Boscawen John: Dairy Industry Restructuring (Raw Milk Pricing Methods) Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Boscawen John: Dairy Industry Restructuring (Raw Milk Pricing Methods) Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 30 March 2010. Volume:661;Page:10147. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JOHN BOSCAWEN (ACT) 
: 
 When the House adjourned at midnight last night I was speaking on the Dairy Industry Restructuring (Raw Milk Pricing Methods) Bill. Prior to the House rising the debate had broken into a general one on the dairy industry. Brendon Burns for example spoke about the so-called threat of Chinese investment in the industry the need for Fonterra to get its capital structure correct and animal welfare issues. So this was becoming very much a general debate on the dairy industry. 
This bill is about milk: the processing of milk and the making available of milk by Fonterra to alternative processors on a competitive basis. I will focus on just one aspect of the greater issues regarding the processing of milk. We have the emissions trading scheme starting on 1 July which will make a significant difference to farmers. Meat and Wool New Zealand has estimated that the cost of the emissions trading scheme on the average dairy herd will be about $10000. 
Dairy farmers may be feeling a false sense of security because no doubt they listened to the Prime Minister when he told them last November that agriculture would not come within the ambit of the emissions trading scheme until 2015. Well I have a message for dairy farmers this morning which is that of that cost of $10000 only $2500 relates to animals. The average dairy farmer with an average herd will face some $7500 in costs due to increased energy and emissions costs. For Fonterra the cost of the emissions trading scheme on the processing of milk will be some $80 million at $25 a tonne and $40 million at $12.50 a tonne. I wonder how many dairy farmers realise that in less than 3 months’ time this country will impose on them a $40 million tax on their emissions to be followed up by a further $40 million in 2013. That is in addition of course to the increased cost of the electricity that they use in processing their milk in milking sheds and the petrol that is used in dairy tankers. 
I have just come from a breakfast that was hosted for European parliamentarians who painted a very dismal picture of the future. Mr Chauvel was there. One of the points made there was that Mr Obama has just passed the health care legislation in the United States and has burnt up a huge amount of political capital in doing so. This means that the prospect of President Obama being able to push through any law that would give effect to his plans for climate change is very very bleak. When the National Government introduced its amendments to the emissions trading scheme it expected to follow other nations. Last September in this House the Minister for Climate Change Issues stood up and said we would be a fast follower. He said we would be following Australia and that the New Zealand Parliament and farmers should not worry because we would be following Australia and the United States. 
There has been a dramatic change in the world landscape in the last 6 months and I ask why this Government is to tax farmers. We have heard that Mr Ardern the chair of the Primary Production Committee is a great advocate for farmers. I ask him where he is today. Is he standing up for farmers? I do not hear him speaking out about the $40 million tax that farmers will have to pay for emissions arising from their processing activity. I do not hear him speaking out about the cost of electricity on the farm or about the impacts on farmers of the emissions trading scheme and the massive windfall profits that some electricity generators will make. It is interesting to note that the powerhouses of the dairy industry are in Waikato Canterbury and Southland all areas where electricity comes from hydro sources so there will be no tax to pay but where there will be massive windfall profits for generators. Thank you.