12. Question No. 12—Rural CommunitiesMARK CAMERON (ACT) to the Minister for Rural CommunitiesQuestion No. 12—Rural Communities12. MARK CAMERON (ACT) to the Minister for Rural Communities: What concerns if any have been raised with him about the impacts of Government policies on rural communities?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister for Rural Communities): As I get out around my electorate and the wider country there is never a shortage of opinions on many issues and I listen to what is top of mind for many of those communities. There are issues like water bank closures live exports climate policy and afforestation. I'm honoured to be in Parliament here with a large number of Labour MPs who are passionate advocates for rural communities as well and they pass on to me the issues as raised with them on a regular basis.Mark Cameron: Does he still believe that the Government's freshwater reforms will need to be tweaked" to better accommodate regional differences and if so what further actions will be taken?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: Yes I do and we have indeed tweaked them; we've just parked them for 12 months to work through the issues to ensure that when they are implemented—and the goals of better cleaner water across New Zealand I think are ones that every New Zealander aspires to—that we can give effect to the right outcomes in each of the regions. The regions will have different challenges; we acknowledge that.Mark Cameron: Is he concerned at the findings of Tailrisk Economics who concluded that the Government's freshwater reforms will cost the country $3.2 billion?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: No I don't agree with that at all. And what I will say is that actually "Brand New Zealand" is worth a huge amount across the world. And as I regularly speak to trade Ministers from across the world they acknowledge two things. Firstly is our progress and I guess our achievements in COVID—that's the first thing. The second thing is that they aspire to be like us when it comes to animal protein production in our faming systems. And of course that's built off the back of a reputation for good environmental management good labour management and good animal welfare management. It's up to us to make sure we adhere to those high standards.Mark Cameron: How does he respond to Federated Farmers who stated in relation to the managed isolation policy that they were "deeply disappointed the government's exception announcement today shows it could not find a way to bring 500 desperately needed skilled dairy employees into the country."?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: Look I'm happy to speak on that. The dairy industry is our biggest industry in this country. It is important that we have people working in that sector. I'd like to quote Andrew Hoggard the president of Federated Farmers who said that actually farmers now have to realise that people should work probably on maximum about 50 hours a week and get two days off. That's what he said because that is what is needed to provide fair labour conditions to attract people. I'd also like to go on to say that actually the Ministry for Primary Industries the Government and taxpayers committed $900000 to a campaign called GoDairy which was to attract people into the dairy industry last year. And in November last year the dairy industry decided to pull out of that campaign because it was after spring. It's a reminder to them that actually we need enduring well-meaning and well-focused campaigns to attract people into dairy. Simply knocking on the door of Government and saying "We need $500 now but not later" is a big challenge when my colleague is trying to manage limited space in managed isolation and quarantine facilities."