Dean Jacqui: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDean Jacqui: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 05 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3167. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): I am very pleased to stand in the third reading of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill. When I was contemplating what I would say in my contribution to this third reading I went back as always to my electorate which is a large southern rural electorate that is a big producer of a number of commodity products which are duly exported overseas.This led me to think about an occasion when I was in Hong Kong. I was taken to a wet market and then to a dry market and supermarkets to have a look at primary produce particularly New Zealand beef and lamb at the time. I was very kindly chaperoned by a local gentleman who was an importer of New Zealand beef and lamb products and who was a local representative of Beef and Lamb New Zealand. Many tourists go to the wet markets because you can see chickens being slaughtered right there and there are concrete floors. People go to the market and buy each meal because of the culture and because they like the freshest of food. We went from the wet markets on to a supermarket where New Zealand beef and lamb—in this instance lambin particular—was packaged for Hong Kong consumers as it is packaged for Singaporean consumers European consumers Chinese consumers or wherever it is in the world that New Zealand exports its animal products.A couple of things struck me and I reflected on a couple of aspects that I think relate to this bill. One of them was the context around the meat product—and it was lamb in this case. It was that the offering on sale was a package maybe twice that size and there were little slithers of thinly sliced lamb that were being sold. I was thinking: “Gosh that doesn’t look like a leg of lamb.” which is what I’m used to buying or growing. But it is the form in which the Hong Kong consumer buys the lamb for the dinner that night and it might end up being a hotpot which from memory is one of the dishes that New Zealand lamb is used in. So I noted the differences in expectations of the different markets for our product and I also noticed when I was looking at the labelling that New Zealand sells itself on having not only a wonderful environment and a clean green environment—which I have to say this Government—Stuart Nash: Has destroyed.JACQUI DEAN: —is doing a lot to enhance. You see there we have the Opposition because it is the Opposition and it can only think to oppose saying “destroyed”.Let me say to that member of the Opposition that this Government has done much more to enhance the quality of our environment—and particularly of water—than any. In fact if I recollect the Labour Government in the previous term had its water plan of action. Does anybody who has been around here for a while remember Labour’s water plan of action? Well it was so bad—so bad—that officials at the Ministry for the Environment termed it in public the water plan—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): Order!JACQUI DEAN: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I am relating this to the bill because of our international reputation in terms of quality. Although we do have some parties in the House that would seek to destroy New Zealand’s international reputation this Government is working very strongly to enhance our international reputation and this Animal Welfare Amendment Bill certainly adds to our reputation.I know when speaking to some of our vets for example in and around the Waitaki districtthat they have long been concerned—particularly those who are involved in the export markets and who service the farmers farming operations and freezing works that export internationally. They are absolutely aware of and support not only New Zealand’s efforts to enhance our environmental reputation—because this is “New Zealand Inc.” after all—but also the need for us to maintain our reputation for good animal husbandry standards. And I believe we do.What I have also seen over the years particularly around the Waitaki Valley is the expansion of dairying as a result of irrigation—another wonderful initiative of this Government in supporting this development. It is not only supporting it but also providing incentive funds and research and development funds for the development of irrigation which is increasing productivity and jobs in the regions. Particularly I want to zero in on the Waitaki Valley because we now have irrigation from the top of the valley—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): This is a third reading speech.JACQUI DEAN: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. What that has meant is that we now have dairy farming expansion along the main road. When you have dairy farming expansion along the main road the travelling public—both visitors and New Zealand citizens alike—get to see farming operations up close. In fact people will often stop and park their cars to take photos of dairy cows and sheep when they can find them—there are fewer sheep in my area than there used to be. One of the consequences of having dairy farming on show is that animal husbandry as of necessity needs to lift its game consequentially—not just because it can be seen from the main road and it is New Zealand’s reputation at stake but also because farming has lifted its game substantially over the past few years and that is just my observation.I did not sit on the select committee that considered this bill—I know that a number of members here did—so I have not had the opportunity to scrutinise fully this bill. But I am pleased that one of the objectives of the bill is to provide for clear and enforceable standards of animal welfare. In that I do hope that attention was paid to the growth of smallholdings and hobby farmers in New Zealand. I think that Federated Farmers have often raised the point that small farmers also need to have a high standard of animal husbandry. It may not be that they are exporting—probably not; the likelihood of small farms exporting is probably pretty low—but none the less even if those animals are being raised for home kill or on-farm killing or for sending down to the local abattoir to be killed and then dressed at the butcher and then sent home again which is what we used to do when we had a small farm the level of animal husbandry needs to be maintained by that sector as well.I did a visit to Alliance Group’s Pukeuri freezing works some years ago—probably 4 or 5 years ago. This was just as the local MP because I was interested in the export of lamb and they tried to play a trick on me at Pukeuri. We went right to the top of the chain—and it is quite a long trek from the bottom where they cut up the cuts with the saws all the way up back to the kill. This is a halal plant and so the sheep were killed very humanely. In fact they had no idea what was coming—so it was a very humane kill—and then they proceeded down the line. I could see the workers looking at me—a local sheila turning up—and thinking: “Who does she think she is—the local MP? I know we’ll get her.”As the sheep was coming down the line it came time to top the sheep’s head off. What the freezing workers did was pop it on the ground looking at me with the hope of my saying: “Oh isn’t it awful. It’s a sheep’s head.” Well little did they know that we had been involved in home killing down on the farm for 20 years or so by that stage so that did not work. But I have to say that I know a lot of the freezing workers out at Pukeuri which is probably why they played the trick on me. I have to say that I know Pukeuri freezing works very well. I also know Silver Fern Farms up at the northern end of my electorate. I have met with the management. I have met with the freezing workers. They do uphold the highest standards of animal welfare because they have to. They understand that for the animals’ sake it is important and also that in terms of our international reputation and our export markets it is critical. Thank you.Bill read a third time.