Woolerton R Doug: Meat Board Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Woolerton R Doug: Meat Board Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:14087] 
R DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First) 
: 
 The report of the Primary Production Committee was unanimous and this bill will go through with the support of all parties including New Zealand First. However New Zealand First has not seen the need to point out its opposition to women directors or Maori directors. In fact I quite like the idea of women directors on boards and would never ever oppose such a move unless there was a higher reason behind that and of course the higher reason would be equity. However I do not want to let this opportunity go by without saying in particular that women have made a huge contribution to this industry and have done so for centuries. I must also mention that approximately 10 percent of the total sheep and beef stock units belong to or are under the control of Maori interests and that is significant. 
There was a day—and I hope that people do not take offence at this—when people would drive past unkempt land or land that perhaps was not in pristine condition and would lament that perhaps it was Maori land. The implication was that Maori land was not productive and was not looked after and the explanation of that was that it was in multi-person ownership. That was all correct of course but since those days we have had a marvellous thing called Maori incorporations come along and Maori have found a very good vehicle that takes into account the multiple ownership of land. They can appoint managers and they have legislation that means they do not have to track down the last Maori owner maybe in foreign parts of the world. So Maori can get on with the business of farming. We now have very very productive enterprises in the hands of Maori incorporations. They are a credit to the Maori people and to the farming industry and they take their place in the industry with pride and professionalism. I will not name the people who are involved at the risk of missing somebody out and causing offence but the people who are involved in the industry are highly qualified highly motivated very very professional people. They do nothing but add to the industry and we applaud that. I would be concerned if the words from my National Party colleagues were taken as suggesting there was some concern that Maori were not welcome on these boards or anything else. It is simply the fact that the select committee believed that representation on them should be on the basis of merit rather than based on race or gender. I just wanted to make that point obvious. 
At this point I want to thank the officials and my colleagues on the select committee. We do work well together. We enjoy each other’s company dare I say it and we certainly look forward to the reappearance of Mr Shane Ardern on that committee. I think I can say that we are of one voice on that. So we urge his contemporaries and his leaders to bless us with his presence. It is not often that we get the chance—we do get the chance but we do not get it often enough—to tell the people of New Zealand via speeches such as this of the talent integrity and intelligence of the so-called bureaucrats or the people who shepherd bills through the House. We are blessed in this Parliament. I know that sometimes debates rage around these matters but we have a bureaucracy to serve this country and this Parliament that is free of corruption and that has clear ideals and clear guidelines to work to. Officials give freely of their advice. They work long hours; they do not work normal days and take weekends off. If there is a job to be done they work after normal working hours and in the weekends. They work hard at it. We are served by them and we owe them a debt of gratitude. I know that I do not thank them often enough so I am doing so now and making up for what I have neglected to do previously. 
I cannot let this opportunity go by without mentioning the fact that New Zealand First sees a difference between export-led and consumer-driven economic activity. It has been the fashion in the last 15 years or so for people not to differentiate between those things. This bill deals with export-led economic activity and we support it. Members can see that there is complete unanimity on this bill in the House. Whether economic activity is export led or consumer driven makes a difference to the inflation rate of this country. It makes a difference to where the money first lands if one likes. It is far better for the economy for the money to come in through export-led activity go into the hands of people in the provinces in the case of this industry and then flow through into the cities. The money always ends up in the cities but it does matter how it gets there. When it goes through the rural economy into the cities everybody gets a drink if one likes and shares in the wealth and the economy is better balanced for that. 
This is a huge industry. Mr Ardern has rightly drawn some comparisons and we tend to forget them. I came up through my farming career in a cooperative structure. It is a structure that I still favour. I believe this industry would have been better served without some of the very well-known names that were involved in the past like Vestey’s meat companies and things like that—people who have substantial wealth. 
Shane Ardern 
: Foreign investors! 
R DOUG WOOLERTON 
: Yes we mention the words “foreign investors”. New Zealand First is well known for talking about that and I am going back into past history and talking about that now. Sure those people have contributed to this industry but they have also taken great wealth off these shores from it. I personally would like to see more cooperative involvement and I believe if this industry had had that it would be further ahead than it is. It does not surprise me coming as I do from the dairy industry that the dairy industry which played second or third fiddle to this industry has now surpassed it with a cooperative structure that many people in this industry believed to be inferior in days gone by.