Prosser Richard: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeProsser Richard: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 12 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14543. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.RICHARD PROSSER (NZ First) to theMinister for Primary Industries: What concerns if any does he have regarding government policy for the dairy industry in New Zealand?Hon TIM GROSER (Minister of Trade)on behalf of theMinister for Primary Industries: I have every confidence that the policies of this Government will provide an excellent future for our No. 1 export industry. I have to say however that I have serious concerns that the policies that underwrite this success such as new public-private partnership irrigation proposals Primary Growth Partnerships existing free-trade agreements such as the New Zealand - China Free Trade Agreement and not to mention the Trans-Pacific Partnership would be put seriously at risk if that member were ever to be part of a Government cobbled together from a coalition of the unwilling.Richard Prosser: Is he concerned that vast tracts of New Zealand farmland including dairy country are being accumulated by foreign buyers despite a Government directive from the Deputy Prime Minister to Land Information New Zealand in 2010noting concern over the aggregation by foreigners of large swaths of New Zealand farmland?Hon TIM GROSER: Vast areas of our farmland are not in the hands of foreign ownership. This country’s agricultural base was actually established by foreign ownership of land which is now standing at between 1 and 2 percent.Richard Prosser: Does he believe it is good for anything other than property prices that Shanghai Pengxin will soon own 29 farms across New Zealand totalling over 12000 hectares of our most productive irrigated dairy pasture?Hon TIM GROSER: This application is before the Overseas Investment Office at the moment and it would clearly be inappropriate for the Government to make a comment at this stage.Richard Prosser: Is he concerned that foreign owners of large amounts of farmland have the potential to move to large-scale integration of dairy farming including processing which would completely lock out New Zealanders?Hon TIM GROSER: No I do not share that concern.Richard Prosser: What action will he take should Shanghai Pengxin break its pledge to not invest in dairy processing and to export only finished products?Hon TIM GROSER: Well I will not comment on the proposal before the Overseas Investment Office at the moment but of course there are procedures to ensure that when applications are granted and approved the applications and the conditions that were pursuant to that are followed through and there is a very rigorous process underlying that.Richard Prosser: Can he confirm that Shanghai Pengxin’s pledge to export only finished products is legally enforceable and does it extend to Shanghai Pengxin not buying out existing private dairy companies which may themselves be able to then export bulk commodity product for further processing offshore?Hon TIM GROSER: I refer the member to the answer to the previous question. Since this is before the Overseas Investment Office the member will have to wait and see what happens.