Ardern Shane: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Ardern Shane: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12775] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to rise and speak with regard to agriculture and forestry. The Hon Shane Jones commented earlier about a need for leadership in this area and I could not agree with him more. There is a strong need for leadership but the need for leadership is not so much in the agricultural sector as it is in the Labour caucus. I hope that the honourable member’s probation and rehabilitation period is not too long because the vacuum in leadership on that side of the Chamber is such that the House will not function unless something happens to improve that. 
In agriculture however there has been some strong leadership and there are a number of things that this Government is pleased to do. First of all I will mention in passing—because I mentioned it in my previous speech—the Primary Growth Partnership which will be a significant step forward for the agricultural sector. I am proud to be part of the agricultural team ably led by the Hon David Carter who has come forward with this major initiative. 
Science investment in this sector is essential if New Zealand’s economy is to prosper. There is one way and only one way that we can have prosperity and be competitive with the world and that is through the export of protein products—the low-hanging fruit. I acknowledge the Minister in the chair the Minister of Trade. I acknowledge the fine work that the Minister the Hon Tim Groser and his team have done internationally in opening up markets as we have never seen before and giving us the opportunities that exist for us to export high-tech smart products based on the scientific work that was part of the initiative in this year’s Budget round. That has been a wonderful step forward for the agricultural sector. 
Changes to the Resource Management Act will inevitably lead to the opening up of opportunity. One of the opportunities that is glaringly obvious to anyone who spends more than 30 seconds studying the agricultural sector is the ability to irrigate some of our drier lands particularly but not entirely the Canterbury Plains—in fact the whole of the eastern belt right up into Hawke’s Bay where my colleague the senior whip represents the Napier seat. The opportunity that that could unleash in terms of economic growth for New Zealand is enormous so the changes that have already been announced and the ongoing work in the resource management field are essential to unlocking the potential for our primary sector. 
Forestry has been on the back foot for a long long time—for 9 long years at least under the previous Government. I am pleased to see that the leadership of the Hon Shane Jones has returned because without leadership in this field—which we are now starting to see under a National Government—we are in danger of seeing our second-largest export industry disappearing over the horizon and our Australian counterparts benefiting from that. 
It always beggared belief in my view that Australia a country that took 5 years longer to grow a  
Pinus radiata 
 tree and then export it to exactly the same markets that were available to us was able to do that more competitively than we were. Given that our distance to the market was the same and that it took the Australians 5 years longer to grow the same product why was it that they were more competitive and better able to develop markets in that sector than we were? The answer simply lay in the amount of nonsensical silly regulation tax and various other policies that were put in place by the previous Labour Government which brought that industry to its knees. 
The ability to unleash potential remove some of those shackles put the right tax incentives in place and create an opportunity for the forestry industry to grow is something we should truly be proud of. I see that the Chairperson is leaning forward which probably means I do not have time to touch on the dairy industry which is the biggest industry in the country.