Connell Brian: Meat Board Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Connell Brian: Meat Board Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:14091] 
BRIAN CONNELL (National—Rakaia) 
: 
 Madam Speaker—[ 
Interruption 
] I was going to take a very short call on this bill but if I keep getting heckled I might take my full 10 minutes. We will see how it rolls. 
There is a lot to commend this bill. A lot of the credit goes to the outstanding work of the Primary Production Committee. There are no finer examples of members of that select committee than Phil Heatley and David Carter. David Carter in his stewardship of the committee managed to pull back the more extreme views of some Government members and the Greens. I take my hat off to him. I also acknowledge that the consulting advice provided by Shane Ardern in the corridors has made this bill what it is today. I commend the bill to the House. 
There is overwhelming support for this legislation from those farmers who did vote. [ 
Interruption 
] The Clayton’s member for Waimakariri is calling out again. I am not sure what he is saying. I would engage the member in a battle of wits but I never attack an unarmed man so I will just carry on. There is overwhelming support for this legislation. People see that it is common sense and they support it and that is pretty much the theme. But common sense and the Labour Government do not necessarily go hand in hand. It was not very long ago that this Government was trying to foist the “fart tax” on to the agricultural industry. If not for people like Shane Ardern who had the courage of his convictions to jump on his tractor and drive it up the steps of Parliament becoming a symbol of defiance for the farming communities then this Government would be taxing sheep and cattle throughout this country right now. I say to Shane Ardern and the farmers who marched on Parliament: “Well done!”. 
I noted when I was taking a call during the Committee stage that there is a tendency to over-regulate. I was not pointing the finger at any particular Government but I did raise the question of whether some of this legislation is necessary. I reiterate that concern because I think there is a tendency for successive Governments to get involved in legislation that is just not necessary. 
Let us also be clear that the Meat Board Bill is in existence only because of the hard work and outstanding contribution that our meat and wool farmers have made thus far. Jeff Grant a former National Party MP and Mike Petersen have led that work. They are the types of individuals who have made this legislation what it is today. Now of course we have the Minister of Agriculture coming in on their shirt tails and trying to claim some of the glory. But the farming industry does not buy that. That is why there will be a change of Government. That is why that member has already flagged that he will retire; he knows that he will not be re-elected down in Aoraki. 
Let us also be clear that we have a meat quota now only because of the outstanding work that our farming community has engaged in. There is a sense within this Government that all farmers are a bunch of hayseeds. Well let me tell those members something: our farmers are now working in a deregulated highly technology driven and highly scientific industry and they are at the forefront of this industry right across the world. They are not underpinned by subsidies. They do not believe in the types of things this Government is trying to do to the rest of New Zealand—that is to make people dependent. They know that they can exist on their own merits. So I tell Government members opposite that they should be standing up and applauding the farming industry for what it has done not sitting in judgment and putting in place things like the “fart tax”. That is exactly what they tried to do and lest we forget it was not very long ago. We will not forget and the voting public of this country will not forget either. 
We in the farming industry know that we work in a global market. We select people on merit when we put boards together so that principle should have been adhered to by this Government in deciding the composition of the board. I have already taken a call to signal my concern about that but it fell on deaf ears as far as the Minister was concerned. But the National Party and the farming industry believe that one appoints people according to merit. Why would one have a board with highly skilled people then put in place Government patsies to keep an eye on how they perform? It just does not make sense. 
I will leave the House with this view. The members of the farming community are successful business people with asset backings in most cases of $2 million $3 million $5 million $10 million $15 million $20 million or $30 million. If one took that type of business to the city people would say: “Oh that’s a big business. You are successful. We must learn from you.” But we do not do that. There is some sort of derision of the farming community as a bunch of hayseeds and it is driven by the Clayton Cosgroves of this world. It might surprise members that he talks about being a rural representative. His office is in Papanui Road in Christchurch. He is so far from the rural communities that he gets out there with a packed lunch only once a month to see what a sheep actually looks like. So people should not listen to what that member has to say; they should listen to what the National members have to say because we respect farmers and we understand that they are successful business people and that is why we have thrown our full support behind this legislation. 
Bill read a third time.