O'Connor Damien: Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill — First Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Advance Copy - Subject to minor change before inclusion in Bound Volume.] 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman) 
: 
 In the trustworthy stakes politicians battle for credibility and acknowledgment by the public who too often do no trust what we do or how we do it.  
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: No that’s outrageous! 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: I am the last person—probably that Minister in particular—and my colleagues would back this up who advocates for process. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: That’s true. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: There you are. But I have to say that that is all we have here in this Parliament to ensure fairness and openness to protect us from corruption and to protect us from undue influence. I have to say that I was very concerned when the Minister started to explain why this is a truncated process for what is as my colleagues say one of the most important pieces of legislation this economy has seen for some time the Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill. If there was ever a suspicion about what is happening in this legislation then the fact that this process has been truncated—shortened—will add suspicion to the minds of the growing number of farmers out there who are wondering what this bill will do.  
One of the issues we have raised of course is that a lot of the detail is unclear. This is enabling legislation so it lays on the table when passed an ability for a cooperative for Fonterra—the biggest company—to proceed with a process basically beyond the control of Parliament. The entity was set up by virtue of legislation because of issues that were raised by my colleagues in the previous debate. It is very important that when we deal with this entity—when we deal with the legislation around it—we do this in a proper way. It is outrageous that Fonterra should be able to say to the Minister and that he should say to the House that we have to rush this through because we have to meet this deadline as though there were some constitutional dilemma. Well there is not. In fact there is still a question over whether anything will proceed from the legislation if indeed it is enabling as we are told.  
The Primary Production Committee has a huge task to analyse the bill to see whether it is enabling or whether it is in fact a bullying piece of legislation—threatening—and the chair of the select committee acknowledges that. I know we are the most efficient select committee in the House. I know that. In fact we do not have too many political debates. But I have to say that we are going to grapple with this piece of legislation given the unknowns around it. The Government has come into this House after there has been much debate about which select committee the bill goes to—and we know that for a fact—and finally the decision because of some argy-bargy within the National Party is that it had better send it to the Primary Production Committee. Then it insults the committee and says that we are not allowed to have the time to consider this properly. That is the committee and we work here! But what about the submitters? What about the 10500 shareholders of this company which wants to make major constitutional change through the enabling legislation that the select committee will hear?  
We are told that we have to do that in a shorter time frame. Well why? June the 1st just happens to coincide with the start of the new dairy season. In fact if you are down in the good island—the South Island—most will be milking until the end of May. So the farmers are not going to be able to physically get to Parliament to submit. A suggestion of my colleague is that we should hop on a bus or hop on a plane and go around the country. That may in fact be the best thing to do. But I would suggest that those with suspicious minds will say that this is being rushed through in the hope that very few farmers will be able to make submissions. The objective is actually to reduce the opportunity to have input into the bill because the ability to debate it in the lead-up to Parliament has been very limited. The constant criticism has been that there has not been detail on the table for farmers to consider. In fact the Fonterra Shareholders’ Council—arguably the most important body to make a submission on this bill—has said it cannot support the bill in its current form. So I am guessing it will have a substantive submission. We will have to chew that over and we are now told that we will have to do that in a shorter time frame.  
I hope that all the farmers all the dairy industry people observing out there—not the investment community but the dairy farmers—are aware now of what is happening in Parliament through a sweet-heart deal between the National Government and the Fonterra board. That is the only way and the only reason that it is being rushed through. Fonterra has said it needs to have this rushed through and the National Government has said that that is fine by it.  
What do the farmers say? What do the growing number of concerned New Zealanders say—those people who understand support the cooperative support the current structure and are very very wary of what is being proposed in this bill? They look offshore and I am sure that for legislation—be it in Ireland be it in Denmark be it in Holland—where there has been demutualisation of cooperatives in the dairy industry those people probably I hope had a reasonable time to submit. But even there with careful consideration although I am not aware of what they were intending farmers—shareholders in that company—have lost control of their entity.  
We have wonderful words from the Minister for Primary Industries and other people in National that they want to keep things intact. It will be a tricky process to get the right wording in the legislation because it will come down to open trading or closed trading of shares. Untradable or tradable—two letters. All of those details—and we know the devil is in the detail—will be assessed by the committee.  
Here is another question I have. Whom will the select committee decide to have as advisers on this? I am guessing it will take us a wee while to decide that and then to contact the people with appropriate skills to come and provide us with objective unbiased advice. Can I flag here and now that I will be very wary of anyone from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry coming in given the advice I have read from it. I say that with sadness— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Can I just add a point? They’re about the worst drafters in the Public Service and they tend to take their time. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: I take that advice with sadness that they are the worst drafters and now that the ministry has the Ministry of Fisheries in there I would have to say that if you look at the history of the fisheries legislation it has just got a hell of a lot worse. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Order! 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: Bringing it back we are going to have to double- and triple-check every single word in this legislation because if we leave the door open for demutualisation for inappropriate investment and inappropriate pressure then we will lose control of the dairy industry. This is what the bill is about here.  
I have concerns in a whole lot of areas and the fact that this is being pushed and rushed through by the board of Fonterra and by the National Government is alarming. I hope every dairy farmer up and down this country who voted for National gets that message very clearly. I hope they go and knock on the door—there will be a short time frame but there will be time enough between milkings to get in their cars and go into town and hammer on the door—of the National politicians. That is why— 
Hon John Banks 
: Very narrow. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: It is yes; it is a very narrow door I know. In fact they go through it sideways with one eye on it. Mr Banks they will find your door as well. The process of the select committee is going to be so short and the opportunity for all of those people to make submissions has been shortened so you will probably have a rush in a few weeks of people banging on the door coming in with their gumboots which is what they should do.  
In summary this shortened truncated process—