O'Connor Damien: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Damien: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5618. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman): If ever there is an area of Government responsibility where there is failure it has got to be in the primary industries. The farmers’ friend—that is the National Party the farmers’ friend.Well well well let us have a look at what we have got facing the agricultural sectors at the moment. My colleague Stuart Nash will talk about forestry but I will just focus on a few things. I welcomed the speech from the previous speaker Ian McKelvie because he has pointed out fruit fly and 1080 contamination a $100 million tax on travellers to pay for biosecurity WPC80 and failure after failure to carry out what the farmers would consider friendly policies.We have a superministry that is responsible for so much it is failing in almost every single area of its responsibility. The dairy industry is a classic example of an outcome of a Government that has failed to lead as it should have. The Government facilitated the capital restructure of Fonterra because John Key wanted his mates in the stock exchange to have a few units to play around with. What that has done is left the company distracted to the point where it has had its eye off the ball.The National Government and its friends have been happy to trade in Fonterra units and the company is now floundering around. Yes there is an international challenge but ask Tātua what it is doing and ask the suppliers of Fonterra in Australia what is happening with payment for their milk. They are being paid considerably more than poor old Fonterra and Westland Cooperative Dairy—dare I say it as well—as suppliers.I have to say that the Government has made lots of noise but it has not done much. The Primary Growth Partnership referred to by the previous speaker has been a failure. The Office of the Auditor-General investigated six of the schemes and found no real economic benefit and many of those schemes were over halfway through their completion—no real economic benefit. It said that it could not identify “additionality” which was its polite word for saying: “This should have been business as usual and the Government spent money and we haven’t really seen any additional benefit.”Biosecurity is the Minister’s No. 1 priority and in the first year of the National Government it slashed funding and it has been playing catch up ever since. This year’s proposal is a tax of $100 million on New Zealanders and foreigners flying in and out of this country to pay for biosecurity because the Government does not want to commit real money to it.Today we had some indication—but not a promise—that there will be 100 percent baggage screening or a trial of it. We in Labour implemented 100 percent baggage screening and we had no fruit fly incursions. The Government removed it and we have had four incursions with potentially huge and damaging results for our economy. If it was the Asian fruit fly not the Queensland one we would be in a desperate situation.There has been no leadership in the meat sector. We have at the moment a temporary beneficial situation for the beef industry. The lamb and sheep industries are still floundering around. Meat Industry Excellence and the farmers themselves are asking for leadership from the Minister and it is nowhere to be seen. Although the previous speaker talked of the cooperatives—and I support them too—the Alliance Group and Silver Fern Farms have not been serving the meat industry and all the players as they should have been and indeed their suppliers have not been served that well as well. They want leadership they want vision and they want a clear direction that will provide a better alternative than in the dairy industry which at the moment is floundering around. Although people may say it is not a crisis go and ask a farmer who is facing the banks and negotiating their way to a future.It is a tough situation brought about by a Government that is laissez-faire and is prepared to accept market signals. The member at the back there Todd Muller the ex-Zespri employee was nodding his head about the wonderful management from Government. Zespri is there because of the Labour Government and its legislation discipline and leadership which we were prepared to show in Government but this Government has not been prepared to show that.The farmers out there want better leadership they want some direction and they want a vision. They have failed to get any from this Government from the expenditure that they have seen through the primary industry sector.