Ardern Shane: Meat Board Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Ardern Shane: Meat Board Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:14078] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 As I rise to speak for my second contribution to the bill restructuring the Meat Board I want to start off by saying “Thank you” from all parties to the Primary Production Committee members who did a fine job on this legislation. The bill had cross-party support and I acknowledge the work put in by my colleagues Doug Woolerton and Clayton Cosgrove—who I know has been a long-time member of that committee—and the work done by the officials and other members of that committee. 
I notice with some interest that only the Green Party hung out to the bitter end on the issue of Maori and women being included as of right when the select committee recommended that they should not be. That says it all does it not? I wonder—and perhaps some of the Maori members on the other side of the Chamber will know this figure—what percentage of the meat and wool industry Maori and Maori incorporations now actually make up. I suggest that it would be substantial and potentially as much as a third of the industry. I know that there is a high capability amongst the leadership there and if those leaders want to be on the board they will be on the board. I suggest they put their names forward to make sure that they are represented. 
As has already been stated the bill sets up structures and regimes principally to manage the quota which is very very important to this industry. We cannot get access to a large percentage of the international markets we export to without a proper robust and well-negotiated quota. I see that the Minister has come back to the chair and I acknowledge the work he does on behalf of farmers in that regard. That said I have to say that that is where the philosophical difference lies between us and them—that is the Labour minority Government with its new partner the Green Party—for the forthcoming election. That is clearly a recipe for disaster for them. The Green Party does not believe in free trade at all and it certainly does not believe in trading meat products in countries like the US which is the largest market and in a number of other markets where we do that business. 
So in the campaign that is coming around the corner I look forward to the Minister justifying to New Zealand not only how he is going to win against the 19 other Cabinet Ministers he is carrying on his back—perhaps 25 or so with all the hangers-on outside Cabinet—but also having to carry Ian Ewen-Street Nandor Tanczos and one or two others. There is Keith Locke that champion of free trade around the world! The Minister will have to carry him on his back as well. It just cannot be done. He might as well give up while he is ahead because it is not going to happen. The public of New Zealand know it is not going to happen and they will not vote for it to happen. They will vote for a National Government and that will be the end of that. 
National supports the agricultural industry. It always has and it always will—110 percent. We are not fair-weather friends like those on the other side of the Chamber. We do not come in and out like them riding in on a high tide and going out when the tide goes out. We are 110 percent committed and would never make a comment like that of a former Labour Prime Minister who said that this industry was “a sunset industry” and the sooner all the land in the South Island became a national park the better. That is of course the approach of this current Government. Something like 40 percent of the South Island land mass is currently in some kind of conservation estate—40 percent! This Government now has a proposal on the books to take 600000 stock units—that is something like 100 productive meat and wool farms—out of production over the next few years. 
What do members make of that? Here we are today debating a restructuring bill that will allow those industries the backbone of New Zealand to get on and produce the very high returns that this Government and the Minister of Finance are benefiting from. At the same time the Government is doing that it has the Minister of Conservation running around the country trying to take 100 productive meat and wool farms out of production. Where is the logic in that? It is beyond me; maybe the Minister will explain it to me. For that reason I say that that Government will not be back. 
This meat industry bill has a number of very important roles to play. First of all as I said it is being set up to manage the quota. Second it is being set up to make sure that there is a proper conduit for a levy to be paid for things like research and development. They are so important to this industry and it is good that the select committee was able to come to that conclusion. When the Minister makes appointments to the board which he will he should forget about the old Labour lackeys because they are history. He should not even consider them for a moment.