O'Connor Damien: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Damien: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 05 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13323. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman) to theMinister for Primary Industries: Does he stand by all his statements?Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister for Primary Industries): Yes.Hon Damien O’Connor: Given the Minister’s regular statement that biosecurity and food safety are his No. 1 priorities what has he done in the last month to address the issues ofPsa in kiwifruit fish or sheep contamination in palm kernel expellerFonterra’s false botulism debacle Russia’s blocking of New Zealand’s dairy imports problems with meat certification the sale of unlabelled irradiated tomatoes “angry birds” in Auckland and—today—possible black grass weed infestation?Hon NATHAN GUY: Biosecurity is my No. 1 priority. Just today I was out talking to the industry about the Government-industry agreements to do with biosecurity and I also note—and I am sure that the member will be pleased to know—that the Horticulture New Zealand President Andrew Fenton recently said that the Ministry for Primary Industries performance has lifted under his leadership and that its biosecurity system is now the best in the world.Hon Damien O’Connor: He is on the way out too. Has he given—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is an example of what happens when the member starts with an interjection. If he could just ask his question.Hon Damien O’Connor: Has he given formal notice to all food exporters of a change in protocol to notify the Ministry for Primary Industries of any potentialcontamination issue; if not why not given the 5-week delay of Fonterra notifying the Ministry for Primary Industries of the possible botulism contamination?Hon NATHAN GUY: The latter part of that question will indeed be part of the ministerial inquiry. What I can tell the member is since 20 August the Ministry for Primary Industries has been implementing some new regimes to do with the dairy industry processing plants and they are lifting regulatory presence in the manufacturing plants lifting testing and doing more regular reviews of their risk management programmes.Dr David Clark: What concrete steps is the Minister taking to ensure his ministry is improving monitoring of all meat-processing plants to ultimately protect the jobs of people in regional New Zealand who are dependent upon them?Hon NATHAN GUY: The Ministry for Primary Industries has a real focus on jobs in the regional economies. The Primary Growth Partnership is a great example which that Opposition party should be supporting because it is generating a huge number of results and a lot of those results and benefits are flowing through to regional economies.Dr David Clark: What has the Minister said to his minder the Minister of Science and Innovation the Hon Steven Joyce on the importance of Invermay Agricultural Centre to the primary sector? [Interruption]Hon NATHAN GUY: I could not hear what he said.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Can the member please for the benefit of the Minister repeat the question.Dr David Clark: What has the Minister said to his minder the Minister of Science and Innovation the Hon Steven Joyce on the importance of Invermay Agricultural Centre to the primary sector?Hon NATHAN GUY: Mr Joyce is not my minder.Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. We have seen the Prime Minister say that Mr Joyce has been appointed—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order. The question was very adequately addressed.