Hutchison Paul: Animal Products (Dairy Products and Other Matters) Bill — In Committee 
Hutchison Paul: Animal Products (Dairy Products and Other Matters) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:624;Page:19144] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Port Waikato) 
: 
 Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the title of this bill particularly after the very fine speech from my colleague Dr Lynda Scott. I think she was absolutely right when she pointed out how vital it is to have continued vigilance with risk management because there is no doubt that it is the quality of our exports and our vital export industries that is so important to New Zealand. I recall that it was a Labour Prime Minister none other than David Lange who some 10 years ago—it might have been a few years longer ago than that—said that the dairy industry was a sunset industry. Shame on him! Shame on him and on the Labour Party for that awful prediction. 
Hon Annette King 
: Look forward—grow man grow! 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: The Minister of Health is saying “Grow man grow!” and indeed that is exactly what the industry has done despite the Labour Government and its reflex ability to set up hurdles for the industry. But it was good to hear the Minister of Health actually take a call on this bill which has taken so long. 
Hon Annette King 
: Actually I’m the Minister for Food Safety. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Sorry—the Minister for Food Safety. And that brings up another point. Why do we have a separate ministry when this matter could surely be dealt with by the Ministry of Health if only the Ministry of Health under this Minister were much more efficient and effective than it is. Nevertheless I make the comment that in schedule 3 it points out that it is important to include such things as alcoholic beverages. Many of us are not aware that some of the by-products or the value-added products of the dairy industry are 100 percent alcohol formulated caffeinated beverages and ice creams. What I really want to point out is the emerging number of value-added products that the dairy industry is now producing. They include nutraceuticals pharmaceuticals and all sorts of goods with high value that through research and development the dairy industry has been able to bring up to market and those products have been extremely important for New Zealand. 
What I am concerned about though is that the regulations of this Labour Government particularly in biotechnology have made it extremely hard for that research to take place in New Zealand. It is a very very important problem to researchers throughout New Zealand. It is common to Crop and Food Research AgResearch and HortResearch that unnecessary regulations brought in by this Labour Government have meant that much of that vital work has to be done offshore. 
It is an indictment on the Labour Government that only several months ago one of the very important trials on transgenic sheep to do with Huntington’s chorea was done offshore in Australia because the verdict was that it would take too long and cost too much to be done in New Zealand. 
But like Edwin Perry I also recall being involved in milking cows myself. On this occasion it was in Ireland where the uncle in County Cavan had the largest dairy farm in that county—26 cows. We hand-milked them popped them on the donkey and carriage and went down to the dairy but next door happened to be an excellent hostelry where there was a considerable amount of wonderful Irish brew. Six hours later one would come back to the farm and the cows would be all ready to have that excellent cycle repeated. What is remarkable though is that the Irish dairy industry has been bolstered by absolutely massive subsidies—€190 billion in direct subsidies—and that is what the New Zealand industry is having to compete against. That is why it is so important that we must have an efficient and effective system here in New Zealand.