11. Mycoplasma Bovis—Industry Contribution to CostsHon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki) to the Minister for BiosecurityMycoplasma Bovis—Industry Contribution to Costs11. Hon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki) to the Minister for Biosecurity: Does he stand by all his statements and actions in relation to Mycoplasma bovis?Hon STUART NASH (Minister of Police) on behalf of the Minister for Biosecurity: On behalf of the Minister yes in the context in which they were given and undertaken.Hon Member : Mafioso.SPEAKER: Order! The member himself has complained or members have complained about the Leader of the Opposition being referred to in a similar manner and I think that he could set a good example to his members because it was followed by at least one of his members.Hon Nathan Guy: How much money did the Minister request from the cattle industries in a meeting this week regarding M. bovis costs?Hon STUART NASH: What I will say is the Minister is very keen to work with Government-industry agreements—SPEAKER: Order! I'm now going to sit the member down and remind him that he is speaking on behalf of the Minister. He must use the first person when he does that and he'll get it wrong if he doesn't.Hon STUART NASH: On behalf of the Minister the Minister is very keen to work with industry agreements to work in partnership. But what I would say—the Minister—is that that member has two options. First of all he can be positive and support the Minister while he sorts your mess out or he can step back and stop being so negative.SPEAKER: It's just clear that there's not been enough Latin taught in recent years.Hon Nathan Guy: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a very specific question—SPEAKER: Yes and the member may ask it again because it—Hon Nathan Guy: Yeah—thank you Mr Speaker. How much money did the Minister request from the cattle industries in a meeting this week regarding M. bovis costs?Hon STUART NASH: On behalf of the Minister I do not have that information at hand but if you put the question down in writing I'm sure you'll get a good reply.Hon Nathan Guy: Which option does he support the most: asking industry to contribute 50 percent of M. bovis costs or 40 percent? Does he also confirm to the House today that he has requested up to $870 million for industry to be in partnership to pay for M. bovis costs?Hon STUART NASH: On behalf of the Minister what I have said is I am very keen to work in partnership with industry bodies to sort this out and I will reiterate what I said earlier: that member can either help us sort this mess out which of course occurred in the first two months under your watch or he can step back and stop being so negative because it's just not being helpful.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Supplementary question.SPEAKER: Sorry—I will call the right honourable gentleman in a second. I again want to refer the Minister to using the correct person and it's not the second.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can I ask the Minister why he's calling upon the questioner to help him out in this problem that arose during the time that he was responsible for that breakout and he did nothing about it at all?Hon STUART NASH: On behalf of the Minister this occurred in the last two months of that Minister's watch and he sat on his hands and did absolutely nothing. As a consequence we find ourselves in this real mess at the moment. If he had actually done his job properly we wouldn't be facing the problem we have now.Hon Nathan Guy: Why is he pressuring the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand and the Meat Industry Association who are Government industry agreement partners to pay more for M. bovis response costs than the agreed cost-sharing framework that farmers have signed up to?Hon STUART NASH: On behalf of the Minister I have made it very clear to those industry associations that I am very keen to work in partnership with them to sort this issue out. If that Minister had done his job properly we wouldn't be in the situation we are now.Hon Nathan Guy: Why is the coalition Government prioritising free tertiary education instead of appropriately funding M. bovis response costs that impact the New Zealand economy and rural communities?Hon STUART NASH: I reject the proposition behind that question.