Perry Edwin: Wool Industry Restructuring Bill — First Reading 
Perry Edwin: Wool Industry Restructuring Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4254] 
EDWIN PERRY (NZ First) 
: 
 New Zealand First will be supporting this bill. The restructuring of the Wool Board will be music to the ears of those farmers—96.9 percent of the 17789—who responded to the referendum. The wool industry reform information document that went out was very comprehensive and obviously the farmers responded in a positive way. I think that tells us everything with regard to the restructuring of the New Zealand Wool Board. 
I want to give a little of the history of the New Zealand wool industry and to inform some of the people who are not au fait with that industry. In 1773 English navigator and explorer Captain James Cook landed two merino sheep in the Marlborough Sounds in the north of the South Island. Those two animals failed to adapt to the conditions. In 1814 missionary pastoral stockbreeder the Reverend Samuel Marsden introduced sheep to the Bay or Islands north of Auckland and the first reports of New Zealand wool sales in Australia date back to that time. In 1843 stockbreeder James Bell Wright is said to have had New Zealand’s first permanent sheep flock after landing merinos on Mana Island near Wellington. 
Until the late 19th century the merino remained New Zealand’s dominant breed but its influence began to wane because of its slow-maturing wool and its struggle to cope with the wetter North Island country newly cleared of forest. Then came the dual-purpose English breeds the Lincoln and the English Leicester. They became popular as they were highly suited to foraging amongst the early cultivated pastures. An export meat industry developed and farmers in the South Island began to search for a dual-purpose sheep suited to the drier and easier grassland tracts. From 1910 the Romney grew increasingly popular and today it is our dominant breed in New Zealand. A distinct New Zealand Romney type has developed with strong wool and prime lamb production and today it still leads in the manufacture of wool products—mainly carpet and wool yarn. In the 1960s the Romney made up 75 percent of the national flock. 
In 1990 New Zealand had around 46 million sheep and if one looks back to the late 1970s and the mid-1980s one sees the population of sheep was about 70 million then. We have now dropped back to 46 million which in some ways is good and in some ways not good. The farm stock that I have seen gives a better quality of wool. I am very confident in speaking on that issue because my background in the early days was in farming. I farmed at a little place called Tinui east of Masterton where my brother still farms and my experience in the industry has been of shearing over 400 sheep a day— 
Dail Jones 
: How many? 
EDWIN PERRY 
: —400 sheep a day at the age of 17. I want to announce that quite clearly to everybody. I operated six shearing gangs in the 1980s employing up to 60 people. There were employment opportunities in this industry in the past and in the future sheep farming will still be one of our major employers in the primary industry area. 
I want to touch too on the competition at the Golden Shears last year when Parekura Horomia and Mr English tried to out-shear me. Obviously they needed to go back to the Wool Board training school to pick up some hints on how to shear sheep. 
The income from the farming industry is approximately $900 million which as we all agree supports lots of rural towns like Masterton Carterton Wairoa and other outlying towns. It plays a major role in employment in those places. The wool industry employs a large part of our community—stock and station agents shearers employees in transport companies shipping firms auction houses vehicle sales and many others that pertain to that industry. 
The Wool Board has given people opportunities in the past and no doubt those opportunities will carry through in the new restructuring. There is training for shearers which the shearing industry relies on to bring through young shearers to cope with the industry. The Wool Board in the past has given a lot of Maori and Pakeha the opportunity to own their own businesses which are now set up around the world—in Australia Scotland England Norway the USA and South America. While I was in Adelaide 3 years ago I saw that two Maori brothers there are now so well established after learning their skills in New Zealand that they fly their own aeroplanes to take their shearers to outlying farms in Australia. So I thank those people who have brought the Wool Board to this point in its history. 
The other important issue is the sheep industry. I want to give a bit of background on that. The percentages of sheep breeds now in the country are: Romney 59 percent Coopworth 10 percent Perendale 7 percent Corriedale 9 percent merino 7 percent half-breeds 4 percent and others 9 percent. The other important aspect as I have mentioned in my presentation is income. About 90 percent of the New Zealand clip leaves the country in a greasy scoured or slip form. Currently we are still exporting to places like the People’s Republic of China Italy Nepal the United Kingdom Japan Belgium India Germany Hong Kong the United States Australia and other countries. So farmers still play a very important role and are obviously the ones who form the income from this very important industry that New Zealand relies on. The country was built on this industry and will no doubt rely on it in the future. Total export earnings from wool products increased 8 percent to $324.1 million in the 2001 financial year. 
Turning to the bill I say that it provides a structural reform of the wool industry by dissolving the New Zealand Wool Board dispersing its assets and liabilities and resolving the number of transitional and consequential issues. The explanatory note states: “There has been concern in the wool industry for several years about the industry’s financial performance”—which has been mentioned by my colleague from United Future—“and return to growers from levy money paid. In June 2000 McKinsey & Company completed a report for the wool industry that recommended the dissolution of the Wool Board and the establishment of new industry-good and commercial structures for the wool industry.” It also states as I mentioned at the start of my speech: “In a referendum held in April-May 2002 96.9 % of wool grower respondents voted in favour of winding up the Wool Board.” The explanatory note goes on to state that that will “provide the industry with greater flexibility for commercial activities by giving it the freedom to choose to operate under existing generic legislation such as the Companies Act 1993:”. 
In conclusion I say that this country was built on the rural sector. Regarding the Wool Board I say that its time has come. The wool industry must be allowed to compete on all levels in the world’s markets. New Zealand First acknowledges the part the rural sector plays in our economy and we wish all its representatives well with the passing of this bill.