King Colin: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Colin: General Debate[Sitting date: 07 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12452. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]COLIN KING (National—Kaikōura):It would be fair to say that the issue that we are confronted with as a nation of managing the contamination scare with the whey was too close for comfort for any person of this country especially any primary producer. So how do we feel? As a rural MP myself and as a member on the Primary Production Committee I must say that it was a breathtaking moment when we heard the story break. One can imagine how those people who have got millions of dollars invested in the primary industries in New Zealand would have felt when that crisis broke. They were all affected in the sense that market access is something that we do value incredibly highly.So what was the potential of this breach of this incursion? When you look at it more often than not what we have in our mind-set is an incursion by a biosecurity breach. But this was not the case. This was a case where potentially one of our own products was the problem and we had to work our way through that. So it was whollyappropriate that the Government moved quickly as it did and credit must also go to the Ministry for Primary Industries. So well done.What was the appropriate focus that the Government had? The focus and response of the Government was to protect families especially the babies. As Minister Tim Groser made the point it was not only for New Zealand families but especially for our overseas families. May I acknowledge at this particular stage the appropriate effort put in by the Prime Minister John Key ably supported by Ministers Joyce Groser Guy Goodhew Ryall and Kaye. Also the officials got alongsideFonterra’sHautapu plant so that there was good information being given to the public. It is also nice to see presently that as the story has unfolded and the facts are established the process has been described from the Government’s point of view as a class act.I venture to say that we in New Zealand need to examine our processes more thoroughly. I am confident that this scare and the resulting examination will result in standards of monitoring that will get better and better through the process and we should welcome that and open ourselves up to such an examination. This reminds me of a very sage statement that we all in the House will remember: “It is the putting right that counts.” I believe that that statement is so very important and appropriate. Having identified the problem having isolated the product we have now got the job of rebuilding the confidence of our partners—the people whose countries we export to—realising that we are the largest cross-border exporter of milk products. We have really got to work at rebuilding that confidence—the putting right of things.Churchill also made a very appropriate comment that “Bad news will travel around the world before good news even gets its pants on.” That is pretty appropriate when you consider that it is a matter that we have got to be very conscious of. Fortunately the Government’s response has been to largely keep up with the developments of this issue as it has unfolded and fortunately New Zealanders have a natural way of doing business overseas as an export nation. Our officials are open and transparent and they along with other Government officials will work really diligently and hard to make sure that that trust is rebuilt.There is a need for inquiries. These inquiries will add robustness to our food safety systems and it is very important that that is the case and that we restore the brand value to the New Zealand brand.To conclude I would just like to address the farmers of New Zealand in the sense that there have been times in the recent past when this Government has put in place necessary regulation and legislation that has made farmers a little bit irate. They feel that we are adding cost to their farming systems without adding value and I am referring there to the National Animal Identification and Tracing Act. I would just encourage farmers to focus on the fact that this is very important for biosecurity and food safety. Thank you.