in this area in a way that it is not allowed to be under the current legislation. That could well have—...

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE ... forbearance period—the regulatory holiday—that the Government proposed, which took the cop off the beat. The Commerce Commission is the industry cop that stops people from abusing market power, but that regulatory holiday would have tied the ...

Hon DAVID PARKER ... the Telecommunications (TSO, Broadband and Other Matters) Amendment Bill that were to have limited the ability of the Commerce Commission to intervene in the event of uncompetitive practices by participants in the telecommunications industry and the ...

Hon TREVOR MALLARD ... just outrageous that we have a Government that puts into law a guaranteed return of that type, then says that if the Commerce Commission finds later on that the company is rorting, the Government will make up the money to it. If the Commerce Commission ...

CLARE CURRAN ... severely flawed, as they explicitly exclude price and non-price terms for bottleneck services. The limited form of Commerce Commission oversight was discussed at great length at the Finance and Expenditure Committee. We believe that what has been ...

Hon DAVID PARKER ... considered the legislation. Various parties, including the Labour Party, were concerned at the suggestion that the Commerce Commission would have no jurisdiction following the passage of Part 2, which inserts new Part 4AA into the primary legislation, ...

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE ... was the so-called regulatory forbearance period—the regulatory holiday—which meant that the Crown’s regulator, the Commerce Commission, would simply be unable to look at unbundled fibre contracts, ultra-fast broadband contracts, for a period of 8½ years ...

Hon STEVEN JOYCE ... discrimination requirement within Chorus between layer 1 and layer 2, which is being monitored and enforced by the Commerce Commission. It is a good story, I say to Mr Cunliffe, but it does not actually hold any water. The full equivalence of inputs ...

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE ... by the industry or the public. But it was not, as the Government said, a full repeal of regulatory forbearance. The Commerce Commission is unable to adjudicate certain aspects until 2018—

CLARE CURRAN ... are also questions about what the impact on the Crown will be if the pricing situation does not work, and if the Commerce Commission decides that the pricing is not right and that it needs to intervene. If the Minister of the day is forced into a ...

CLARE CURRAN ... of the arrangements being undertaken through contractual arrangements, and with little or no public scrutiny. The Commerce Commission is being held at arm’s length and held away from regulation in this area, and many of those issues will not be able to ...

Hon STEVEN JOYCE ... by the committee and by submitters in relation to the bill was regulatory forbearance, as the bill prevents the Commerce Commission from regulating wholesale prices. Although I consider that the concerns raised were mostly theoretical, officials and ...

CLARE CURRAN ... after his bill came back to the House, and it was done under force. Consequently, the compromise position allows the Commerce Commission to regulate pricing on fibre, but if the commission believes that prices should go lower at some point, Steven Joyce ...

Hon TREVOR MALLARD ... rent in a way that is totally inappropriate. There has been a lot of discussion about the involvement of the Commerce Commission. There is debate, and it will be ongoing, about whether the present arrangement is better than the arrangement that ...

Hon TARIANA TURIA ... to clause 18A to require the Minister to consult with interested parties, including Māori, industry participants, the Commerce Commission, and consumers when conducting the review. A particularly significant development arising from negotiations with the Māo...

Hon STEVEN JOYCE ... that are competitive with those for other services currently in the market. Therefore, before 31 December 2019 the Commerce Commission may not recommend to the Minister regulation of access to the providers network. The commission will have the ability ...

CLARE CURRAN ... part of the bill, the proposal to introduce a 10-year regulatory forbearance period, up to 2019. This prevents the Commerce Commission from playing a watchdog role over ultra-fast broadband and perhaps the rural broadband initiative prices, as it has ...

RAHUI KATENE ... processors. Their track record of being the recipient of numerous complaints against uncompetitive behaviour to the Commerce Commission indicates that Fonterra actively works against independent suppliers.” In other words, Fonterra’s dominance means that ...

Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR ... and demand from legislation, which is the protection and betterment of New Zealand. The next point relates to the Commerce Commission. The trigger that we talk about—and which we are changing, so we are going round and round here—was the market-share ...

IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY ...(9), “For the purposes of this section, other relevant government agency means any agency of the Crown (other than the Commerce Commission), whether a department, a corporation, a Crown entity, a Crown Research Institute, or another organisation or ...

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON ... of Commerce, would devise and publish terms of reference for that review, which would be undertaken either by the Commerce Commission or by officials, depending on the complexity, depth of analysis, and information requirements. The review would ...

RAYMOND HUO ... second matter is related to a Supreme Court case that I cited earlier in the first reading of the bill. The case is Commerce Commission v Carter Holt Harvey Ltd. The brief background of that case is as follows: in October 2002 the ...

RAYMOND HUO ... might apply in certain circumstances. Earlier, in the bill’s second reading, I cited the 2009 Supreme Court case Commerce Commission v Carter Holt Harvey Ltd. The issues are relevant to this particular bill, and particularly relevant ...

RAYMOND HUO ... of this Limitation Bill. The Supreme Court’s ruling is the latest development in long-running litigation by the Commerce Commission against Carter Holt Harvey Ltd relating to the misgrading of timber prior to November 2003. The Supreme Court has ...

Hon BILL ENGLISH ... between the two commissions. The commission will be an independent Crown entity similar to the Law Commission and the Commerce Commission. This will allow important policy issues to be examined at arm’s length from the Government of the day. It will have ...

CHARLES CHAUVEL ... that there is some proposal that we might take this approach in competition regulation, with the chairman of our Commerce Commission being dual-warranted in respect of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. That is a very good approach; ...

Hon HEATHER ROY I rise to speak on behalf of the ACT Party to the first reading of the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill. The ACT Party is pleased to support this bill at its first reading. As ...

KATRINA SHANKS It is my pleasure to take a call on the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill tonight. The proposals in the bill are part of the single economic market ...

TE URUROA FLAVELL Kia ora anō tātou katoa. Just as an opening comment, I say that the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill is entirely consistent with the range of legislation that has been ...

RAYMOND HUO ... economic market agenda with Australia. The primary objective of this bill is to facilitate cooperation between the Commerce Commission and its overseas counterparts, most notably the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Both the Commerce ...

JONATHAN YOUNG I am very pleased to speak on the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill. We are a small trading nation. We export 85 percent of what we produce, ...

STUART NASH I find myself in the unusual position this sitting period of standing to support a Government bill—that is, the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill. The reason I say this is that the tax legislation supporting the Budget ...

MELISSA LEE ... from members on the other side of the House. It is a pleasure to rise and speak to the first reading of the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill. I will take the time to take a short call. Economic growth, as many ...

PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA When I last spoke on the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill I stated how many of our businesses in New Zealand look to expand into ...

CLARE CURRAN Firstly, I would like to commend my colleague the Hon Lianne Dalziel for her work on the Commerce Commission (Co-operation, and Fees) Bill—a Labour bill—which is part of a work programme supporting the memorandum of ...

DAVID CLENDON Kia ora koutou. I have not given the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill very close scrutiny, but it appears, on the surface, to be quite a ...

Hon SIMON POWER I move, That the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill be now read a first time. At the appropriate time I intend to move that ...

Hon LIANNE DALZIEL ... pleased to follow the Minister of Commerce, Simon Power, and to indicate that Labour will support the referral of the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill to the Commerce Committee, where I am sure we will enjoy the opportunity ...

PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA ... to support this bill, along with the Minister and the chairperson of the Commerce Committee. The proposals in the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill are part of the single economic market outcomes framework, which was ...

KEVIN HAGUE ... and those who might wish to test the concession to have a viable go the next time. I am mindful of the work of the Commerce Commission in respect of laboratory services for the Otago and Southland district health boards. The Commerce Commission had the ...

Hon SIMON POWER ... of the Unit Titles Bill; and the first readings of the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill and the Commerce Commission (International Co-operation, and Fees) Bill. The Government is moving to accord urgency for the Environment ...

PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA ... is not the role of the Government, but it has been quite clear in the last 24 hours, in the settlement between the Commerce Commission and ING (NZ) and ANZ, that when risk is misrepresented, mispriced, and inappropriately shown to be something that it ...

JOHN BOSCAWEN ... Office seems to have taken far, far too long to put effort into investigating the collapses that have occurred, the Commerce Commission has been beavering away for more than 12 months, looking at whether ING and ANZ misrepresented the situation and ...

Hon JOHN CARTER ... energy efficiency to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, the approval of grid upgrade proposals to the Commerce Commission, and the management of supply emergencies to Transpower. The new authority will be required to focus on getting the ...

CHRIS HIPKINS ... exorbitant rise in electricity prices that people have seen. It will do nothing to address the concerns raised by the Commerce Commission in its recent report on the electricity market. In fact, it raises a whole lot of new concerns. It simply goes back to ...

CHRIS HIPKINS ... transfers the approval of Transpower’s grid upgrade plans away from the Electricity Commission, as it is now, to the Commerce Commission. I think that is quite a significant move. One of the reasons that I am concerned about that is that we need overall ...

Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR ... panel to take a complaint? There is no answer. The Government does not know. Then there is the issue of whether the Commerce Commission or the rulings panel has priority in terms of a ruling over commercial negotiations or failure in commercial ...

H V ROSS ROBERTSON ... what analysis has been done on the costs or benefits of the proposed relocation of roles amongst the authority, the Commerce Commission, Transpower, the Security and Reliability Council, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Minister. What ...

Hon DAVID PARKER ... As a consequence, consumers have ended up paying twice. We were left with rundown lines companies, and the Commerce Commission, which was subsequently appointed as a regulator of the lines businesses, came in and regulated their returns. But the ...

Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR ...; it pervades most of our legislation. So we have the Electricity Authority, the rulings panel, the High Court, and the Commerce Commission. What a dog’s breakfast, from a Government that says it will simplify everything and will get rid of compliance. I ask ...

CHRIS HIPKINS ... know that splitting up the Electricity Commission into all of the different agencies—the Electricity Authority, the Commerce Commission, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, and Transpower—splitting up all its functions and scattering them ...

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE ... may be the most cost-effective supply option. The committee has removed disincentives for such deals by requiring the Commerce Commission to account for the costs of any deal for price-control purposes. Finally, the committee has made numerous smaller ...

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE ... in the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. The approval of grid upgrades will be transferred to the Commerce Commission, to ensure that all grid expenditure is considered in an integrated manner. There will also be a security and ...

Hon DAVID PARKER ... for spending on that infrastructure. Now that those lines companies are regulated in their price path through the Commerce Commission it is probably not so bad if they re-enter retail competition. We will look at that. But it is nonsense that we are ...

Hon DAVID PARKER ... that amendment said was that before major emitters in the power industry got free emissions they had to show to the Commerce Commission that the prices would have gone up but for that extra free allocation. The reason I put that amendment forward was ...

SHANE ARDERN ... one entity that was going to control at that time about 96 percent of all milk production in New Zealand. The Commerce Commission had major concerns about what would happen if small competitors in the industry tried to set up and Fonterra used its ...

COLIN KING ... is 90 percent of the industry, but that is 90 percent with conditions. I sometimes lament the watchful eye of the Commerce Commission when it tries to make sure that all the competition rules are in place. When Fonterra was formed, it had to pick up ...

KEVIN HAGUE ... being both a regulator and a participant. The Commerce Committee has made some adjustments, and it has retained the Commerce Commission as a co-regulator. That may well address the issue adequately, but we must remain vigilant and monitor that particular ...

RAHUI KATENE ... in order, the Solicitor-General, the State Services Commissioner, the Commissioner of Police, the chair of the Commerce Commission, the Chief Justice, a judge of the Supreme Court, the President of the Court of Appeal, the chief of the New Zealand ...

Hon STEVEN JOYCE ... the telephone and broadband space. Members will be aware of the investigations into mobile termination services. The Commerce Commission’s final report is due to me in December of this year. Of course, there is the issue of national roaming, which remains ...

KEITH LOCKE ... about what other agencies granted extended search powers under this bill might do. These agencies range from the Commerce Commission, the Reserve Bank, the Civil Aviation Authority, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The granting of such ...

RAHUI KATENE ... Wine Act, to name a few. A wide range of regulatory schemes also come within the scope of the bill, ranging from the Commerce Commission to industry-specific regulatory bodies such as the Civil Aviation Authority, and the Meat Board. We want to be assured ...

JOHN BOSCAWEN ... their rights. They surrendered their rights to benefit from any future legal action or from any action brought by the Commerce Commission under the Fair Trading Act. A small subset of those investors, some 2,800 who took direct advice from the ANZ Bank, ...

Hon LIANNE DALZIEL ... it says that those who accepted the 60c in the dollar should release ING from any consequences that may flow from a Commerce Commission investigation. I cannot believe that members of the Government think that that is OK, because it is not OK. That is ...

MICHAEL WOODHOUSE ... and I understand the Minister has said this too, is that we should not cut across the existing inquiries by the Commerce Commission and other authorities into that collapse. We need to tread carefully in that regard, and I am sure the committee will. ...

DAVID SHEARER ... that we have to put this bill through under urgency? The review recommended extending the inspection powers to the Commerce Commission. It recommended that consideration be given to amending the inspection powers set out in sections 124 to 129 of the ...

Hon HEATHER ROY ... car market traders, who spend much time ensuring that private sellers complete the forms, and it diverts much of the Commerce Commission’s enforcement time. Under this bill, traders who use car markets will still need to display the notices, and car ...

CRAIG FOSS ... company, because of its exorbitant pricing, and because it is taking advantage of the vulnerable, is up against the Commerce Commission. I also understand that there are some quite extreme collateral obligations around those companies, which, now they ...

CHARLES CHAUVEL ... Accountants, as it then was; the New Zealand Business Roundtable; the Ministry of Economic Development; and the Commerce Commission. The Ministry of Justice then commissioned an independent review from David Goddard QC, and his report was included in ...

GORDON COPELAND ... Zealanders to be paying well over $3, and up to $4 at the moment, for 2 litres of milk. Accordingly I wrote to the Commerce Commission on 28 April and asked it to start an investigation into this matter. I received a response from the chief commissioner ...

SUE KEDGLEY ... be exorbitant and not justified by the inputs into them. So the Green Party would strongly endorse the need for the Commerce Commission, or the Commerce Committee of this Parliament, to investigate these matters. I would like to talk briefly on the ...

CHRIS AUCHINVOLE ... lacks certainty of regulation. Why does it say that? These are real issues regarding the relationship between the Commerce Commission, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, and the Electricity Commission. This Government has been very keen ...

Hon LIANNE DALZIEL ... Second, the tests and processes for deciding whether, and how, to regulate have been improved. An inquiry by the Commerce Commission will need to show there is little or no likelihood of competition, that there is scope for the exercise of substantial ...

SIMON POWER ... we pass into law can have an effect we do not anticipate. That is why it is important to keep a close watch on the Commerce Commission’s work in the area of determining these input methodologies. The inability for legislators to see the future is also ...

LINDSAY TISCH ... to predict the outcome. National will be watching very closely as we monitor the progress of this bill, under the Commerce Commission, to see that the points we have raised will be realised. There was a question mark over resources and how the changes ...

Hon LIANNE DALZIEL ... where the previous law has not allowed for certainty in investment decisions. The only way to get in front of the Commerce Commission in respect of negotiating administrative settlements was to breach a threshold. We are already on the back foot when ...

Hon LIANNE DALZIEL ... to the member. I was just jotting down and checking my recollection of what had happened. We have resourced the Commerce Commission to develop the input methodologies. It is a specific allocation for it to do that. The commission has already issued a ...

LINDSAY TISCH ... the committee indicated that some airport companies over-recovered in regard to their airfield activities under the Commerce Commission scenario based on historic cost of those specialised assets, and also under the Commerce Commission scenario of using ...

Hon LIANNE DALZIEL ... these rules determine how financial statements should be prepared for regulatory purposes, they actually allow the Commerce Commission to identify whether a natural monopoly business is taking monopoly rents. So they are the fundamental part of any form ...

Dr RICHARD WORTH ... a clear emphasis on the importance of incentives for regulated businesses to invest, there is a requirement for the Commerce Commission to clearly set out the regulatory rules, which are called “input methodologies”, with all their complications applying ...

LINDSAY TISCH ... from pricing, and will be able to continue to set prices as they see fit. That will be one of the challenges the Commerce Commission has, and we will be looking very closely at what the regulations are and how this provision will work. I say to the ...

Hon LIANNE DALZIEL ... the cost of capital and value assets, allocate common costs, and so forth. To address this, the bill requires the Commerce Commission to develop as a priority the rules, requirements, and procedures—and we have described them as input methodologies—for ...

SIMON POWER ... open to the public—members on our side of the table were keen to know from the submitters whether they thought the Commerce Commission had the capacity and the expertise to deliver on time the detailed input methodology requirements for the purposes of ...

LINDSAY TISCH ... making it difficult for policy makers to predict the outcome. The question has been identified as being whether the Commerce Commission has the ability to implement the changes that we are looking at here. Does it have the resources? We will be watching ...

CHRIS TREMAIN ... regulatory regime go into the millions of dollars for these companies, as they address changing their prices with the Commerce Commission and the various other organisations that affect prices. Those are some of the key objectives in the bill. I will not ...

Hon LIANNE DALZIEL ... may not be regulated under the proposal unless the Minister has the benefit of advice from a full inquiry by the Commerce Commission. Decisions on whether and how to regulate will rest with the Minister of Commerce, in consultation with the relevant ...

Hon PAUL SWAIN ... at the time a lot of these things were under the Airport Authorities Act. Although the Minister of Commerce and the Commerce Commission could have conducted inquiries into these matters, the next point was that there was available the use of only a very ...

Dr RICHARD WORTH ... types of changes that we see in the bill—particularly in the electricity industry. For example, in January 2006 the Commerce Commission announced that it intended to take control of Transpower’s prices. The State-owned enterprise needed to spend ...

DAIL JONES ... supports the Commerce Amendment Bill going to the Commerce Committee. I believe I recently heard a comment from the Commerce Commission that it would be giving more attention to competition issues. I think that is a very responsible attitude and a very ...

NANDOR TANCZOS ... the way in which we regulate natural monopolies, so we can live with “consumers”. The second provision is that the Commerce Commission must provide incentives for energy efficiency, which I have mentioned. Finally, after years of the Green Party’s ...

Dr RICHARD WORTH ... huge tensions, huge difficulties, and huge losses. I would just express the hope, in that context, that the Commerce Commission and the Securities Commission, which are well resourced, take the steps that are appropriate to be taken in pursuing ...

Dr RICHARD WORTH ... Act, is one of two pieces of legislation that give powers to two commissions, the Securities Commission and the Commerce Commission, to take action in respect of investments that sour. Those two commissions consider that they have sufficient ...

Hon RICK BARKER ... eventually approved the chair’s proposal. Sometime shortly thereafter the chair’s proposal was struck down by the Commerce Commission, which required the district health board to let laboratory services on an open tender basis. The tender was ...

CHRIS AUCHINVOLE ... the permits properly gained, it will not be necessary now for small lines companies to seek special approval from the Commerce Commission. This means smaller companies can be spared that additional cost and can now consider getting out of the poverty trap ...

SIMON POWER ... Development and the commerce unit do, and, more particularly, what is the Ministry of Justice doing while the Commerce Commission continues to make that huge number of references by way of legislative change? However, in this particular case the ...

SUE BRADFORD ... are serious enough to go forward and, where necessary, refer them to other bodies too, like the police or the Commerce Commission. At the moment the system is run almost entirely in-house by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand. The ...

Hon BILL ENGLISH ... result. But it is very clear that there has been too much of a culture in that kind—as, for instance, in the Commerce Commission case against Carter Holt Harvey over that company’s misrepresentations on stress-tested timber. No one should be ...

Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE ... Paper adopted last night addresses these concerns. The first addition to the bill, Subpart 3 of Part 2, requires the Commerce Commission to investigate and report on the prices charged for examination services, within 3 years of the commencement of the ....

ERIC ROY ... to increase costs. As I said earlier, those who will be paying do not have a mechanism by which they can force the Commerce Commission to have a look at this. Why would we set up a Commerce Commission to oversee and ensure quality of spending, and the ...

KEITH LOCKE ... be reliant on a private agency. It is good that there was that Supplementary Order Paper to add in a role for the Commerce Commission; that gives some control over the situation. But the Green Party would certainly prefer a Crown-owned entity. Therefore,...

HONE HARAWIRA ... of our meat is Government-approved, and when the inspection services are set up in that way. We are happy that the Commerce Commission is to review the cost of those services and that the commission will report on whether their prices are in line with ...

COLIN KING ... to be a measurement of costs going forward, and the Minister talks about the fact that within 3 years there will be a Commerce Commission examination of costs going forward. That can all be forgotten about if the meat companies and the Commerce Commission ...

ERIC ROY ... would not apply to any merger of the two agencies. I thank the Minister for now putting in some triggers so that the Commerce Commission could have a look at that. I am referring, on Supplementary Order Paper 120 in his name, to Subpart 3, clause 12(3)(a),...

GORDON COPELAND ... order to ensure that competition exists and to ensure that where a monopoly exists, it is subject to oversight by the Commerce Commission. This bill pretty much negates all of those safeguards, as it was originally drafted. The Minister, to my pleasure, ...

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON ... and be subject to the rigours not only of the State-Owned Enterprises Act but also of the Commerce Act. If the Commerce Commission had to consider any authorisation by these two State-owned enterprises under Part 2, then I am sure no clearance would ...

COLIN KING ... amendments being proposed. One amendment that I strongly endorse is Eric Roy’s amendment that as far as having the Commerce Commission and the Meat Industry Association decide whether prices in meat inspections services have gone up, that a third party, ...

Hon DAVID CARTER ... Supplementary Order Paper put forward by Mr Mallard is a real sop. New subpart 3, in new clause 12, states that the Commerce Commission must, within 3 years, investigate the prices charged for meat inspection services in New Zealand. We might think that ...

Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE ... to address those concerns. These clauses provide that, firstly, export red meat inspection prices will be subject to Commerce Commission scrutiny within 3 years of the enactment of the bill; and, secondly, should overseas regulatory authorities in ...

NATHAN GUY ... hand and said: “You dare. You dare do that.” He warned AgriQuality and, as a consequence, he may well have breached a Commerce Commission law. Now we have a mad panic to try to get this bill through, because Mr Mallard has come down with a heavy hand on ...

GORDON COPELAND ... its support for the bill subject to two conditions. The first of those is that 3 years from the enactment date, the Commerce Commission will review the position to ensure that the prices being charged conform with the general principles of the Commerce ...

DAVE HEREORA ... Future made two points in the amendments it put forward. The first is: “That three years from the enactment date the Commerce Commission will review the provision of meat inspection services to ensure that the prices charged conform with the general ...

MOANA MACKEY ... are not out to rort the sector for every cent they can get. But I still think it is wise to have prices subject to Commerce Commission scrutiny, and I am sure that that will be welcomed by many members in the House. The second amendment just ...

Dr PITA SHARPLES ... was suggested by the New Zealand Amalgamated Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union in its submission to the Commerce Commission. It is the union’s view that employer licences have the potential to compromise the safety of both workers and the ...

Hon NANAIA MAHUTA ... The extension by 2 years of the regulation of these services is entirely consistent with the recent report by the Commerce Commission. Submissions to the select committee were supportive, and no submissions were received opposing the proposal. I ...

PANSY WONG ... Bill, which set up a 5-year time frame for the 13 regulated services to be investigated and finalised by the Commerce Commission. In 2001 one of the many Ministers of Communications in the last 7 years, the Hon Paul Swain—it was his turn—proclaimed...

Hon BRIAN DONNELLY ... Communications Legislation Bill, extends for 2 years some work that should have been completed by December 2006. The Commerce Commission now says it cannot guarantee that it will be finished by 2006. That work was set in place by the Telecommunications ...

LINDSAY TISCH ... although it is mainly of a technical nature. Under the 2001 Act, telecommunications companies can apply to the Commerce Commission for determination on the terms and prices of access to specific services. In 2001 Labour made it very clear that it ...

JOHN KEY ... that sent the stock price of Vector up 10 percent—and on the Wednesday it could be sent down 10 percent because the Commerce Commission then put it under price control.” They do not understand why the Prime Minister of New Zealand thinks it is really ...

HONE HARAWIRA ... Bill, and the Fair Trading Amendment Bill, so it is supposed to change the way that business is done with the Commerce Commission, the Securities Commission, and the Takeovers Panel. This group of bills also brings in what is called a standard of ...

CHRIS TREMAIN ... with the likes of clauses such as 3A, containing new section 17B, which allows the sharing of information between the Commerce Commission and the Securities Commission, and new section 55F, proposed to be inserted by clause 8, which increases the amount of ...

KEITH LOCKE ... Westpac, have not always played very fair in New Zealand society. There was, of course, a big battle with the Commerce Commission over currency transaction fees relating to credit cards. It is interesting to note that Westpac was the worst offender ...

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE ... amendments to the bill on that matter at this time. There is a very good reason for that. The reason is that the Commerce Commission currently has those two services under review and out for public submissions in a schedule 3 process under the Act. It ...

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE ... public consultation. The committee has also included firm and appropriate powers to enable the Minister and the Commerce Commission to ensure that a robust, three-way operational separation will be achieved, so that others are treated the same, or in ...

Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU ... to offer services on a more equal footing. That is obviously to be welcomed. The bill contains the ability for the Commerce Commission to set the terms and conditions for competitors to access Telecom’s wires, and to constantly monitor performance of ...

PANSY WONG ... sector. None of us wants to see those providers spending a lot of time arguing and debating in front of the Commerce Commission, but the fact is that these types of intrusive tools will, without clear guidelines of when the Commerce Commission ...

TE URUROA FLAVELL ... will be subject to a greater degree of Government regulation. I understand that the bill enhances the ability of the Commerce Commission to intervene strategically to promote the development of competition in the telecommunications markets. Phone and ...

NANDOR TANCZOS ... has the opportunity to take some independent, positive steps forward. Of course, the provision that allows the Commerce Commission to recognise formal undertakings and accept and enforce voluntary supply commitments and the like in lieu of ...

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON ... Parker, who was then, before he resigned, the Minister of Transport; and Lianne Dalziel, who is in charge of the Commerce Commission. I ask members to put up their hands if they think that code-share was not discussed. There is one hand in the ...

Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN ... loop, provision for naked DSL, removing the upstream limit on bitstream unbundling and increasing the powers of the Commerce Commission.

Those announcements also indicated a commitment to proceed at least as far as ...

CHRIS TREMAIN ... is extended by an Order in Council on the recommendation of the Minister, following an investigation by the Commerce Commission. At the moment the Finance and Expenditure Committee is dealing with the likes of the local loop unbundling issue ...

PANSY WONG ... in 2001 to enable 12 communications services to be so-called designated—that is, services are to be regulated by the Commerce Commission. But let us reflect on that, because in 2001, when the Government assigned those 12 designated services, the Minister ...

PHIL HEATLEY ... that the Minister in the chair, the Hon David Parker, through lack of leadership, has now got a situation where the Commerce Commission has to have 2 extra years to deal with the complexities of the 10 provisions in clause 4. The Minister might see ...

COLIN KING ... the communications sector. The company that put forward that submission made the point that the experience of the Commerce Commission’s previous investigations and determinations suggests that the commission’s proposed timetable may slip, and that any ...

PANSY WONG ... that he would sort it out, that in 5 years’ time all those 13 designated services would have been sorted out by the Commerce Commission. But I would like to introduce another perspective into Part 1. It seems to me that lots of the public have shown ...

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE ... committee were supportive of that and no submissions were received opposing the proposal. Under the present Act, the Commerce Commission can recommend that regulation be extended. Although the commission has initiated an investigation, there remains a ...

PANSY WONG ... services were identified as designated services. The telecommunications companies needed to apply to the Commerce Commission for a determination on the terms of and process for access to those specified services. Five years ago those 13 ...

PHIL HEATLEY ... the reasons for them. Under the Telecommunications Act 2001, telecommunications companies can apply to the Commerce Commission if they want a determination on the terms and the price of access to specified services. Thirteen services were ...

DIANNE YATES ... to extend the period of regulation for 10 specified telecommunications services to December 2008, allowing time for a Commerce Commission review to be completed. Part 2 amends the Radiocommunications Act 1989 to clarify and update the radio spectrum ...

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE ... 2006, unless extended by an Order in Council on the recommendation of the Minister, following an investigation by the Commerce Commission. The necessary investigations by the commission are under way, but final decisions may not be able to be acted on by ...

Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON ... this bill is that it seeks to extend the expiry date of some of the regulated services by another 2 years so that the Commerce Commission can consider those services and report to the Minister of Communications. I have to ask the Minister, David Cunliffe, ...

JOHN KEY ... at all. We are starting to see some very interesting mutterings and utterances coming out of places like the Commerce Commission, which runs the risk, I think, of frightening off some New Zealand businesses in relation to the amount of investment ...

GORDON COPELAND ... whole period of time to keep that cost as low as possible to electricity consumers. It gets even worse in that the Commerce Commission has also, as one knows, been dabbling with taking price control over Transpower. We have some real problems with that ...

TIM GROSER ... for pursuing misleading and deceptive conduct—that is, the Securities Commission, the Takeovers Panel, and the Commerce Commission—are a very sensible change and we welcome that. I guess my main concern—and it is not original; it is shared by a ...

TIM GROSER ... tidying up of the provisions for the three relevant bodies, the Securities Commission, the Takeovers Panel, and the Commerce Commission, that are responsible for ensuring that deceptive practices are not left undetected. It is very sensible that the bill ...

PANSY WONG ... talking about this takeover, I say that we are also pleased that there is a proposal in this legislation that the Commerce Commission, the Securities Commission, and the Takeovers Panel will sensibly share some of that information, to ensure that our ...

BRIAN CONNELL ... law, and the same considerations suggest that the information-sharing power should be extended to encompass the Commerce Commission’s role under the Fair Trading Act. Again, I agree with that measure. It is a very significant and good initiative. My ...

PANSY WONG ... in relation to agencies such as the Securities Commission, which is a statutory body, the Takeovers Panel, and the Commerce Commission, all affected by this legislation? If they operate following the intent of this legislation, will they be left alone ...

BRIAN CONNELL ... had a fairly broad and far-reaching debate this evening. We have touched on the issue of sharing information with the Commerce Commission, which I think is something that is a good move, and I have already spoken to that. We have touched on management ...

Hon JUDITH TIZARD ... governing how and when the regulators of such conduct—the Securities Commission, the Takeovers Panel, and the Commerce Commission—can share information with each other. Changes proposed to the clause accepting actions in relation to a takeover ...

PANSY WONG ... those rules. The other part has to be the enforcement of the law. We have learnt of the heavy workload of the Commerce Commission. My colleague Brian Connell has just raised the issue of enforcement. The Labour Government is particularly interested ...