Walker HamishHAMISH WALKER (National—Clutha-Southland): Thank you Madam Chair. I just want to reflect on a few areas that popped up during the review of the Primary Production Committee on a number of occasions. The recent policy announcements from the Ardern-Peters coalition Government are going to have a severe and negative impact on rural communities like Clutha-Southland. It's official: rural New Zealand is under attack. Whether it's the extra tax farmers in Gore or Mossburn will be paying at the pump for Auckland's trams the $3 billion alcohol allowance paid to students to go and drink their first year of studies away last week's announcement to end offshore oil and gas exploration—an industry which will be destroyed which employs over 8000 in high-paying jobs and contributes over $2.5 billion to our economy—or just a couple of weeks ago when the Rural Health Alliance was declined a mere $600000 or $1 to every rural person in New Zealand. They provide a great service to our rural communities especially in areas like mental health. And last week's announcement of an interim climate change commission is worrying to the extreme. It seems likely that agriculture will be forced into the emissions trading scheme. The list goes on and on.I was disappointed to hear funding for vital irrigation projects that support not only dairy but horticultural industries will be axed. This was announced around the same time hard-working and honest farmers in Otago and Southland were going through the worst drought in decades. I want to acknowledge the Otago and Southland farmers who have put up with so much hardship over the past several months. It's been a very challenging time on many fronts. First there was the drought. Speaking with so many farmers who have been in the district for many many decades they often told me this summer was the worst the driest and the hottest they have ever experienced. As I drove round the electorate looking at the land usually green and lush at this time of year it was brown and dry looking more like a desert in the middle of Africa. Many farmers had struggled over summer to grow crops for winter. Once winter hits in a couple of months some will really start to feel the pinch.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Could the member sort of come to the appropriations debate?HAMISH WALKER: Sorry Madam Chair. This was all related in the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) review.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Anne Tolley): Well you need to relate it in your speech.HAMISH WALKER: That's right. In December last time around the same time the drought was kicking in along came Mycoplasma bovis which has been widespread in Southland. M. bovis is a cattle disease a bacterial infection that can cause a range of conditions in cattle. This disease affects animal welfare and production and for the record humans cannot catch this. The biggest risk is animal movement. If M. bovis spreads throughout New Zealand we'll see a small decline in output. It won't bring the industry to its knees but as a country we will feel it. I want to acknowledge that rural support trusts across the country have been working incredibly hard assisting rural people from owners to managers staff and contractors in these tough times.I want to take this opportunity to thank the hard-working MPI staff on the ground who have worked long days and nights in the effort to eradicate this terrible disease. Speaking to some of the field staff it's clear how committed they are. However some admitted to me the fear that they have for their jobs due to the restructure currently under way commissioned by the Minister of Agriculture. It simply isn't fair to put these hard-working staff under more pressure. I don't agree with the Minister's decision to waste $17 million to rebrand MPI just to put a few new stickers on the doors. During the MPI review I did ask the head of MPI how staff are feeling and how they would respond to another disease outbreak after they'd been broken up into four departments. He couldn't answer.I want to just give one bit of credit to the Minister of Agriculture. He's got a knack of doing this: whenever he declares a drought within 48 hours the rain starts to appear. So I do commend the Minister on that one thing.