Cosgrove Clayton: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Cosgrove Clayton: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:627;Page:22137] 
CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 I have much pleasure in following the previous speaker. For the uninitiated out there in the real world that was the would-be member for Banks Peninsula—the member who would like to take over from Ruth Dyson. He is the man who described the people and the area of Woolston as akin—and I will be careful what I say—to excrement. That is the technical term for a substance that the people of Woolston now realise he is full of. I invite David Carter to get on his soapbox and to go down to Woolston to go into the footy club to go into the Woolston Workingmen’s Club and to use the same words that he used—I believe it was to Tracy Watkins—and to tell them to their face. To use another member’s term of reference that member is a lion in the House and a lamb in Woolston because he will not front up. That is the credibility that that member has. He is the— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: The member needs to come back to the estimates. 
CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: Indeed I will. He is the National spokesperson on agriculture. He is the man who represents a party whose leader said that we should cover up the foot-and-mouth scare—that was Dr Brash’s contribution—possibly with the substance the member talks about in respect of the people of Woolston. But Dr Brash said that we should cover it up. 
In these appropriations there are large amounts of money increased every year for biosecurity to protect our borders— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: Biosecurity is the next one. 
CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: Yes in terms of agriculture. The money in these appropriations is to protect our farming communities to protect livestock—and what is the greatest plank in the National Party agricultural policy? Don Brash’s original thought is to cover it up and to put our markets in jeopardy. 
I want to look at the Sustainable Farming Fund and our achievements as represented in these appropriations. It was National that surrendered waved the white flag and sold out every rural area and region in this country. That is its legacy. Do we hear that member on the other side of the Chamber talk about that? 
Half my electorate in Waimakariri is rural. I am really looking forward to standing up in places like Cust Swannanoa and Oxford and talking about the heartland service centres that have been put back into rural areas by the appropriations of our Government. We did not sell them out. We got heartland services back in there—there are 13 or more of them. That member will stand up with me on the stump and I invite him to tell people in rural areas that he was part of a Government that sold them out by withdrawing services and shutting them down. 
Over the life of this Government we have seen reforms through the Primary Production Committee that I sit on in the dairy pipfruit kiwifruit hops wine and meat industries. It is worth noting that those issues were brought to the Government by the industries concerned and the Government then accepted that and facilitated the reform as did the Minister of Agriculture. That is our legacy; that is what we have done. I always say not to trust politicians by what they say but to judge them by what they do— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: You’re gone! 
CLAYTON COSGROVE 
:—and that member over there the person with “Blumsky-itis” Dr Nick Smith—“I cannot recall; I cannot remember.”—will be judged as well on his legacy when he was a Minister in a National Government. 
We have returned services to rural areas with the Sustainable Farming Fund and with what we have done with apprenticeships as noted in these appropriations. The rural sector is no different from any sector in this country. It has the positive problem that there is a shortage of skilled staff. It is a positive problem because it is a problem related to expansion and growth in the industry. We have 9000 apprentices on the go many of whom will take up skilled positions in the rural and farming sector. So I say to the National Party that it should get up and tell us what its legacy is—tell us through the Chair what National as a party did for the rural sector. It should show us the reform it put through that was supported by the rural sector. 
The member got it wrong on apples. Thanks to National the apple industry was torn apart because that party would not do what the industry wanted. National got it wrong on apples but who fixed it? Labour did. We put the legislation through. I believe that the National member at that time Mr Carter the member from Woolston was not even on the Primary Production Committee.