Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 07 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12433. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition)to thePrime Minister: Does he have confidence in all his Ministers?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister):Yes.David Shearer: Does he have confidence in his Minister for Primary Industries given that he implemented Budget cuts of $26 million for the Ministry for Primary Industries since his Government came into power?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Yes I have complete confidence in the Minister for Primary Industries.David Shearer: Did his Government cut the budget for the Food Safety Authority from $95 million in 2008 to just $85 million this year or $20 million in real terms; if so has this had any impact on our ability to detect and respond to food safety questions?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not have those details with me but it is interesting that we are only 24 hours into it and it looks like Labour is turning on the blame game.David Shearer: Were he and his Ministers warned back in 2010 that amalgamating the Food Safety Authority into what is now the Ministry for Primary Industries risked compromising food safety standards and that food safety is vitally important for our exporters?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not have that advice with me—if it was presented I would have to go back and look through all of the records—but what I can say is that when the merger was undertaken and the ministry assumed food safety that was done for very good reasons and in my view it has been a successful merger. The laws that actually control the standards that are set and the processes that they go through were not changed.David Shearer: In light of his answer did he consider the independent review of food safety in 2007 which recommended that the Food Safety Authority be established as a stand-alone agency because it is considered world’s best practice; if so was the amalgamation designed simply to cut costs as he stated in his Better Public Services speech last year?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The amalgamation of the Food Safety Authority into the Ministry for Primary Industries was not designed to cut costs overall—of course the Government wants efficiencies overall—and no we did not consider the 2007 report but it would have been commissioned by Labour. What we did do was take a series of advice and that advice supported the moves that the Government took.David Shearer: Given that under the 1999 Animals Products Act any producer processor transporter or exporter of animal products must disclose any relevant information that would compromise the integrity and reputation of New Zealand exports does he believe Fonterra complied with the law in the way that it responded?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: That will be the purpose of an inquiry—to answer that very question. But as I understand it the obligation as it has been relayed to me is that when there is a known issue—which was on the Wednesday—the company has 24 hours to ensure that AsureQuality is made aware. That was done as I understand it and then AsureQuality has a further 24 hours to ensure that the Government through the regulator the Ministry for Primary Industries is informed. That also took place. Whether there should have been earlier disclosures that is all part of an inquiry.David Shearer: Did he ask his Ministers why they were not kept informed of the Fonterra issue given that there is a legislative requirement that they be kept informed; if so what reasons did they give?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: To the best of my knowledge they were kept informed. At 12.35 on Friday the Ministry for Primary Industries was advised—I assume by Fonterra—that there was an issue at that point. They have been fully advised as and when information has come in to Fonterra to the best of the knowledge that the Government has.David Shearer: Does the Prime Minister have confidence in AsureQuality given that it gave a clean bill of health to the dairy plant responsible for the contamination?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: We will need to go back again as part of an inquiry and look at all of those details. I am not going to jump to conclusions yet but if the question were to be posed the other way round—have I seen any advice that would indicate that I should not have confidence in AsureQuality—then the answer would be to the best of my recollection no I have not seen that advice.