Ardern Shane: New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Ardern Shane: New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4685] 
SHANE ARDERN (NZ National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 I will start by saying that the National Party will support this legislation to the select committee. I congratulate the leadership of Zespri on going through the process in a thorough way and coming back to this Parliament with a recommendation for some change. 
Jill Pettis 
: How’s the leadership going in the member’s party at the moment? 
SHANE ARDERN 
: The member for Whanganui of course is an expert on kiwifruit and other land-based industries. I respond to her by saying that this has to be the most schizophrenic Government I have seen in the history of this country. One moment it is deregulating industries up and down the country and the next moment it is suggesting in the House that in this case there needs to be further regulation. Which way is it? I guess the answer lies in listening to the previous speaker from the Green Party Ian Ewen-Street. If ever there was a case for how to make money and become a millionaire then people should have listened to the speech made by that Green member. I guess it explains why most Green members of Parliament are millionaires when we listen to the logic behind the debate put forward by Mr Ian Ewen-Street and how people can have a bob both ways and save face politically with their organic growers at the same time as they recommend further regulation providing it does not include Maori or organics. A rort is only a rort if one is not part of it. The reality is that people should take note of that. 
National supports this to the select committee. The New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Act needs some amendment and the Associate Minister the Hon Damien O’Connor explained the reason that that is necessary. Thirty percent of horticultural exports from this country or something in the vicinity of $800 million are kiwifruit. It is a dynamic industry and it is an excellent fruit. Kiwifruit used to be known as Chinese gooseberries. I wonder whether anybody knew that? In typical Kiwi fashion we identify an opportunity rebrand it find a way of marketing it and do it well. That is what this industry has done and it is doing it exceptionally well. I congratulate that industry on that. 
The problem the industry has is that under its current regulatory frame with free exports into Australia there are those who are using that to export what would be described as seconds in most industries into Australia then on-exporting those through various structures into countries like China. The claim is that up to $300 million worth of export opportunity is being lost as a result of that. In fact in one market alone it has been claimed that $3 million was chopped off the potential export opportunity of exporting a branded quality fruit called Zespri. For those reasons alone the select committee is the right place for this legislation to go through a robust and close scrutiny process to come out at the other end with some solid recommendations for the Government to proceed with. 
If the select committee comes out in favour of proceeding with the bill and strengthening regulation then the Government will have some problems with Maori authorities. There is no question about that. Maori authorities up and down the country that have been involved in this industry have lobbied successive Governments over a long period of time saying: “We want the opportunity to export outside of the single desk. We don’t know why we should be constrained by this. We can’t understand the logic around this.” Of course the industry itself runs the argument that the only way people can maintain good quality accurate market records and solid reliable service to markets that take years and millions of dollars to build up is to export through a single authority. 
There is the debate. There is the philosophical divide. I am pleased that in the Opposition we do not have to have a strong view on that at this point. The select committee is the correct place for that to happen. I know that under the very capable leadership of the Hon David Carter and of course aided and abetted by some of the luminaries on that committee such as the president of New Zealand First my good colleague over here and Ian Ewen-Street I am sure this committee will get to the bottom of the issue that is before us. 
The issue that Ian Ewen-Street touched on of having concession for differential products will need some investigation. There are a number of reasons that somebody might be able to develop a market for a certain product—and they do—but there may be some reasons that people are being constrained by the current regulatory framework or the proposed regulatory framework. 
I notice that the Minister over there on the Government benches is nodding his head; I am not sure whether that is in acceptance or in disbelief—and that is the place for that to be sorted out. The Horticulture Export Authority last year handled exports worth $170 million—not an insubstantial amount. The most notable area where it is involved in terms of the regulatory framework that controls quality is the avocado industry. That industry is growing and going well. A lot of people are moving from kiwifruit in some of the areas where they have discovered that the fruit does not grow as well into avocados. Clearly that industry has a huge opportunity to be another growing export industry for this country which is very important. 
I know that the Government has very little affinity with most of these industries simply because it does not understand them. There are probably about two people in the Government who have any idea how the commercial world works in that regard and I hope the Government will give the select committee the time and resourcing and allow submitters to come before the committee because people who will submit to this committee I am sure will be people who have spent a lifetime studying the whys and wherefores of the various regulatory frameworks and markets and who have spent millions of dollars in this industry developing what was a fledgling industry about 15 years ago to the industry it is today. They developed the kiwifruit through genetics to brands that are now world-known and unique to this part of the world through the use of research and development and some of the excellent work that has gone in in those areas. 
I know that the chairman of Zespri in the company’s recent annual report commented that the industry had enjoyed strong growth since the formation of the Zespri brand and he is absolutely right. If members look at the figures they will see that they are overwhelmingly strong and the industry has returned a very very good return to its shareholders. 
So having said that I think that what needs to happen now is that this bill needs to go to the select committee. The select committee needs to be resourced in a way so that it can give this bill the due process it deserves. Representatives of the industry itself need to have time to come in and submit to that committee and talk about the reasons they think the industry’s regulatory framework is necessary. The Horticulture Export Authority needs to be given an opportunity to talk about why it believes it is the best body to handle that. Those marketers who have markets they have developed in international arenas around the world need to be given the opportunity to tell the select committee why there is a vacuum in some of the special areas. If all that is allowed to happen—and I trust that the Government will allow that to happen—we will end up with a thorough piece of legislation at the end.