12. Question No. 12—AgricultureTODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty) to the Minister of AgricultureQuestion No. 12—Agriculture12. TODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty) to the Minister of Agriculture: Does he stand by his statement in regard to the Government's proposed new water policy that it will cost One to two percent … of gross revenue in my estimation"; if so has he seen any economic analysis that confirms or rejects this estimate?Hon DAVID PARKER (Acting Minister of Agriculture): On behalf of the Minister of Agriculture yes. This is confirmed by the economic analysis in our Essential Freshwater proposals to stop water quality getting worse. There are a range of costs depending on the type of farm and the actions required to reduce pollutants getting into our waterways. For many farmers the costs of meeting that best practice will be very low because they're close to it and therefore their costs will be low. An overall figure for all farms across New Zealand is in the ballpark of 1 or 2 percent of gross revenue. I've also seen other economic analysis describing the economic effects on the agriculture sector as a "hammer blow" and that type of ridiculous hyperbole is not going to get the rivers clean. Todd Muller: Do you agree with the Interim Regulatory Impact Analysis for Consultation: Essential Freshwater when it states "The modelling to date of the economic impacts on farms has been very limited"?Hon DAVID PARKER: The part of the discussion document that deals with cost starts at page 84 of the discussion document and goes to page 97. It is true that you can't completely quantify the costs until you reach final decisions as to what is proposed. Todd Muller: How many farms won't be viable if this proposal is enacted?Hon DAVID PARKER: The member seems to think that we have to choose between profitability and good environmental outcomes. I deny that. I have before me a publication from Dairy NZ celebrating the example of the Balls. This is in respect of Adrian and Pauline Ball who won the Ballance farm awards this year. They've reduced their nitrate leaching by 62 percent in the last 10 years they've halved their greenhouse gas emissions and I quote: "We haven't lost profit." Todd Muller: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked a very explicit direct question: how many farms would be viable? He made no attempt to answer the direct nature of that question. SPEAKER: I think it's fair to say he addressed the question. Hon Shane Jones: In regard to the Government's proposed new water policy can he confirm it is a consultation document but is backed by Fonterra? Hon DAVID PARKER: I can confirm that it's a consultation document. I wouldn't want to say that Fonterra irrevocably backed every detail of it but what they were clear on was that they think that they need a regulatory underpinning for farm environment plans that sets environmental baselines which are then achieved through farm environment plans and that's what this does. Hon Ron Mark: Can the Minister comment on whether or not there's any similarity to this discussion document and the proposals put there to what occurred under the last Government through Horizons One Plan—SPEAKER: No no. The member's got straight into an area that is not his responsibility. Hon Shane Jones: Supplementary—Hon Ron Mark: Can I rephrase it? SPEAKER: No. A further supplementary Shane Jones. No? Todd Muller: Why did you put your signature to the proposal when you had little to no sense of the impacts of it on 23000 farming families? SPEAKER: Order! Order! We had I think in the last week or the week before of the Parliament quite a clear Speaker's ruling in that area and the member I think went over it four times. Todd Muller: Why did the Minister put his signature to the proposal when he had little to no sense of the impacts of it on 23000 farming families? Hon DAVID PARKER: The member is quite incorrect. Those pages that I've already referred to describe the impact of the proposals on a range of different farming types. In general terms it's expected that the proposals would cost the average dairy farmer about 1 percent of revenue and in respect of beef farmers around 3 percent. Sheep farmers have very little effect from these proposals at all because the proposals don't impact upon their farming systems. Todd Muller: Is he telling the farmers and the sector contributing to 60 percent of our exports to simply trust him—he knows what he's doing? Hon DAVID PARKER: I think the member's making a reference to something that I said on The Nation the other day and it seems to me that the member is so rigid that he can't comprehend humour. In my full statement—and he'll have seen a transcript—I then praised the quality of the work from the scientific advisory group the freshwater leaders group and Kāhui Wai Māori and I said "I think we're landing it." I would also add that these same proposals have been around for almost a decade through the Land and Water Forum and it's time to stop kicking the can down the road and stop our freshwater quality getting worse."