Lewis StephSTEPH LEWIS (Deputy Chairperson of the Primary Production Committee): Thank you Madam Chair. It is my pleasure as the deputy chair of the Primary Production Committee to speak to the primary sector annual review report and I want to start by acknowledging the work from members across the House on this report. I'd also like to thank the Ministry for Primary Industries—MPI—for making available their senior leadership team to answer the committee members' questions. That was incredibly helpful as we were able to drill in to some detail on a wide variety of topics. I just want to thank Land Information New Zealand and Landcorp Farming Ltd—Pāmu—for coming in and answering the committee's questions and the Minister for being available as well. I just want to acknowledge at this point that the backdrop to our annual review hearings was of course the COVID-19 global pandemic and while some of our primary industries fared well or better than expected others were more affected by the COVID-19 restrictions that we saw last year. It's also worth noting that as a result of funds from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund the ministry was able to fund initiatives from the primary sector including retraining programmes for workers who had lost their jobs as a result of the global pandemic—for them to be able to retrain and move into primary sector work. There were also initiatives in pest control food waste and support for rural communities and animal welfare. I'm sure that during the course of this debate the Minister will share more about the Government's support for the primary sector and primary sector exporters throughout the global pandemic. Mycoplasma bovis was also a focus of our committee. The committee heard that of the 260 herds identified in New Zealand with the disease present 251 of those herds have now been cleared of M. bovis. The ministry advised that since the eradication programme began in 2018 over $180 million has been paid out in compensation. The ministry's work to contain the disease is continuing through increased surveillance and tracking activities and the National Animal Identification and Tracing system is a key part of this. The committee was pleased to hear that significant efforts have been made to eradicate M. bovis but ongoing challenges are faced. The committee was also very keen to discuss primary sector workforce needs and in July 2020 we heard that the ministry launched the Opportunity Grows Here campaign to attract workers into the primary sector industries. The campaign's focus is on providing job transition and promoting positive working conditions. There are challenges to meet workforce demands due to ongoing border closures but the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme has definitely helped and there's further work under way we understand to encourage more Kiwis to consider the primary industries as a viable career option. Also of interest to the committee was Fit for a Better World—Accelerating our economic potential a road map that seeks to support the recovery from COVID-19 and address some of the longstanding issues that the sector has faced. Forestry and wood-processing and aquaculture were given as two examples of where the primary sector can grow its export value in the next 10 years. Water reforms mānuka honey and Pāmu's conversion of some farms to organics and the impact that that's had on the improving of their farming practices were also topics that were canvassed during the hearings. As you can see the Primary Production Committee had some robust conversations resulting in a very thorough annual review report. Thank you.