Ardern Shane: Meat Board Restructuring Bill — First Reading 
Ardern Shane: Meat Board Restructuring Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:615;Page:11037] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is with some pleasure that I rise to speak in favour of this bill being put to the Primary Production Committee and it is for a number of reasons. One is that unlike the Government the National Party understands the importance of these industries and we understand the importance of farmers to New Zealand. Unlike the Government we understand how much the meat industry is worth to this country. The combined efforts of these industries produce $6 billion worth of exports annually. 
It is with some joy I guess that I know I now have in this House some farmer support from my colleague from Rakaia who like a limpet from 100 yards away latched on to what this Government is about—that is once again getting its sticky fingers into an industry in which it has no place of which it has no knowledge and where it should not ever bother to go—and I will talk to my colleague later about what that means. 
Farmer support for this measure was overwhelming. I heard the member for Invercargill say that it was overwhelming but he did not know how overwhelming—or it might have been the member for Whanganui; it was one or the other. However I inform the member over there that 76 percent voted in favour of a stock number weighting. There will be a variance in figures if we use the farmer numbers but this was on a stock number - weighted vote. The farmers were in favour of it. They looked at all the pros and cons and said that this was the way to go. They wanted this to go through a robust process to a select committee and into being as soon as possible. We in the National Party will do our best to make sure that happens. 
Quota are negotiated Government to Government. That is how it is done—Minister to Minister Government to Government. Quota are hugely important and that is why this bill is important. It would be absolutely devastating to this industry and to New Zealand if these quota were damaged in any shape or form through the process of changing from the two separate entities we currently have to the one proposed. For that reason huge effort needs to go in to make sure that no damage is done to the quota and that the process cannot be used as an excuse by foreign nations that do not want us to have quota access to opt out of their negotiated position in some way or another. I know that the select committee will consider this deeply and will put in a huge amount of effort on it. 
However that does not mean to say that the quota belong to the Government. Quota are negotiated between Governments. They do not belong to them; they belong to the industry. Here is the philosophical difference. Without the industry producing the goods with which we can negotiate quota access we do not have any industry. It is as simple as that. Labour socialists do not understand but somehow consider that the industry magically produces high-quality product for export and develops the markets but do not have the nous the wherewithal or the business acumen to manage the process. So they get their sticky fingers into it. They say: “Look you can’t have a board of farmers running this important industry.” They have only built it from nothing to a $6 billion industry! What would they know about it! The same thing applied in the dairy industry when we had that debate: “These farmers are incompetent. We cannot have them managing this. The Government has to manage it. It has to get involved and start managing it.” 
The reality is that the Government does not have to get involved; it does not have to start managing it. The Government has to set the standards and the rules and get involved in the negotiation when it comes to State-to-State quota access but it does not have to get involved in the management of the export industry. Therefore I tell the farmers out there who may be listening to take particular notice of who the experts are that the Minister decides need to be appointed to this board. It is good to see that eight or nine farmer directors will be on the board when it is put together. 
I have just come from the Dairy Farmers of New Zealand conference in New Plymouth a few hours ago. It was refreshing to listen to a bunch of farmers talking about Government policy. They do not muck about in the way we hear bureaucratic and socialist types muck about—like this Government has. That is why as we can tell from reading the polls this Government is on the slippery slope. Its numbers are up. Government members might start getting out around the traps and finding out what they did wrong. Here is a classic example of where they have decided to get their sticky fingers involved. I accept that when it comes to negotiating market access and generating markets an expertise is required. If we look within all the primary production industries we will find a huge depth of expertise that will not be found in any other industry anywhere else in New Zealand. If that is not so why have other industries not passed them out? Why is it that year after year our primary production industries have had growth that exceeds that of any other industry? Despite the fact that we had Labour Governments that said it is a sunset industry and we can kiss it all goodbye and the sooner all the land between Auckland and Wellington is turned back into a nature park reserve the better—despite the fact that that was the forecast of Labour Prime Ministers—this industry has grown year on year faster than any other industry and it is still the backbone of the country. 
It is for that reason that farmers will line up behind the National Party and vote this lot out. They have had enough of the Government’s sticky fingers getting involved in things such as negotiating quota and appointing people to boards. The formation of SheepCo and the process that the industries went through in getting to that point has been an evolution. Some would argue that some of this should have happened more quickly and I know that our colleagues from the ACT party would say that it should have happened years ago and probably that it has not gone far enough. Some on the left would say it has gone too far and it should not have happened as quickly. At the end of the day pragmatic business people whether they be farmers industry leaders or people out there running a normal small business in Wellington City ultimately will come up with the right decision. Their track record demonstrates that is so. If there is any evidence that that is not so on a wholesale basis then people who oppose this kind of approach should bring it to Parliament and demonstrate it to us. I have never seen it. On the other hand what we have seen when we allow Governments and Wellington-based bureaucrats to make decisions on behalf of the wider community and to make decisions on behalf of industry is some major damage being done. When that has been allowed to happen over the years some major damage has been done. 
This bill is necessary and is important. The farming industry wants it to happen. The National Party will be vigilant I am sure on the select committee. When the bill goes through to select committee they will be making sure that all the things that are taken care of in this bill like industry-good functions are brought together in a way the industry is happy with so that it can go forward and be prosperous and so that New Zealand can be prosperous as a result.