O'Connor Damien: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Damien: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 17 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14005. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman) to theMinister for Primary Industries: Does he stand by all his statements?Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister for Primary Industries): Yes.Hon Damien O’Connor: Does he stand by his statement following the Fonterra botulism scare that “What you have seen in the last couple of weeks is MPI performing really well.”; if so how does he reconcile that with his senior colleague’s comments yesterday that “Clearly we did not have enough resources in MPI and I know this is a little bit unusual but whenever I’ve raised this issue the response is ‘Well this is an operational matter minister don’t worry your little head about it’.”?Hon NATHAN GUY: Yes of course I stand by my comments about the response of the Government. That was the same acknowledgment that Mr Shearer made in the House at that time as leader of the Labour Party when he said: “The Government was quick off the mark. I commend it for its speed in being able to do that. I believe that the response the Government has made to the emergency up to now has been a good one.”Hon Damien O’Connor: Does the Minister now consider that cuts to his own ministry of 200 staff and $26 million have been a disaster given yesterday’s statementby his colleague and given that Michael Barnett chair of the infant formula exporters said that up to 30 New Zealand businesses stand to lose tens of millions of dollars and that New Zealand’s reputational damage may amount to hundreds of millions of dollars because of the Minister’s under-resourcing of the Ministry for Primary Industries?Hon NATHAN GUY: I refute those numbers. I do not know where the member has made those numbers up from. I do acknowledge that staffing resources in China have not kept pace with the growth and as a result of that the ministry—Hon Annette King: Of what?Hon NATHAN GUY: Growth in trade—Grant Robertson: So you’ve under-resourced them.Hon NATHAN GUY: —which has gone up three times Mr Robertson in the last 5 years. I acknowledge that. That is why the ministry has a 25-point action plan. It is beefing up its resources in China and also here in Wellington.Hon Damien O’Connor: I seek leave to table a transcript of an interview and a quote from Minister Groser who says: “Clearly we did not have enough resources in MPI …”.Mr SPEAKER: The source of the transcript?Hon Damien O’Connor: It is a transcript fromMedianet. It is one that we have paid to be transcribed.Mr SPEAKER: On this occasion I will put the leave. It is over to the House. Leave is sought to table that particular transcript. Is there any objection? There is none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Hon Damien O’Connor: How can we believe the Minister’s reassurances on biosecurity protection for New Zealand given the honest admission by Minister Groser yesterday the interception of a live onion fly in imported garlic and the control of the great white butterfly relying on consumers catching flies and Cubs and Brownies catching butterflies?Hon NATHAN GUY: We have got a world-class biosecurity system and part of the biosecurity system is the intelligence from the New Zealand public. They play an important part. I think it is great that the Department of Conservation is working so closely with the Ministry for Primary Industries on getting on top of the great white butterfly issue. But if the member wants to come in here and say that Labour was squeaky clean on biosecurity I have a list in front of me of all the incursions that occurred under his watch.Hon Damien O’Connor: I seek leave to table a copy of a letter from the Ministry for Primary Industries to a constituent of mine who found aDeliaantiqua or onion fly in a bag of garlic—Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that particular letter from the—[Interruption] Order! Leave is sought to table that particular letter. Is there any objection? There is none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Hon Phil Goff: Does he agree with all three statements that Tim Groser made yesterday regarding the debacles over trade with China: firstly that his ministry was understaffed secondly that his communications strategy was poor and thirdly that there was an inadequate regulatory framework; if so why has he been hiding from those realities when Mr Groser said: “There’s no place to hide.”?Hon Tim Groser: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That is a complete misstatement of what was said.Mr SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. The Minister can now answer the question that has been asked.Hon NATHAN GUY: I agree with MinisterGroser’s comments that the Ministry for Primary Industries has been under-resourced in China because the growth up there has been beyond everyone’s expectations. So I will take the member through what we are doing about it. We are increasing the staff numbers up in China. I announced that in June this year. What we are also doing is we are beefing up our capability here in Wellington from eight to 16. What we have also got in front of us is a 25-point action plan that the Ministry for Primary Industries is working through. What we are also doing is we are working closely with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to make sure that China is our No. 1 focus because it is a hugely important market to us. We are doing a lot.Hon Phil Goff: I seek leave to table the notes that I took carefully when Minister Tim Groser was replying—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The speech has been well-recorded and is available to members.