Carter David; Tolley AnneRt Hon DAVID CARTER (National): First of all can I comment on the speech from the Green member Gareth Hughes. There is no need for urgency for this legislation. I am one of those who remember the late Rod Donald calling urgency constitutionally outrageous" whenever the then National Government attempted to use it. I think there's a word beginning with "h" and ending with "y" and I wouldn't dare use it. I wouldn't dare use it. Hon David Bennett: They're hypocrites—that's all they are. Rt Hon DAVID CARTER: No I said I wouldn't use it. I know why we're here in urgency and it's because this bill is not a good look for the Hon Damien O'Connor. Can you imagine how dreadful he feels today after spending nine long years in Opposition as he finally achieves his lifelong ambition to be the Minister of Agriculture and he comes forward with all these wonderful ideas about what he's going to do for the primary sector of New Zealand and his first brainwave is a two-page piece of legislation—approximately 60 words. I say to the Hon Damien O'Connor that it is a disgrace to have spent nine long years in Opposition and this is the very best that the Hon Damien O'Connor can do. If he had been organised and if he had read the briefing to incoming Ministers in October when he became the Minister he would know that on the agenda was this issue to deal with and to deal with it before 31 May. But we've had nine months of a Labour - New Zealand First Government—Hon Member: Nine months? Rt Hon DAVID CARTER: Sorry five months. It seems like longer I do agree. It seems like a hell of a long time but it's five months during which we've sat in this House day after day after day passing legislation promoted by the former National-led Government because the Damien O'Connors of this Cabinet haven't been prepared to get cracking and get their own legislation before this House. So here we are in urgency passing a two-page bill—a two-page bill that if it had been introduced at the right time could have gone to a select committee. We could have let those 4000 South Island dairy farmers have a say and could have let those six or eight processors in the South Island have a say on this legislation. But no the arrogance of this Government has started early where they know best. They'll rush it through in urgency because they don't want the record of the Hon Damien O'Connor examined with any scrutiny at all because this is a disgrace. Hon Willie Jackson: No it's good. Rt Hon DAVID CARTER: This—well the Hon Willie Jackson says it's good just because the Hon Willie Jackson couldn't come up with anything better himself. That's the reason he says it's good. I think it's a disgrace. I think it's a disgrace that the primary industry of New Zealand waits so long to see the foresight and the vision that the Hon Damien O'Connor has for his industry and all it is is 50 or 60 words. I do want to talk about Fonterra because I'm one of those that thinks Fonterra is a great company. It's a huge company. It's New Zealand's biggest company and I say to Willie Jackson—I say to Willie Jackson—that his standard of living and the standard of living of every constituent here in New Zealand depends on how this company performs. I noted the folklore of Mark Patterson in his contribution when he said the Labour Government brought Fonterra together in 2001. Well that short-changes the history of the formation of Fonterra because I was involved. I was an Associate Minister at the time. The debate that led into the formation of Fonterra was very long-winded. It took a long time and a lot of effort led by those wonderful people like the Hon Sir William Birch who put his intellectual grunt into putting something together that did allow a massive amalgamation and potential competition industries to the dairy industry of New Zealand. Yes there was a change of Government and finally the legislation was passed in 2001 but don't ever argue—don't ever argue—that it was solely the work of the then Labour Government because it was not. Now the other thing I'd say about the formation of Fonterra is—acknowledging that it's a great company—it has not lived up to the expectations that were raised at the time we agreed to its formation. It was going to perform substantially better than it has and I look forward to the day when it does. But I can say to members of this House that as I've had the privilege of travelling overseas and of talking to farmers elsewhere in the world and talking to trade representatives elsewhere in world this is a model that I think is almost held in jealousy by many other dairy farmers around the world. It is a good model but competition is essential to make sure that Fonterra works well. When you sit in overseas fora—and often the language may not be my language—you'll hear the word "Fonterra" offered in speeches because it is respected. It is respected as an industry leader throughout the world but that doesn't mean to say that we can't do better. But I'm concerned that we're seeing this piece of legislation gutted by the Hon Damien O'Connor because he hasn't had the resources. He hasn't possibly had the intellectual grunt to think about the real issues that face and challenge this industry. So he has gutted out the difficult issues and left this very simplistically just around the issue of the South Island quota. I understand that of the milk now collected in the South Island probably about 24 percent is processed by other than Fonterra. That's competition working. We shouldn't be too worried about that. But what I'd say to the Hon Damien O'Connor is that for him to announce tonight in the House that we're going to have a review and then when we ask about the terms of reference we're told by the Hon Meka Whaitiri that they will be comprehensive and wide ranging it should put fear into every dairy farmer in New Zealand listening to this debate tonight. When I ask the Hon Damien O'Connor will you tell us those terms of reference? When are we going to be talking about the terms of reference for this comprehensive review which could dramatically affect the ability to operate of not only Fonterra but great companies like Synlait established not far from where I live in Canterbury. What a remarkable success story that has been. I take my hat off to Dr John Penno for the work he's done previously as the general manager and he is perhaps soon to be the chair of that company. It's a remarkable success story the way that company was able to set up and operate in Dunsandel. It managed to get under way only because of the way National and Labour put the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act together in the first place. Fonterra should not be scared of competition. Fonterra should relish the opportunity to have competition in the dairy industry because competition will also make them sharper. But I still object to the issue of urgency. I see no reason at all why we have to be here rushing this through over the next 24 hours and not letting farmers have a say. There are possibly two or three reasons the main one being that the Hon Damien O'Connor didn't read his briefing for incoming Ministers and notice the risk that was ahead of him. He sat around for five months and didn't bring it to the Cabinet committee responsible for legislation and now at the last minute we're doing a rush to fix up a mistake. So I say to the Hon Damien O'Connor I know a lot of people who may not be supporters of the Labour Party and who may not be enthralled that there's now no longer a National Government but they actually think that this guy Damien O'Connor the dairy farmer from the West Coast is not a bad guy. But they're looking for him to be inspirational—inspirational—Damien O'Connor for our industry. We want you to come forward with some real gravitas—gravitas. Well he should know the meaning of the word. He went through a good school this boy. It is time to really tackle the issues that matter and I say to him as he puts those terms of reference together for the comprehensive review that's going to occur: beware Hon Damien O'Connor that you don't get led by the nose like a bull at a good A and P show by the Greens and New Zealand First because neither of those two parties have shown any empathy at all for New Zealand farming. They've shown no empathy at all for the New Zealand dairy industry—the industry that leads the exports of this country. I thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The next call is a split call—five minutes each and a bell at one minute."