Kuriger BarbaraBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's interesting now today that the Government is making a claim of being all things to farmers and you know this bill is a step in a direction towards being kind to farmers but I can say that out there there's a whole lot of things going on at the moment. Fieldays was mentioned I think in Kiri Allan's speech around farmers. Well what farmers were most concerned about at the moment wasn't the pricing it wasn't the financing—although there is that concern around banks tightening up because prices are good at the moment—what they were most concerned about was uncertainty and it was the uncertainty of all the things that are coming at them around climate change for which they don't have the tools around methane—those sorts of things.I was very pleased to hear the speech from the Green Minister Genter today around the transition because what farmers are most concerned about at the moment with all the things that are coming to them—all they want to know is: Where am I now where do I need to go and how long have I got to get there?" So if I've got a request of anything around this Government other than financial mediation it is around some sort of mediation of transition for farmers because they're trying their best but they just don't have the tools. So thank you for that today. I will also acknowledge the member Mark Patterson who does a lot of good work in the farming space.I want to say here and now that bankers are generally good people. For someone who has been in the dairy farming industry all my life and financially been in it for about the last 35 or 40 years our experiences with banks have been really really good. The front-line bankers out there are generally very good to deal with generally very conciliatory and generally will give people an opportunity if both parties are willing to come to all sorts of arrangements actually. But those bankers are currently right now because of the banking system coming under a lot of pressure to tighten—and there is a lot of farm debt out there. So again it's about giving people the opportunity to transition to a new time and you know debt does need to come down and it needs to be into some sort of context.But what I will also say is that we are talking about helping farmers and when I talk to people about mental health in rural communities wellbeing work with Farmstrong finance is only one of the stresses that put people under pressure. There are all sorts of other things. Sometimes they begin with finance; sometimes it's around relationships but it can be all sorts of other pressures and sometimes those pressures can also be the things that get people into financial debt. So I think it's the uncertainty of a whole range of things that we can look at as being responsible for the mental health of farmers.We've had a few questions today about our little bit of just holding back on full support of this bill. We've said we'll support it at first reading and we'll get it to committee stage because there are some things that others have brought up today around the definition of what is a farm but I also would question the involvement of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in this process. I do think there are other Government agencies that are far better placed to be doing that role given that MPI is probably going to be involved in a range of things that are actually implemented in this country around farming. So to me there could be some of those situations where it could be quite a conflict for that organisation to do it.I just want to finish my contribution this afternoon by mentioning sharemilkers. Sharemilkers were mentioned earlier on in the day. When downturns come when pressure comes on the landowner farmers have much more stability than the herd-owning sharemilkers or even more so the sharemilkers and the farm managers who have no equity in the property. When things get tough it is often the sharemilkers the farm managers and the farm staff who become the people that are most hurt. So I just want to make mention of those people today. So thank you for the opportunity for a contribution. Thank you."