Anderton Jim: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Anderton Jim: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:648;Page:17478] 
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Minister of Agriculture) 
: 
 I thank the member for his contribution. I have to say that for some people in this Chamber and in New Zealand the glass is always half empty—it is never half full ever. It is always the negative side of a position that is put rather than the positive side. I would point out to the member who has just spoken that the dairy farmers in New Zealand have just earned—this is profit through dividend payments to them—$3000 million which has been pumped back into the rural provincial economies of New Zealand and which is the only real thing sustaining some of those economies now. If we had the moratorium and everything stopped as the member suggests that $3 billion would not be there. If it was not there there would be massive unemployment in the regions of New Zealand there would be a slow-down in the overall growth of the country and the Government would have no revenue to do all the things we want to do in respect of the environment and in the health and education systems. So where is that half of the glass that the member mentions? He does not even mention it. He does not say what would happen if the counterfactual was there and we did not have that revenue. I have the view that the Green Party would be cheering if the dairy farmers had lost $3000 million; if the price of dairy products had gone down and we had lost $3 billion they would think that that would be good. It would be a disaster! But no the glass is always half-empty. 
As far as environmental protection is concerned I say this: I come from Sydenham which is an urban electorate and I lived in Western Springs which is pretty urban—it is right in the heart of Auckland City now—so I cannot claim any agricultural roots but I can tell members that some of the best conservationists in New Zealand are farmers and amongst those best conservationists are dairy farmers. I would invite the member to go up to Taranaki and have a good look at an area he would describe as “dirty dairying”—I am pretty sure of that. If he went there he would find that 95 percent of the dairy farmers—for anyone who cannot understand that is just about every dairy farmer and I think that anyone who does not join gets his or her milkshed burnt down—are in a programme that is bridging all the streams so that the dairy cows are not going into them fencing them all off so they are not polluted planting 300000 to 400000 trees every year at their own expense and doing it themselves and fencing off erodible areas on their farms. In 10 or 15 years’ time the Taranaki district will have a completely different aspect from the air from the ground or from anywhere you like than it does now. Where in that speech from the Green Party representative was there any recognition of that? But if one dairy farmer there did something wrong he or she would be splattered all over the place. 
I suggest to the new member that he take a step back for goodness’ sake breathe quietly for a while have a good look around and get the facts right. The facts are that our farming industry is as pristine as anywhere in the world. Of course there are things that have to be done better—of course there are. But I have been to most countries and have had a look at the environmental standards in them and I can tell members that in New Zealand we have among the best environmental measures in the world. Of course we could do better but it would be good if people sometimes sold their country up rather than down and actually congratulated people on doing the things that we really want them to do which earn us respect around the world and the kind of income that makes us a First World country. If we did not have a successful agriculture industry—including dairy—we would be a Second World or even a Third World country because we are 12000 miles away from our markets. It is only efficiency innovation and creativity and the science-based industry that we have that make us the country we are. We should cheer that along and celebrate it every day instead of saying some of the mealy-mouthed stuff that I hear from people who are always looking at the worst side of life instead of the good side. I think people’s lives must be pretty bloody miserable when they do that; my life is not like that. 
Vote agreed to.