O'Connor DamienHon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Agriculture): Thank you Madam Chair. I guess given the importance of the primary sector to this economy I just thought I would take a second call and clarify a few things for the previous speaker Tim van de Molen in particular. I guess that's the problem: if you ask a rural banker to do an assessment the chances are they will come up with the wrong one for the wrong reasons. He's probably better off in Parliament than he is out there in the wider field. Can I say that there is a dairy farmer on the Primary Sector Council. Julian Raine in fact is leading the way with Appleby Farms Ice Cream with Aunt Jean's Dairy fresh milk and is actually showing the industry that there is an opportunity to get out there with high-value products from the dairy industry.Can I just refer briefly to the Primary Sector Council because it is a group of lateral-thinking innovative and disruptive people who have a passion for the industry who have been brought together not as a group of representatives which has always been the kind of traditional National Party way; this is a group of people who have a passion to look into the future and deliver a vision for us because we haven't had one across the primary sector. What are we doing and why are we doing it?"—that question was never asked by the previous Government and it's one that I can't answer myself but I put that to a group of very very experienced and passionate people who are getting on with that job under Lain Jager under his chair.I think he sees that this is a really interesting group of people to chair because they are all quite strong-minded. They have a passion as I've said before and are independent thinkers and that's what I want from them. But they will deliver a vision and they accept that we as a country are delivering food and nutrition not just primary industry—lambs or logs or fish. In fact we are now in the challenge of delivering the finest protein to the world's most discerning customers and getting the best value for that because if we don't we're actually going to stumble as a food-producing nation. So that's what they understand is the challenge for us and they I think are getting on with the job.Mid-stream I have to say—and I've just written it down here—and I spoke of M. bovis before can I acknowledge the farmers caught up in this terrible challenge that we have. There are a large number of farmers—probably 800 or thereabouts—who have been directly affected. It's very very challenging. They are under a whole lot of stress. We're trying to put in place the best support systems for them. It's not easy but they are taking a hit for their colleagues and for the future of agriculture in this country. Can I just say thank you for their participation and their cooperation and we will get through and succeed if we all do the same thing.Can I just very briefly before I sit down talk of New Zealand Food Safety. In terms of a country producing the finest food for the people in the world we have got a good reputation but we must ensure that whatever we produce whatever we grow whatever we process whatever we package going off is the safest and finest food as I say for the world's most discerning customers. In that area we've set up firstly New Zealand Food Safety as a business unit within the Ministry for Primary Industries but we then got on with the job—jobs that have been sitting around for a while. Firstly we're consulting on an organic standard—one standard that we can be proud of and can be credible for the export of New Zealand organic products. It hasn't been done before. The last Government ignored it; we're getting on with it.We've been talking with the hemp industry. There is potential for hemp hemp seed and then hemp as a fibre to get out there. It's a new opportunity—something that's been scoffed at by some people but actually a real opportunity—again for people who are really discerning customers around the world looking for natural products. We've just had a wool summit—again something to push off opportunities from the very stagnant position that they have been in for quite some time.The other area in terms of food safety that we have—we grasped the nettle and we now have in place a mānuka honey standard. For years people have been telling us they can't believe that the mānuka honey sold offshore isn't indeed true to label. So we had to get on and put in place after years of procrastination by the previous Government a standard that all those honey producers have to adhere to. It hasn't been easy for them and some are trying to get around the rules but if they stick to the rules we build our integrity and they will get even more value for that mānuka honey. We have done a lot more in the food area and we'll continue to do so."