McKelvie Ian: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMcKelvie Ian: General Debate[Sitting date: 07 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12454. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IANMcKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei):I have an opportunity to stand here for the second time this week to support this Government’s efforts to ensure that our worldwide reputation does not suffer undue damage as a result ofFonterra’s potential whey contamination matter. I would say just before I get into what I want to say that I want to disappoint one of the previous speakers Shane Jones. He will for many years to come have to put up with Minister Guy and Mike Sabin whether he likes it or not and I shall remind him of that in the future.I think we can be pretty proud of the fact that Fonterra has been able firstly to identify the problem and secondly to trace it. I do not for a moment believe that everycompany in the world could have achieved this. I also want to commend our team of Ministers for a very competent response to a very serious situation for New Zealand and for New Zealanders. Having said that I do not underestimate the seriousness of the situation for Fonterra as one of our top food producers for the farmer-shareholders for the country and most critically for the international and national consumers—notably the children and calves who are the most likely consumers of these recalled products.No other country in the world has the reliance on food quality safety and quantity that we have and there is no place on earth where food safety is more important than here in New Zealand. We have traversed many miles in the past few years in respect of food safety but it is clear from the occurrences of the last week that we still have some way to go. I want to spend some time talking about the miles we have travelled and some of the challenges we face as a nation.In New Zealand we know where the calf I referred to earlier was born where it travels to and where it is processed packed shipped and eaten. The challenge for our food industry—as with medicine for example—is that the recipe contains so many ingredients. What we have to ensure is that all of those are safe and that the subsequent mixture—the chemistry so to speak—is compatible. This was of course the challenge that Fonterra and the Ministry for Primary Industries faced with the whey protein product. It is used in many hundreds of mixtures throughout the world. It is manufactured in New Zealand but then travels all over the world. There is no doubt that this is a great challenge to New Zealand because many of our other products are in exactly the same situation.We heard Labour’s agriculture spokesman yesterday and its leader today talking about inadequate funding within the food safety division of the Ministry for Primary Industries. I want to counter this because I think it is irresponsible. As they both should know issues of national significance will always be funded and always have been funded and New Zealand will always be in a position to fund them. They should also know if they have read their books properly that the cuts to the ministry have not been made to the food safety division’s front-line operations. I would also add that I do not believe that a witch-hunt at this stage would serve any purpose and the subsequent inquiries which are necessary will reveal all of the necessary information to allow us to move on and ensure that these types of food safety issues do not arise in the future.My electorate ofRangitīkei is a farming electorate. We rely heavily on our producers of meat milk vegetables fruit even some fish—mostly eels actually—and honey for our living. Animal welfare and food safety are critical to us in theRangitīkei. We have three large meat plants a venison processing plant two milk plants—a Fonterra and a Goodman Fielder plant—and a number of highly technical pharmaceutical-type manufacturers including New Zealand Pharmaceuticals and the recently announcedProliant plant which is moving to Feilding. We are doing well in this country at present with more jobs and better systems services and household incomes. We must ensure that this continues. Food safety animal welfare and better productivity will be vital to our futures in New Zealand. Thank you.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.