Carter David: Animal Products Amendment Bill (No 2) Animal Products (Ancillary and Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Carter David: Animal Products Amendment Bill (No 2) Animal Products (Ancillary and Transitional Provisions) Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Volume:624;Page:19212] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 Can I first of all say in response to the Minister that due to the debate that preceded this very important legislation I suspect that 14000 dairy farmers—those extremely hard-working New Zealand dairy farmers—have turned out the lights because by about 4 o’clock or 5 o’clock tomorrow morning they will be up before that member starts her day to make sure that they are out there doing their bit to create wealth for all of New Zealand. I applaud those 14000 dairy farmers for what they have done for our economy over the last 5 years. It is a credit to them and it is a shame that the Government has not taken the opportunity to recognise them and credit them for their role. 
With the passing of this legislation it is important for the House to realise that there were two reasons given at the time that the previous National Government passed that excellent legislation the Animal Products Act of 1999. As we revamped the legislation pertaining to all animal products we specifically excluded the dairy industry for two reasons. The first reason given to us at the time by officialdom was the complexity of dairy products. The second reason given was the huge amount of change that was occurring in the dairy industry at that time due to producer board deregulation. 
Let me comment on the first reason. It is interesting that while officials and the industry spoke about the depth of complexity around bringing dairy products and the dairy industry into this legislation once everybody has put their minds to it in the clear light of day it seems to me that we have overcome the complexities and I acknowledge the work done by the select committee as it tidied up one or two things through that process. 
The second reason I think was quite valid. We have to go back to 1997 and 1998 when the Hon John Luxton an eminent former member and agriculture Minister staked his political career on the reform of producer boards and particularly the reform of the dairy industry. I had the pleasure yesterday with the member for Piako Lindsay Tisch to be in his electorate and to visit Open Country Cheese which is an operation located 10 kilometres north of Matamata. Many members of this House will know that the former Deputy Prime Minister the Hon Wyatt Creech— 
Darren Hughes 
: The right honourable! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: It is nice to still have a “right honourable” after that member voted the Privy Council away; they are fast becoming an endangered species those “right honourables”! But I want to congratulate the Rt Hon Wyatt Creech and the Hon John Luxton on what they and what many other investors have done there at Open Country Cheese. However I point out that that has happened only because the legislation passed by this House has allowed the dairy industry to finally deregulate with the formation of Fonterra and that has to date been a very successful move for the 14000 dairy farmers. 
We then attended a meeting after visiting Open Country Cheese and one of the dairy farmers there made a comment such as: “Well I think the only good legislation that the socialists have passed is the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act of 2001.” I certainly took the opportunity to correct that farmer. While the law might finally have been passed under the Labour Government elected at the end of 1999 no credit at all can go to the Labour Government and particularly not to Jim Sutton as Minister of Agriculture for shepherding that legislation through the House. It was entirely the superb work of the previous Government which took the initiative to allow this industry—this all-important industry—to play its role in the New Zealand economy. 
Brian Connell 
: What do Federated Farmers think of this? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Mr Connell interjects to ask me what Federated Farmers think of that move. They are certainly very supportive of the dairy industry and of the deregulation that has occurred. After I corrected that one hapless member within my audience they collectively congratulated the previous National Government on its superb work in deregulating industry boards. But I have a quiz for that member Brian Connell: what do five Federated Farmers provincial branches—namely Auckland Bay of Plenty West Coast Nelson and Marlborough—all have in common? 
Brian Connell 
: They want the Minister of Agriculture to resign. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The member is absolutely right. Those five provincial branches of Federated Farmers have taken the unprecedented move of calling for the resignation of the Minister of Agriculture. 
 As I said in a radio interview about 30 minutes ago even though agriculture went through the turmoil of the 1980s at no time did the industry feel so aggrieved that it voted a vote of no confidence as they are doing with the current Minister of Agriculture the Hon Jim Sutton. What we are seeing is a turning point and why the Minister Annette King can come into this House and crow about a $5 billion industry and 14000 dairy farmers working hard morning and night to create that wealth. Those farmers are aggrieved. They are angry. They are as angry as we have ever seen the farming community in this country and the principal reason they are grumpy is the stupid legislation around the issue of public access. 
I say to members opposite that that will be the issue that this Government will have to justify during the election campaign. That is the reason so many farmers are voting no confidence in the Minister of Agriculture and that is the reason the farmers who should be happy with the current level of dairy payout are not happy at all. They are fed up with this Government attacking agriculture and not appreciating the role that it plays. 
I want to now move to a very important aspect of this legislation—that is the issue of trade facilitation. This legislation will help to facilitate the entry of New Zealand dairy products into our overseas markets and that is to be applauded. But I say to this House that we can sit here and pass any amount of legislation that facilitates the entry of our dairy products into overseas markets but it will not help one iota unless the Government will generally focus on the issues of trade development. 
I refer of course to the way we have allowed the Australians to get a march on us by developing a free-trade agreement with America whereas we are nowhere on the agenda for a free-trade agreement with the United States of America until Helen Clark is prepared to apologise for some of the comments she made earlier against President Bush and his administration. 
Finally I want to talk briefly about our ability to export dairy products to any country in the world. What then becomes critical about our ability to profitably export is the costs of production in this country. Until the election of a Labour Government in 2002 New Zealand was recognised as the cheapest place in the world to produce dairy products. I was horrified but not surprised to learn last week of the report of AgResearch that states that New Zealand is not now the cheapest place in the world to produce dairy products—Argentina and Chile are the cheapest. However more worrying is that Australia our biggest competitor in the international market is now a cheaper place to operate a dairy farm and produce dairy products than New Zealand. 
That is principally because this Government has slagged and slogged the dairy industry and all of agriculture with somewhere around 30 new taxes since 1999. The industry cannot continue to prosper if a Government is totally unsympathetic to the issue of profitability. The Government must take note of these additional taxes it is imposing on this industry because they threaten the very buoyancy of the New Zealand economy.