McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Thank you Madam Chair. You know I have been asked numerous times since putting my hand up to stand in this House why I am standing for Labour and not National. Here I am a man of seven generations' farming stock from Wairarapa standing for a party that they believe does not stand up for farmers. I look them in the eye and I say Rubbish." Over the history of New Zealand politics it has been the Labour Party that has driven change that is needed in the agricultural sector and that is exactly what is in this report and the funding that has come from this Government into the farming sector.We could take the conservative approach—the "leave it alone and she'll be right" wishing-for-the-old-days approach of the National Party. And where is that going to get us? What is that going to do to delivering our vision of a high-value highly productive agricultural sector addressing the challenges of climate change and environmental sustainability? Nothing—absolutely nothing. They live in a dream world. They think that if we do nothing it'll all be OK—that we will be able to continue to demand the great value that we extract from our primary products just because we can continue in this fairyland to trade off our clean green image.We have a responsibility as a primary-producing nation to live up to our responsibilities under climate change and to make sure that our primary production is environmentally sustainable because the consumers overseas do not want to buy the cheapest possible product from New Zealand. We have never targeted those consumers that want to buy the cheapest products. We have always targeted those most discerning consumers in the world. They want to make sure that their primary products the products that they are consuming are environmentally sustainable and are from a country that is living up to its climate change obligations that is a country that looks after the animal welfare that is safe and increasingly so that looks after the workforce that helped to produce those products.Barbara Kuriger stands up and says that there is uncertainty. Well I'm not surprised. When the National Party stands up and says that the agriculture industry in this country has no future no wonder there is uncertainty. No wonder the industry is screaming out for skilled staff. Why would a young person want to enter into agriculture when the party that is supposed to represent them says there is no future in that industry? We say there would be absolutely no future in the industry of agriculture if the changes that we are proposing are not made. How would there be a future in agriculture when no one wants to buy our products? This is a connection that that side of the House fails to recognise. Barbara Kuriger says there's not uncertainty in interest rates. I agree because they've never been better.Barbara Kuriger says that there's no uncertainty around prices. Again I agree because they are historically high. The facts are that the way that the industry the primary sector is performing in this country does not live up to the doom and gloom that that side of the House is spouting out. There is export performance up nearly $7.5 billion in the last two years but there's no future in agriculture if you listen to Barbara Kuriger nor is there no future in agriculture if you listen to Todd Muller. But he's changed his tune. He stood there today and talked about the $229 million put into the land sustainability fund and says that this Government is not doing enough and is moving too quickly for farmers across this country.It's interesting that he has changed his tune because he says here that improving the productivity and sustainability of this sector has the potential to drive significant economic benefits for the regions. So they say one thing when they're talking to one group and they say another when they're pandering to another. That sums up the National Party. They are willing to go around when they were in Government and sign us up to international agreements on climate change and do absolutely nothing to meet those agreements because they are trying to keep support from their support base. They know that farmers actually are doing something and actually want to see some changes driven by Government so that we can continue to command the most value for our products. That is a backward-looking Opposition and as long as they keep doing it I suspect this Government will continue to attract support of farmers because they know that we are forward-looking and we have their interests and the interests of rural communities at heart. That is what the guts of these provisions in the Budget are all about."