Parker David: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParker David: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 18 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4570. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]12.Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Minister of Trade: On what date was New Zealand Trade and Enterprise first informed that there were “high losses” of lambs born on the model farm in the Saudi Arabian desert and on what date did it inform the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade?Hon TIM GROSER (Minister of Trade): I am advised that New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the Ministry for Primary Industries were told of significant losses on 9 December. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was informed on 10 December 2014.Hon David Parker: Why did New Zealand Trade and Enterprise say yesterday that the welfare and treatment of the lambs at the model farm in Saudi Arabia was not its responsibility given that the Government is still asserting that the reason it spent over $6 million on the model farm plus $1 million flying the sheep on Singapore Airlines is to showcase New Zealand’s agricultural expertise?Hon TIM GROSER: Well the comment was made because it is correct. It is not their responsibility which does not mean to say that they are not concerned about the implications of it which is precisely why they sent experts up to Saudi Arabia 4 days later to help the Al Khalaf Group to deal with the issues. So I think they showed an entirely responsible attitude.Hon David Parker: Is the reason the Minister for Primary Industries was blindsided by this news yesterday and why he said at the select committee meeting today that the lambs may have died in a sandstorm because neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade nor New Zealand Trade and Enterprise had properly informed the Minister for Primary Industries about this debacle?Hon TIM GROSER: I do not know precisely what the circumstances of it are and neither would any Minister because these are operational matters. We are informed of the broad nature of the agreement but it is up to the people who are responsible for detailed matters. It is not the responsibility of the Minister for Primary Industries to be hot-footing it up to a Saudi Arabian farm to find out precisely what happened. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have not yet called the member.Hon David Parker: Given that the Minister for Primary Industries has hot-footed it up there when will he release the report on why some 70 percent of the lambs died and show whether it was due to starvation scours or a sandstorm?Hon TIM GROSER: We could debate the terms of this “hot-footing”. I think the Minister has visited the Saudi Arabian farm but it was not to give veterinary advice to the Saudis. As far as the report is concerned actually I am not advised as to where that report stands or whether or not it is commercially confidential.Hon David Parker: Why has the Government spent millions on a farm in a desert on the other side of the world where the vast majority of the New Zealand lambs have died?Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! A question has been asked. The Minister is now required to answer it and if that sort of interjection carries on it will be very difficult to do so.Hon TIM GROSER: Let us be very clear about this: the New Zealand lambs are the breeding stock we exported consistent with the tens of thousands of breeding stock that both the previous Labour-led Government and this Government have seen on their watch. What happens to the progeny and successive generations of those breeding stock is not a matter of responsibility for the New Zealand Government and it would be literally absurd to suggest that it was. But this does not matter to the underlying point that if people ask for our assistance we will always consider it in a positive and humane way.Hon David Parker: Is this latest twist in this bizarre and sad waste of millions of taxpayers’ dollars not further proof that the real purpose was to buy the cooperation of the Al Khalaf Group which was according to Mr McCully’s own Cabinet paper obstructing the Saudi adoption of the Gulf free-trade agreement?Hon TIM GROSER: The objective of this is to test out a new model for the export of our agribusiness. And yes it has had these problems. I have also been advised this morning that a second meeting has been achieved which has gone extremely well. So it is a little bit early to call this a failure at this stage.