9. Mycoplasma Bovis—Culling of Cows Industry Financial Contribution and Official Financial AdviceHon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki) to the Minister of AgricultureMycoplasma Bovis—Culling of Cows Industry Financial Contribution and Official Financial Advice9. Hon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki) to the Minister of Agriculture: Does he stand by all of his statements?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Agriculture): Yes in the context in which they were made.Hon Nathan Guy: How does he reconcile his statement in relation to M. bovis from July last year and I quote All the cows and any with possible contact with another cow should all be destroyed." with how he's now stopped any culling of the herds?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: At the time of first discovery there was one farm and one farming operation involved. Culling did begin but unfortunately we then discovered that there was a second infected property in Southland. That led us to believe that there were possibly hundreds of properties that could have been infected and the issue of whether it's possible to eradicate or whether we were faced with an ongoing management regime for Mycoplasma bovis is the dilemma that we still face. Officials have for a number of reasons stopped culling at this point. Hon Nathan Guy: What financial advice has the Minister received to manage or eradicate M. bovis from his officials and how much?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: Officials thankfully are not affected by the disease but there are an increasing number of affected animals throughout this country for a whole lot of reasons. Obviously inadequate biosecurity import health standards initially which have allowed this disease into this country have led us to a very sad and challenging situation where through money appropriated through the Ministry of Primary Industries we have been able to conduct the process thus far of tracing of some extermination of some animals and removing them and of ongoing testing and monitoring. To date the number of confirmed infected properties is 23 the number of properties under restricted place notice are 38 the number of trace properties is over 1500—this is a huge operation and we cannot at this point say the total cost of this operation.Hon Nathan Guy: Has the Government asked industry to contribute to the costs of eradication or management of M. bovis; and if so how much money has been requested from the Government to industry?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: There has been no—SPEAKER: Order! Did the member want to rephrase it because I think there was an inconsistency between the beginning and the end. It's a question of who was asking whom for money.Hon Nathan Guy: Has the Government requested any contribution from industry to either contain or eradicate M. bovis; and if so how much money has been requested from the industry?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: No such request has gone to industry at this point. Both the director-general and myself—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! The Hon Nathan Guy I think the member—Hon Member: Animal noises.SPEAKER: Well that was the point I was going to make. He used to be the Minister in charge of animal welfare and it sounds like an animal is being tortured at the moment.Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: I'll attempt to put him at ease.SPEAKER: No. I think the member's answered it.Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I'd like to answer more fully to put the member at ease.SPEAKER: No. I think given the response that is almost impossible. The member will resume his seat.Hon Nathan Guy: He'll be back to correct that one. Why did the Minister—SPEAKER: Order! The member just lost that supplementary."