O'Connor Damien: Southland Agricultural and Pastoral  Association Empowering Bill — First Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Southland Agricultural and Pastoral  Association Empowering Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:633;Page:5234] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 I am very happy to rise and support the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association Empowering Bill on behalf of the Government. It is a bill introduced by the member for Invercargill Eric Roy. I am happy to support his initiative which is clearly endorsed by all the people in Invercargill and the greater area of Southland. 
I too am quite fond of agricultural and pastoral associations. They go a long way back and are at the heart and soul of rural New Zealand. There will be many people in this country who fondly remember attending shows up and down this country. Candyfloss and hotdogs perhaps were not as readily available back then but they were found at those shows. There was a huge turnout of the rural sector. Most of the farmers and people brought their stock and came to see the displays of implements tractors stock—you name it. 
Those days have moved on and we now have only a few very successful shows up and down the country. That is a bit of a sad reflection I guess on the perhaps more commercial approach that farmers have to life—that it is less community-focused in reality—and on the lack of realisation perhaps by urban people of the importance of farming across the nation. I applaud those groups around the country who battle away and continue to run their shows. It is a wonderful way of promoting the interface between rural and urban New Zealand and I am sure that Southlanders will continue to do that. Of course they will now be able to do it with the passage of this bill—and I am sure it will pass through as quickly as possible—at a single location in Invercargill. 
Ascot Park is a wonderful venue. As spokesperson for racing and as Minister I visited it very briefly. It is well supported by the people of Invercargill and as the member who spoke before me Eric Roy said there are not too many places in this country where the three codes—greyhound harness and thoroughbred—race together. I would like to see that model replicated more often around the country because the racing industry like the agricultural and pastoral associations forms a proud part of the rural heritage of New Zealand. We want to see those industries prosper but they are in a new very competitive world of entertainment options and they have to make sure they can provide the very best in terms of facilities to attract people and to remain commercially viable. With the sale of this land and the shift to Ascot Park I guess—but I have not seen the figures—there will be enough money to build first-class facilities. An indoor equestrian arena might be needed on occasions down in Invercargill; on the West Coast we probably occasionally need it too For the most part the wonderful climate allows us to enjoy the outdoors but a roof over our heads at times is welcomed. 
It is nice to acknowledge as I say not just the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association but the general rural sector and to be able to pass legislation through this House expeditiously because the rural sector remains the lifeblood and the core of our economy. It is very pleasing to see that the latest Rabobank survey for farmers and the rural sector—the people who have supported agricultural and pastoral associations up and down this country—shows that the sector has not been so optimistic for a long time. We know that particularly in Southland there has been huge growth in dairy farming and that is turning back the clock in some ways. The dollar has come back and one of the things that really encourages me is that the confidence for sheep farmers is the highest it has been since 2000. That indeed is very pleasing because some people have been concerned at the conversion of sheep and beef farms—sheep in particular—into dairying and have been concerned that it might be happening too quickly. I think this new round of confidence shown by the survey will mean that farmers can remain in the sheep industry for both wool and meat and that they will prosper and make good money. 
They need to; this economy needs to have a diverse agricultural and horticultural base. We have seen huge growth in dairying but a shrinkage in sheep and beef farming. Perhaps we need to slow that down a little bit with options for farmers on different land types in different regions so they can be the most efficient international farmers in their sector of agriculture using the best land and the best methods available. There are some areas—perhaps for example in the dry lands of Canterbury—where some conversions to dairying might have produced better financial benefits long term under a sheep-farming regime. But anyway over time I am sure we will probably see the truth or otherwise in that. 
Once again I emphasise that if the farming sector is the sector that will support the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association down there then it will do so very well and with a huge amount of confidence. That will mean that this bill and the changes it allows will result in a wonderful and very beneficial facility not just for farmers and the farming sector but for the whole of Invercargill and Southland. The Government is very happy to endorse this bill and support it going through the House as I am sure are most parties in the House. Kia ora.