Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Thank you Madam Chair. I'm delighted to speak in this Estimates debate on the primary sector. This is a Government of focused action. We are tackling the big issues. We know that the prior Government sat on their thumbs. They're not prepared to tackle the big issues around climate change around environmental sustainability. They like to talk the talk but they don't walk the walk and that's what this Government is doing.I want to commend Ministers O'Connor Jones Nash and Sage who fronted to our Primary Production Committee who've made tremendous investments in their respective areas. If we look at the agriculture in total $848 million has been going right across those portfolios into agriculture biosecurity food safety and fisheries and lands. There is tremendous work going on in this primary sector. I'm very proud of that work. We are tackling the hard issues. We are tackling dairy industry restructuring. We are looking at freshwater management. We are looking at climate change and zero carbon. We're tackling the hard issues because we need to because of the number that has been spouted this afternoon: $46 billion of exports are generated by our primary industries. We want to not only protect that; we want to grow that but we have to do it in a sustainable way. We can't just carry on with current practice. That's why we are tackling those hard issues.I want to acknowledge the Ministers and Minister O'Connor particularly in the decision to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis. We could have thrown the towel in and said Oh well we'll just live with it." But no this Government has made the decision to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis and we're putting the investments in place to achieve that: an extra $17 million of compensation this year and $68.5 million in total. Yes the industry will be required to chip in but that's what it's all about. We're all in this together. Likewise biosecurity is so huge. We need to maintain that fortress to protect our primary industries and protect that $46 billion in export receipts. What are we doing in that regard? Huge props to our Ministers for what we've done in terms of flies and insects—marmorated stink bugs and the like. If you mention the letters P-s-a to the kiwifruit industry that sends shudders down all of the Bay of Plenty and let us not forget that those incursions occurred under the previous National Government. So there were holes in the defences and the fortress under their watch but this Government is taking the hard decisions to actually eradicate and deal with those incursions. I want to acknowledge Minister Jones the champion of the provinces. Massive investments going into forestry all around the motu a 58 percent increase in support for forestry—and we're seeing that in the one billion trees programme. We're seeing that in forestry grants and partnership programmes up and down the motu and also complementing with the Provincial Growth Fund. But we're not only just stopping at the tree-planting phase; we're looking through all the way down the value chain through wood-processing and the like so I want to acknowledge Minister Jones for that. I want to speak to fisheries and Minister Nash. We often forget about the fishing industry but it is a very important part of our coastal communities and also the export receipts and the wealth that it generates. I want to acknowledge Mr Jones again. We're coming up to 30 years of the Māori fisheries settlement which came about with the introduction of the quota management system. Right at the heart of our fisheries industry are Māori and I know that our Minister Nash is very well respected by all stakeholders. He's making some hard decisions. You can't please everyone in every particular sector but he's making some really sensible decisions around dolphin threat management plans and around cameras on board vessels—particularly in those areas where we have endangered species. So I want to acknowledge Minister Nash for that. I want to also acknowledge Minister Sage our Minister for Land Information—in particular one very welcome policy initiative and that is the ending of land tenure review. For the South Island in particular where I represent Te Tai Tonga the privatisation of those high country leases has been a real mamae for us in the South Island. To actually bring an end to that land tenure review is very welcome and that just demonstrates we are focused and we are forward-looking. Unlike the forlorn side over there this Government is fizzing. We are getting the results and it is very welcome right across the primary sector. I wholeheartedly support the work of our Ministers and this Government."