State-Owned Enterprises (AgriQuality Limited and Asure New Zealand Limited) Bill

The debate has been well canvassed, so I will not take long, except to say that it is with great sadness that we note the progress of the Supplementary Order Papers. We thought that we had an agreement with the Minister, Trevor Mallard, following Eric Roy’s involvement in suggesting Meat and Wool also be involved in the consultation process. It was certainly our understanding that the Minister has agreed to that, and I think it is a great shame that that has been lost.

I take the opportunity of repeating what was said earlier in the Committee in the debate on Part 2. This is a bill to satisfy the Public Service Association (PSA). There is absolutely no doubt about that. Bill Falconer, chairman of the Meat Industry Association, said to the select committee that the association was first advised of this legislation in June of 2006, not by the Government but by the PSA, which requested a meeting with the Meat Industry Association. When that meeting was convened it was the PSA that announced to the Meat Industry Association that a deal had been done with Labour caucus members, with Ministers, and with the Prime Minister, and that the Meat Industry Association had better get used to it. The Meat Industry Association then followed with a letter to the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon Jim Anderton, requesting a meeting as soon as possible to discuss this issue. Mr Anderton totally refused to meet with the industry. That is how our Minister of Agriculture treated this issue—he refused to meet the industry.

Next, the legislation finally came before the House and it was sent to the Commerce Committee, where the Government at that stage thought it had the numbers because Gordon Copeland sat on that committee for United Future. Mr Copeland, to his credit, listened to the submissions. He knew that this was dangerous because of the costs that would then be imposed on the meat industry. He had a deal done with Mr Mallard, again, that a Supplementary Order Paper would be tabled that would lessen some of the damage of the legislation—something that would be done in association with the Meat Industry Association and to its satisfaction. When that Supplementary Order Paper was finally produced by the Minister today, Gordon Copeland was completely let down. He now regrets that he supported it through the select committee, because he knows that this is some of the worst legislation that we have passed on the meat industry since the employment relations legislation and the accident compensation legislation were passed by the Government in its earlier years.

Suffice to say, we will watch with interest, as the PSA now has the ability to impose substantially increased charges on our meat producers throughout New Zealand. We will watch that, and we will certainly hope we see a responsible union. But, on past performance in this industry, I do not think that will be the case.

What a sad position the Hon David Carter finds himself in now that he is reduced in Parliament to being the official spokesperson for Gordon Copeland, an Independent member of Parliament. David Carter takes it upon himself to explain Mr Copeland’s position and how he is feeling about the bill in that regard.

My only reason for taking a call is briefly to put on record in Hansard that Mr Carter and consistency were not great friends this evening when he claimed in the Chamber that the Minister, Mr Mallard, had come to an agreement with Mr Roy on his amendment. That is not correct. I suspect that Mr Carter knows that is not correct, and, as he has taken his opportunity in his speech to put that claim on the record, I want to make sure that no one is under any belief that what he said was correct. It is wrong. He should stick to his new role of speaking on behalf of Mr Copeland on these matters. I think he is much better suited to that than to misrepresenting the position of the Hon Trevor Mallard on these matters.