Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (Minister for Food Safety): Just following on from the series of speeches from the Minister he is doing an excellent job as the Minister for Primary Industries and it is a pleasure to work with you Nathan Guy. You have been very helpful as a new Minister coming into food safety. So I appreciate your guidance and your strength in this area as well and your knowledge and understanding of the industry.In the food safety industry it is so important for New Zealand as well that we have that strong Government support through the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). MPI has an important role to make sure that New Zealanders can trust the food they eat but also that the markets that we send products to can also have that trust in the security of our food supply. That investment that you see from the Government in a wide range of areas is so important. Whether it is on farms with MPI or whether it is within the processing sites with MPI or whether you look at our trade facilities with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and MPI and other connections that we have throughout the world there are so many links in which New Zealand relies on our primary industries and also the sales the marketing and the production of the products that they deliver on the world stage.We are very fortunate to have the best farmers in the world in New Zealand who are committed to making the best products in the world. We have the best companies in the world which work to make sure that we have the highest standards of food quality. When you look at what can go wrong around the world it is really important that you have those standards that are Government supported and Government backed to actually ensure that we do not cut corners around food production—that we actually make sure that we can have that confidence in Brand New Zealand. MPI has got an important role in that area through its compliance role and also its verification role. It is vital to how we can perform as different industries. I would just like to take for example the meat industry which is so reliant on having the higher standards not only of the production of the actual meat but also of the cleanliness and of the processing capacity that you see within our plants.If you even take the importance of the Government in there in making sure that we have those high standards it is so crucial to their sales. But also you can see that the Government has worked hard through trade agreements especially the chilled meat going into China. I think that is a great initiative that we have worked through in trade and on farm and also in processing and production to make sure that we can access that market. That is a huge market going forward and really shows the importance of different parts of Government working together to make sure that we actually have the strongest primary sector and take advantage of those opportunities around the world.The New Zealand primary sector may be able to feed 40 million people but the market out there is huge. The Asian market for example would be 4 billion people. So even if we get just 1 percent of that market then we are actually really achieving a lot for New Zealand and that can be a real win for us as an exporting country. We actually face a lot of challenges also in that area. The Minister spoke about myrtle rust which is one of those types of challenges that can come along.Phil Twyford: Don't talk about Maggie like that.Hon DAVID BENNETT: I am afraid the member over the other side should withdraw and apologise if he is going to make comments like that about our colleagues in the House.Myrtle rust is something that as the Minister said always had the potential to come to New Zealand and it is something that nobody wishes to see here. The vigilance of those in the North who identified it and made it known to the authorities really shows the trust that New Zealanders have in their system. This is a system they believe in. They are willing to work with it. That can give not only us as parliamentarians a lot of trust in the officials who work within the agricultural and horticultural sector but also those international consumers whom we rely on for our exports can validly have that trust in our sector going forward.