Goudie Sandra: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Goudie Sandra: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:663;Page:11382] 
9. 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
 to the  
Minister of Agriculture 
: What steps has the Government recently taken to further primary sector innovation? 
Hon DAVID CARTER (Minister of Agriculture) 
: 
 Yesterday I was delighted to announce three successful funding bids under the Government’s Primary Growth Partnership. These three bids will collectively see $45 million invested in primary sector innovation projects and will add significant value to the New Zealand economy. 
Sandra Goudie 
: What type of work will be funded under these projects? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The successful projects fund a diverse range of work including a major supply-chain programme to expand the production of merino fine wool a programme to develop better harvesting technologies for forestry on steep country and a project to develop bird-deterrent grasses. These projects are just the beginning and we can expect a number of further significant announcements around the Primary Growth Partnership in coming months. 
David Shearer 
: Why will he not offer an apology to scientists and businesses who have waited almost 20 months for funding after he cut the $700 million out of the Fast Forward Fund and when KPMG has warned that it could be only 5 years before we lose our competitive advantage in agriculture? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The member who asks the question is the one who should be apologising to scientists. The last Government developed a fund for $700 million and did not receive a single application for it. It was a figment of the imagination of Labour members. It was an absolute fantasy of an idea. 
Hon Damien O’Connor 
: What real commitment does the Government have to research and development in the primary sector given that it has cut over $20 million from the Primary Growth Partnership in this year’s Budget? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The Government has made no cuts to the Primary Growth Partnership. We currently have $320 million of projects submitted to the Primary Growth Partnership. We have $160 million worth of projects under active investigation and as announced today $20 million has been approved. There have been no cuts. 
John Boscawen 
: What does he say to farmers National Party members and Rural Women of New Zealand who say that the best way for the Government to further primary sector innovation is to defer the emissions trading scheme which is imposing such costs and uncertainty when no other country on the planet is putting its farmers through it? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I always speak in a very friendly tone to Rural Women Federated Farmers and the farmers of New Zealand. It is a bit difficult for them to now ask us to defer the emissions trading scheme. The member should realise that it started on 1 January 2008 under the previous legislation. Deferral is now simply not an option. 
Hon Damien O’Connor 
: Is it not true that Budget 2009 had a total of $190 million in the Primary Growth Partnership’s 4-year appropriation that Budget 2010 has just $169 million in the Primary Growth Partnership’s 4-year appropriation and that that equates to a cut of over $20 million? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I take this opportunity to again assure the member that there is absolutely no cut at all to the Primary Growth Partnership’s funding. I am happy to take that member through the Budget documents so that he can better understand them. 
John Boscawen 
: Does he stand by his statement to the Dairy NZ Farmers’ Forum on 5 May in respect of spurring primary sector innovation that the emissions trading scheme will cost only 2.5c per kilogram of milksolids in 2015; if not why not and what is the correct figure? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Yes. 
Hon Damien O’Connor 
: What assurances can he give to small innovative primary sector research groups that their Primary Growth Partnership funding applications will be fairly assessed when in the first round of grants allocated which were just announced by the Minister $15 million of the $20 million went to Merino New Zealand whose chief executive officer sat on the advisory panel dishing out the money? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I can assure the member that every application put before the Primary Growth Partnership will be well considered by the investment advisory panel. I am aware that in the case of Merino New Zealand Mr Brakenridge stood to one side and took no part in any discussions on the application from his company. At the end of the day the decision about how the money is dished out is not made by the investment advisory panel or by me as the Minister of Agriculture; it is in the hands of the Director-General himself. 
John Boscawen 
: I seek leave to table in the House the current issue of the  
National Farming Review 
 with a photograph on the front page of the Minister of Agriculture protesting against Labour’s “fart tax”. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection? I beg the member’s pardon—there is objection. 
John Boscawen 
: I seek leave to table in the House a statement from Liz Evans vice-president of Rural Women of New Zealand released yesterday calling on the Government to delay the implementation of the emissions trading scheme. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
John Boscawen 
: I seek leave to table a copy of David Carter’s speech to the Dairy NZ Farmers’ Forum where he quotes a cost for milksolids— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I have been reasonably patient on this seeking of leave to table documents but that speech is readily available to all members. It is not as if the House does not have access to that information.