Ardern Shane: Meat Board Restructuring Bill — Second Reading 
Ardern Shane: Meat Board Restructuring Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:14067] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak in favour of the proposed bill. When we listened to the Minister give his speech—this is the Minister of course who in Opposition campaigned vigorously for years against this kind of proposal—we can understand what happens to a person when he has to carry 19 socialists on his back as the only Minister carrying the flag for primary producers in New Zealand. The National Party supports agriculture 110 percent—not the 51 percent or sometimes 49.5 percent that that Minister can scratch up occasionally. We are 110 percent behind the agricultural industries of this country. 
This bill is a very good move forward for a number of reasons. One is that it identifies the synergies that exist between both the former Wool Board and Meat New Zealand. Over 80.3 percent of farmers on stock numbers voted in favour of this move so it is an industry-driven move supported reluctantly by a tired Minister who had to work and break arms in his own Cabinet to get it through. 
Let me just give members an example of some of the things that the very well chaired National-led select committee had to alter in this bill. 
Brian Connell 
: Who was the chairperson? 
SHANE ARDERN 
: The Hon David Carter the agriculture spokesperson chaired the select committee and chaired it very well. 
Firstly an allocation for both women and Maori was going to be inserted into board management. I recognise that women play a leading role in this industry and I also recognise that Maori are quite a large minority in the meat and wool industries of New Zealand but to suggest that they should be put on the board just by right because of some politically correct philosophy just shows us where this Government would take us if it were given a chance. 
The second major issue that was discussed at length in the select committee—even though I am not a member of the committee I have read the submissions—was quota management which is the essential part of this legislation. Here lies the major philosophical difference between that side of the House—that Labour minority Government—and those on this side of the House who understand the farming industry. I acknowledge the officials here. I recognise some of them from days gone by when I was on that committee and acknowledge the fine work that they must have done in cajoling this Government into not going down the track it would have gone down—that is quota ownership and quota management. 
It is true that quota is negotiated Minister-to-Minister Government-to-Government and State-to-State internationally at the direction of the industries generally and as a result of the industries identifying a potential market. That is how it works. But here is where National differs from Labour. Labour believes that once the Minister has negotiated the quota it owns it. The socialists will nationalise it it is theirs and they should have benefits from that over and above what they are entitled to. That is where National differs. National believes strongly that the industry the Government negotiated on behalf of owns the quota. For that reason and because of the very good work of the Primary Production Committee the following words have been inserted in clause 22 in Part 3: “The Crown owns the rights to secure the economic benefits deriving from quota markets and those benefits are assigned for the benefit of the meat industry …”. It is not for the benefit of the socialist Government’s tax or for the socialist Government to get its sticky fingers into. It is for the benefit of the industry. 
I say to those members on the select committee who are supported by the very good officials: “Well done for getting that put in!” It was clear to me and it would be clear to anybody who took more than 5 minutes to read the bill where the socialists were heading with this legislation. They were going to nationalise the quotas of the meat and wool industries and there would be an opening for them to do that. Once we changed the legal structure of the board for which those quotas were negotiated we would open up an opportunity for people to say: “Hey you have changed the deal so all bets are off and we’re going to change the structure of this quota.” The socialists would love that. We can just see it. Look at them baying over there! They could get their sticky fingers into this. They think it would be a great thing if they were able to take on that quota. 
The industry-good activities which the Minister touched on in his speech are also hugely important. Here is the interesting point which this Government has not understood and never will understand. The socialists are busy out there looking for the new Nokia or some other magical star that will be coming over the horizon. What they do not understand is that we already have it in New Zealand; it is already here. It is called our primary industries. The growth rates in the economy are marginally successful at about 3 percent compared with about 2.7 percent OECD average over the last 5 or 6 years. Where have they come from? Primary industry growth rates over the last 10 years have been about 4.5 percent so not only does the agricultural sector underpin the New Zealand economy it is the one that is leading the New Zealand economy. It is the Nokia of New Zealand. So forget about looking for that magical star! We already have it—it is called our agricultural sector and we should recognise and understand it. Did we see anything in the Budget about it? Not on your Nelly! We saw a $7 billion surplus on the back of this industry but did we see any recognition of it? Never have we seen any recognition and never will we see any recognition of this industry from that lot. 
Any farmers out there who are listening—led by the very capable chairman of the New Zealand Meat Board Jeff Grant who knows a bit about how things happen in this House—will know that what I am saying is true. They are lining up in droves against this Government and they will continue to do so. This combined industry earned $6 billion in export earnings for this country last year. Name an industry on the horizon in the Jim Anderton photo opportunity travel around the country regional development programme— 
John Carter 
: Or in Auckland. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: Or in Auckland. This is about five times the size of the export earnings from Auckland but is there any recognition of it? Not on your Nelly! We will never see that not from this Government. Not on a cold day in hell would we see that. 
On 30 October 2003 the Minister said: “Yes we will accept the direction that this industry is wanting to go in and we will accept under the Commodity Levies Act of 1990 that a levy could and should be charged for industry good.” I come back to that point in my closing notes. I record in this House today that the future of this country will be driven on the back of value-added products coming out of primary industry such as nutraceuticals pharmaceuticals the high-tech fibres that will come out of the wool industry and products that come out of wool like lanolin that we have never even heard of in terms of what they can be used for. This will come as a result of a robust science and research and development programme which this industry will invest in as it goes forward. 
Of course without some kind of levy mechanism not only to negotiate the quota access and maintain it but also for investment in research and development those things would not be possible. I say to the Minister: “Good on you for allowing that to happen!” because without it the industry will not survive in the future.