O'Connor Damien: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
O'Connor Damien: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:632;Page:4151] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister for Rural Affairs) 
: 
 It is indeed an honour to respond to a few of the accusations that have been made in the Chamber today. I acknowledge Jim Sutton firstly and the role he has played in agriculture for a large number of years and the incredible contribution he has made through this Parliament and the good work that the current Minister Jim Anderton is doing. 
I will answer a couple of questions that have been put up by Mr Carter. I will clarify a couple of things on public access which is an area I am responsible for. There is no agenda there is no time line and John Acland is someone who is respected by the agricultural sector unlike Mr Carter or Mr Guy. John Acland has respect and people do acknowledge him. He has stated quite clearly that he has undertaken a consultation process around the whole country with a huge amount of effort. 
Nathan Guy 
: When’s the deadline? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: There is no deadline at all. Mr Guy is asking about that. Mr Carter raised the issue of property rights. 
Hon Bill English 
: Quite right. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: Quite right. He is absolutely right. There are property rights issues involved here—absolutely—private property rights and public property rights. Mr English might understand one of the issues that has come to a head in a couple of the forums. I have been reading very closely about it and occasionally I get a report back; that has been very positive. One issue is the dilemma of unformed legal roads. The fact is that there is quite an amount of public property out there that has been captured by a number farmers at different times and through history they have utilised those unformed legal roads. There is nothing wrong with that but the reality is that the roads are public property. It is one of the dilemmas that I think the Committee will bring back to the Government. 
 It will not be an easy solution and it is not one we have set a time line on but wise farmers—as they have realised in going to the forums—have acknowledged that it is a bit of a dilemma. Perhaps we should sort through it because the harsh reality at the moment is that an unformed legal road provides a right of access for someone in a 4-wheel drive or on a motorbike with a gun or whatever. Of course there are many situations where that would be a real problem for farmers and farmers acknowledge that. I think that for the most part recreationalists also acknowledge that. 
So one of the things that has arisen and on which I think people will come back to the Government and seek assistance on is a resolution that tries to counter on the one hand the private property rights of the individual farmer and on the other hand the public property rights of the taxpayers and ratepayers who own those unformed legal roads. I look forward to the advice from the panel. It does not have an agenda and there is no time line but I think it would help us to resolve that issue. 
In relation to the issue of the varroa mite I have to acknowledge the good work being undertaken at the moment by Biosecurity New Zealand. The discovery in the South Island of the varroa mite is obviously quite a dilemma and something we had hoped to prevent. However it is there and that agency is working very quickly through a process of assessment in order to bring back some advice to the Government. I am sure we will make a quick decision about what to do next—whether that will be eradication or management. I have every faith that we will handle that issue in the best interests of agriculture horticulture and the whole rural sector because beekeeping is about more than just beekeepers. It is in fact about basic biological production throughout this whole country. 
I will finish off by saying I think Mr Guy probably needs to go back to talk to rural constituents to really understand the problem with forestry at the moment. It is facing some fairly big economic challenges which are nothing to do with the whole issue of the Kyoto Protocol—keeping in mind the fact that it was Simon Upton and the National Government who first committed to Kyoto. We are as a nation committed to trying to reduce over time carbon dioxide emissions and some of the gases that unfortunately all indications say are contributing to global warming. 
I would like to clarify one other thing that was raised—that is the question of how many rural advocates are in the Labour Government. I would like to run through a few of them. Parekura Horomia is himself a farmer unlike Mr English or Mr Carter. Mr Ashraf Choudhary is of course a highly respected agricultural engineering scientist and expert and we welcome his contribution. 
Hon David Carter 
: Who? Champagne Charlie? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: No. I tell Mr Carter that Ashraf Choudhary worked at Massey University so perhaps the member should do his homework. My colleague Pete Hodgson is a vet. That is reasonably rural and agricultural I would have thought but maybe Mr Carter does not know what happens to a cow or a sheep. I would like to say that Mr Parker has been a big contributor through agricultural industries. I am quite happy to say that we in the Labour Government fully understand and advocate for rural agricultural industries; I wish the same could be said of Opposition parties. 
We have had an outstanding year. The dollar has been high and agricultural industries have been challenged but I think they have come through a challenging period and now can be very very optimistic under this Government. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has done an outstanding job to help guide them—not to tell them where to go but to guide them when necessary and to step up and help them in situations such as that with the varroa mite. The ministry will give guidance as to how we will move forward. I am very happy with its performance and with where we will head with agriculture and forestry. I acknowledge the outstanding efforts of Jim Sutton in the past and the great efforts of Jim Anderton at present as Ministers of Agriculture.