O'Connor Damien: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Damien: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 12 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1542. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman)to the Minister for Primary Industries: Does he have confidence in his department?Hon JO GOODHEW (Associate Minister for Primary Industries):on behalf of theMinister for Primary Industries: Yes. In particular I have confidence in the support that the Ministry for Primary Industries provides to all in the primary sector. As an example today a medium-scale adverse event has been declared across most of the east coast of the South Island. There are still tough times ahead for many farmers but farmers are resilient and today’s announcement confirms that this Government and the Ministry for Primary Industries will back them through this.Hon Damien O’Connor: How can he have confidence in his department when the Auditor-General has found that his officials could not yet show what the $322 million committed and the $129 million spent so far on the Primary Growth Partnership have achieved; and of the six programmes fully audited it said “It is too soon to observe any economic benefit.”?Hon JO GOODHEW: Well the Minister has confidence in the Primary Growth Partnership but also in understanding that this is a long process. The Auditor-General’s report showed that the reporting that is currently under way could be made more simple for the average reader in the street and we have certainly taken that on board. But I remind the member that there are not only detailed websites quarterly reports a regular newsletter an annual expo presence at the Fieldays programme steering groups quarterly progress reporting and annual plans and audits to show the public of New Zealand what they will get over the long term. As I have already explained today the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report out to 2025 shows the billions of dollars that will actually be available to the economy of New Zealand but this is a long-term game not a short-term political game.Hon Damien O’Connor: Does he still consider the Primary Growth Partnership to be his “flagship policy” to double the value of exports by 2025 given that halfway through the programme his ministry cannot show what has been achieved?Hon JO GOODHEW: The Primary Growth Partnership is but one of the things that this Government is working on to achieve our export double. The member is remiss in thinking that it is as simple as just one project. In fact under the Ministry for Primary Industries and also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade the development of export markets the development of food safety security—all of these play into the ability of New Zealand to meet that export double. We also know that the research and development that is going on in the primary industry sector will help us achieve that. I am sure that during the fullness of time and with all of the monitoring and reports that I have already outlined to the member progress will be seen. The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research was an independent report and it predicted what we would gain from this.Hon Damien O’Connor: What other areas of Government funding would allow the spend of $129 million without any identifiable economic benefits and in the words of the Auditor-General “No ability to show what PGP as a whole has achieved.”?Hon JO GOODHEW: There were some learnings in the Office of the Auditor-General report but it was largely a positive report and it acknowledged that in the fullness of time the independent auditing of these projects which in fact is made available will show the gains we have already had. There are 16 projects under way two projects have completed successfully—Hon Damien O’Connor: Not successfully.Hon JO GOODHEW: Yes successfully. I can certainly assure the member that the STIMBR project was completed successfully. The member should spend a little bit more time reading all of the documented evidence that these projects are going well.Hon Damien O’Connor: Is it not true that the Primary Growth Partnership programme is nothing more than corporate welfare on a massive scale and why should taxpayers have any confidence that their money is being spent responsibly when shonky deals like this and the Skycity convention centre deal are now nothing more than standard National policy?Mr SPEAKER: I call the Hon Jo Goodhew—either of those two supplementary questions.Hon JO GOODHEW: I think when the public of New Zealand look at Precision Seafood Harvesting—a sustainable fishing programme that has won three different innovation awards and the people’s choice award for its technology because it catches fish alive and unharmed—they will see it is just one example of how important and how successful the Primary Growth Partnership project has been for New Zealand and will continue to be. Only the member seems to be completely lacking in confidence.