Estimates Debate — Primary Sector (continued)

What a fantastic Budget this is for the primary sector, Budget 2017—the best ever. There has been $170 million invested into the primary sector. Yesterday I was down on the Taieri plains. Many of you will know where that is, and for those of you listening who do not, it is very close to Dunedin Airport—very, very wet. Just 10 days ago they had a huge deluge of rain. I was out there talking to farmers, and my heart goes out to those farmers who are still working their way through floodwater that in places is about a metre to a metre and a half deep. I saw this one very interesting photo of a farmer standing in the pit of his cowshed—and for those of you who do not know, a pit is a bit like a swimming pool, normally without the water, so that he or she can put the milking equipment on to the cow’s udder. Well, he was standing almost up to his navel in water, milking his cows. He had the pump operating, and as quick as the water was coming out of his cowshed, it was coming back in. Now, that is the overall resilience and resourcefulness of our primary sector. They are getting on and doing the job. We have announced a small amount of support for our farmers down there, to ensure that they can get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

When I got back from Dunedin last night I turned on the TV screen in my office, and who did I see talking about the appropriations to do with the primary sector but New Zealand First and Labour—very critical about biosecurity. For those listeners who were listening or watching last night, I just want to make sure that they reflect on those naysayer comments that occurred last night. In particular, what they did not acknowledge is that Budget 2017 is investing $18.4 million in the biosecurity system. This bumps it up to an all-time high of $248 million. That means that we can do more. We can review the most at-risk import health standards. We can ensure that we are educating New Zealanders about the importance of the biosecurity system. If there is one thing that myrtle rust has done, it has done a huge amount about educating New Zealanders about what it means. Over 700,000 New Zealanders have reached out to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) or on social media to understand what myrtle rust is all about. That has been great engagement from New Zealanders. Ultimately, we want to have 4.7 million New Zealanders who understand more about biosecurity by 2025.

Also, this investment will focus on technology, because soon we will have in place, instead of having dogs—although we will probably never get rid of them; these are the fantastic beagles that detect all sorts of odours and scents when people come off the cruise liners or come off the planes at our airports—we will have electronic sniffer dogs. So you will walk down a corridor, you will not even know that the machine is working, and then one of our compliance officers will pop out at the end of the corridor and probably infringe you with a $400 infringement fine. So technology is going to play a huge role in terms of the overall capability of the biosecurity system.

Then, if we think about the other response, which is really important and under way, down in the South Canterbury and North Otago areas, and that is M. bovis. That was a very unfortunate find and a very unfortunate disease, and I want to commend the farmer, the van Leeuwen farming operation, for their cooperation. They are working very closely with MPI. We have got world-leading animal health veterinarians working on this response. We have got a team based out of Ōāmaru. There is a huge amount of testing and tracing happening on these farms. We have got the farms in question locked down. Hopefully we will be able to eradicate it. Right now the process is on containment. When I was talking to the farmer a few days ago, he said to me that he is delighted by the fact that MPI is working constructively with him. We have got the best veterinarians on board from Australia, and we have got the technical advisory group, made up of industry and veterinarians, working with MPI on this response.

Then if we think about the farmer meeting that was held on Friday last week, and another one has concluded today—there is a huge amount of information that is flowing out through DairyNZ, through Federated Farmers, and through Beef and Lamb. It was really interesting to see the positive comments. What was reported back to me, as a result of that meeting on Friday last week, is that MPI staff were stunning. They were really, really good. They handled the farmers’ questions brilliantly and in a down-to-earth manner, and the farmers left the meeting feeling a lot more comfortable than when they turned up. I just want to ensure that the communication going out to farmers on this particular disease is reliable and accurate.

Then if we think, also, about the great work that has happened in the biosecurity system, we have now got 14 Government industry agreements. They have signed up. That is where they come and work with MPI on preparedness and response. They sit around the table. We have got an $87 million investment happening out at Wallaceville, a biocontainment facility that will be world leading, so that if we do have diseases of this kind we can keep our trade flowing. Of course, M. bovis does not have an impact on trade, and it does not have an impact on food safety. It does have an impact, however, on production. We have got new and modern X-ray machines, which we are rolling out at our airports, and we have got mobile X-ray machines that we are using on the cruise line pathway as well. We have got 20 new dog detector teams. There is a huge amount happening.

Then, of course, we have got the border clearance levy that came in under urgency during the Budget a couple of years ago. Labour and New Zealand First did not support it. I could not believe why they did not support it at the time, and I still cannot. At every woolshed and cowshed meeting I turn up to, farmers are just dismayed that New Zealand First and Labour did not support a levy that is going to mean more funding focused on the border. We have tourism growth at about 7 percent a year; this funding matches that growth in demand. Ultimately, it means that MPI can invest more at the border. Yet on the other side of the House—even the Greens were pragmatic enough to realise that this fund will ensure we do more with biosecurity. But New Zealand First and Labour did not support it. That is really, really disappointing.

Back to the Estimates. I also want to focus on irrigation. There is $19 million invested in irrigation. These big water storage projects take about 15 years on average to get across the line. That is why we are partnering with farmers and, in some cases, regional councils, to get them across the line. We collect and store only about 2 percent of the rain that falls in New Zealand. That is why, I believe, Central Plains stage one, and stage two, which is under way—I see Greenpeace members were down there, trying to padlock themselves inside the irrigation pipes today. I am really disappointed in that. They are just slowing down productivity. They are actually slowing down environmental gains, because instead of the water coming out of the ground—being extracted from groundwater aquifers—it is coming from river run and snow melt, so you have got environmental benefits. Ultimately, 15 percent of the water that would have come out of the ground is now flowing to Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora. That is a huge benefit. There are economic gains. There are social gains as well with water storage projects, because in a lot of cases, water is supplied through to some towns and cities in New Zealand.

Also in this appropriation we focus on trade. There is $35 million invested in trade. The other side of the House does not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and it is great that there is a bit of resurgence on TPP11. The $35 million is broken down into a real focus on non-tariff barriers. We are going to create an MPI flying squad to get on top of some of these issues that our exporters face. We are also setting up the economic intelligence unit. That is for young entrepreneurs who want to get started in terms of understanding where the niche opportunities are, so we are going to extract the data sets and make them available. We have also got the Exporter Regulatory Advice Service. That is for some of these young exporters, fledgling companies, to know whom to talk to within MPI and also to deal with some of the bureaucracy in international markets. We know that language might be one of those—but just trying to understand whom to turn to and whom to get the information from. So there are some great initiatives that are funded in Budget 2017. There is a real focus on the primary sector.

I had a good chat with Boris Johnson when he was here just last week. It was great that we could take him to Kaikōura. I had an opportunity to talk to him about Brexit and the UK. Hopefully we will see some benefits from that discussion.

Votes agreed to.

Social Development and Housing Sector