Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (Chairperson of the Primary Production Committee): Thank you Mr Chair. It's great to be able to take a call on Vote Agriculture Biosecurity Fisheries and Food Safety because it is primary industry that leads the New Zealand economy. I'd just like to acknowledge the members of the Primary Production Committee that were on there from other parties as well. It's a very bipartisan committee actually that works together on many issues because there are many people that have an interest in agriculture on that committee and it is part of the fabric of the New Zealand identity and community.Mark Patterson: Where did this diplomatic David Bennett come from?Hon DAVID BENNETT: It is it's very good. Of course the main issue that was a focus was the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak that has been something that has been through New Zealand over the last six to nine months a very important part of the Ministry for Primary Industries' (MPI's) work. I'd just like to first of all acknowledge the good people from MPI that have given so much of their time and effort to try and control and eradicate that cattle disease. I'd just like to also acknowledge the Minister that's here Damien O'Connor. I think the Minister made the right call earlier this year. That was a good call that was welcomed by the farming sector and the question will now be whether there is the ability for the Government to carry that through and to make sure that that wasn't just a false call that was made. Kieran McAnulty: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. It's my understanding that the chair of the select committee has a very specific role in presenting the report of the select committee not to wonder aloud about personal opinions.CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): Are you kidding?Kieran McAnulty: No.CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): There's nothing to rule on there.Hon DAVID BENNETT: The report focused heavily on Mycoplasma bovis and one of the big issues there is how that actually works out because what we've seen from the Government is an estimation of their expenditure going forward. That is in a number of years and it will depend on whether that actually happens in each particular year. I was raising the point for that member that there is the difficulty that if the Government moves away from the commitment it's already made there would be ill feeling within the rural community as to whether that actually has been a commitment that was followed through in earnest in the first sense. That's an $886 million commitment over 10 years which was a huge part of the investment by this Government in biosecurity and to take that away would be a major issue.It is not something that's set in stone because there are a lot of issues around the eradication—namely whether any diseases were found outside of the initial area of contact and requirements around what MPI actually can do in managing the outbreak. So it is not something that we necessarily know will be carried through and it is something where there needs to be that security given to farmers should there be any breach outside the conditions that were laid out for the Government's investment in dealing with the disease. If those conditions are not met then farmers would also need to see some security from the Government especially when Estimates are done because you've just had the movement of cattle—1 June has been a very important part of the agricultural sector—and so there would be some issues around the future movement of cattle as well going through the year from calf clubs to cattle sales and on to next year's farm movement on 1 June.There's also some talk around the National Animal Identification and Tracing system the NAIT system. I understand that the Minister's got some plans in that area as well and we'd welcome a call from the Minister to identify where he thinks that should transition in the future because that's part of actually being able to provide that safety and security to the primary sector especially in regard to something like the M. bovis issue.Another issue that was raised was around the brown marmorated stink bug. This is another issue where there is a real risk to the New Zealand horticulture sector. We know that there have been some bugs found in New Zealand. The numbers are significant with 52 of them found alive and that presents a real risk to our primary sector as well. So it would be good to hear what the Minister is intending to do in the near future to deal with that issue as well. Some other issues that were raised included protecting kauri trees and around fisheries and OVERSEER but the main issue was M. bovis. Thank you.