Ardern Shane: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Shane: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 02 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19183. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SHANE ARDERN (Chairperson of the Primary Production Committee):Thank you for the opportunity to contribute in this debate. It is interesting to follow on from the Minister for Primary Industries who talked about the opportunities coming from irrigation. If you had been listening earlier to the debate on the estimates for environmental portfolios you would have thought that this was going to be the end of the environment in New Zealand when in fact the opposite could not be more the case if you look at science and of course we are asking people to look at science—which is a step too far for more or less two-thirds of the Opposition as far as I can tell.We are asking people to look at actual scientific evidence and the reality is this. When irrigation was developed in the upper part of the South Island in the Kaikōura and Nelson regions during the late 1970s and early 1980s large amounts of land were developed for viticulture. So I guess what we are saying is that those grapevines should go and that land should revert back to what was there prior to the pinot and the sauvignon blanc being planted and then we would be in a much better position because the automatic presumption is that if you irrigate land it is all going to go into dairying. That in itself would not be a bad thing because there is plenty of technology now to mitigate the types of environmental effects that they talk about. In fact if they had gone to the Fieldays—and I invite the Green Party to look at this technology—and had a look at some of the new innovation that was on display there in regard to environmentally sustainable use of land and water they would not hold this Luddite position that they have.So let us just have a look at what actually has been achieved in the dairy sector in the primary industries area in the last wee while. The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord—87 percent of the streams rivers and lakes and 90 percent of the races or access ways for cattle have now been fenced and bridged. No other industry has achieved that in that time. Ninety-nine percent of dairy farms have nutrient budgets. I am not asking those who are in the Chamber to understand what that means but what it basically means is that all nutrients that are applied are budgeted for and calculated against what is used. It is not very hard to understand. There is a warrant of fitness system for dairy effluent management which is controlled both by the regional councils and the dairy companies that they supply. Dairy effluent non-compliance is less than 10 percent nationally and coming down. It is substantially reducing each year.There is research for reducing greenhouse gas emissions based on science once again and New Zealand’s investment in this area is world-leading. Why do we not hear the Greens or Labour touching on that from time to time? Dairy companies are implementing stringent criteria in terms of their supply regimes.Why do we not hear from the Labour members who I know are passionate about increasing wages about what has actually happened in terms of dairy worker wage limits or wage rises in recent times? Why do we not hear about the stories of young couples now in that sector who are earning $130000—what they call the total value package? Why do we not hear about that? The majority of them in the larger operations in a mid-management position are earning that money and more and some are earning up to $300000 and $400000. When do we hear about that? When does the Green Party talk about that?Why do we not hear about the massive investment that is going on in local communities in philanthropic ways through the likes of milk in schools for example—that is one starting point—as well as all the local investment that goes on in small towns and communities in regard to philanthropic activity? It is all driven on the back of investment in our primary sectors.Why is it that we constantly hear the negative carping in the background from our Opposition? Why do we not start celebrating the areas that we are good in? Why do we not get over the fact that we are an agricultural nation and we depend on our agricultural sector? Seventy-two percent of our export earnings come from the agricultural sector. I cannot help it if two-thirds of the members in this House do not like that—I cannot help it—but it does not change the fact. If they do want to develop something else to replace it please do. But let us not pretend there is some silver bullet. This is a sector that will grow the New Zealand economy faster than any other sector.