Kuriger BarbaraBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): In the short time that I've got before the dinner break I'd just like to carry on from the conversation that Minister O'Connor just started and talk about making farmers more profitable. I would say that if we're looking for silver bullets—and they're very hard to find—there isn't one right now on methane. If you're wanting to make farmers more profitable then I would suggest we look at those methane targets that are currently in the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill because actually that's an unachievable target for farmers and something that's very difficult. So—Hon Damien O'Connor: Which one?BARBARA KURIGER: —the methane targets are very—Hon Damien O'Connor: Which target?BARBARA KURIGER: The methane target. Hon Damien O'Connor: There's a range.BARBARA KURIGER: Well let's just look at the range of methane targets and put it under some consideration because that's an area that actually farmers are going to struggle to deal with with the tools that they currently have.On the whole climate change thing and the tree issue at the moment a lot of our rural communities are really panicking about what's going to happen about people coming in and buying their farms. So if there is in fact a plan which we haven't actually seen in terms of planting trees then I think it's time that some of those rural communities were reassured around that planting plan because they just see a whole lot of trees coming at them.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Good evening members. I hope we had a lovely dinner break. When we rose for the dinner break we were debating the questions that the reports of the committees relevant to the primary sector be noted. Barbara Kuriger was speaking and she has three minutes and 41 seconds remaining should she so wish.BARBARA KURIGER: Thank you Madam Chair I do wish.So just to recap on a couple of the topics we went into before we broke for the dinner break: one was methane and talking about the confidence around methane and not putting penalties on when people don't have tools to fix a problem; I think the second one was around trees and the spattering of trees that are coming. People are willing to plant trees. There's half a million trees native trees being planted in Taranaki as we speak at the moment. We're planting them on our own farms and we have been doing so since 1993. There's a fantastic number of trees that have gone into Taranaki and the water quality is actually improving so there's a proven process going on there. So people don't mind doing stuff and they'll do it voluntarily with a plan but they are worried about all this forestry that's coming towards them. The Minister in the chair Damien O'Connor mentioned before dinner that there was some plan around that. It would be helpful if the farmers knew what that plan was because people will volunteer to do all sorts of things but they don't like having things done to them.I then just wanted to touch on Mycoplasma bovis and I know it's come up in the conversation before dinner about National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT). I took another call before the dinner break about NAIT. We often hear the finger pointed at farmers about NAIT and not keeping records etc. etc. But it was really interesting: the call I took before the dinner break talked about NAIT and TBfree New Zealand not talking to each other and the MINDA system not talking to NAIT and TBfree. Back in the day when I was in DairyNZ we often talked about getting a one-stop shop—and the Minister talked about all these other organisations that were involved so we can't look in the rear-vision mirror now but let's look forward. And farmers are getting confused because they think they've done stuff and they think it's been transferred to the other half of the organisation and that's in effect what's not happening. And so I think that's making it a problem around M. bovis.Now it would be one of the biggest things that you've potentially appropriated in your time as a Minister and may well prove to be that over a long time Minister O'Connor—the money that's been put aside for M. bovis. I do wonder with some of this tracking and tracing. I heard you say recently—and I'm sorry I'm using you" in that tense Madam Chair because I'm talking to the Minister about asking if it's still feasible—CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): You can talk about the Minister rather than talk to the Minister.BARBARA KURIGER: —yeah—and I think it is a question that all of us should be asking in this House. It's a lot of money. There's been a lot of angst and it's why we all hope that this awful disease is still able to be eradicated. I think it's a very good question to keep asking where the offerings are.I just wanted to finish on one thing because GE ryegrass came up before. It's a topic that I think is less scary around the science and more questions need to be answered about the marketing of it and how we want to see New Zealand as a country. So I would you know love to have a drought-free grass but I do think we need to have the conversation. We talk about it often. It reminds me a little bit of the End of Life Choice Bill: you can actually avoid talking about things for a period of time but at some point you actually have to get up and you have to talk about these topics and have a real hard-fought conversation about whether it's a feasible option for the future. So I would encourage you to do that Minister."