O'Connor Damien: New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
O'Connor Damien: New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4675] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Associate Minister of Agriculture) 
: 
 I move  
That the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Primary Production Committee. The bill provides amendments to the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Act. The Act establishes the Horticulture Export Authority to promote the effective export marketing of horticultural products. In particular the Act provides for the Horticulture Export Authority to approve export-marketing strategies for the horticultural products prescribed under the Act and to license exporters to implement those strategies. Almost $170 million of horticultural products were exported under the Act in the year to 30 June 2002. The major horticultural products exported under the Act are squash avocados and summer fruit. 
The bill provides for five amendments to the Act. The first amendment is to enable kiwifruit exports to Australia to be prescribed by Order in Council under the Act. This amendment was proposed by the kiwifruit industry to allow the industry to better coordinate exports of kiwifruit to Australia. It is not possible simply to prescribe kiwifruit under the Act because it would result in a conflict between the Act and the Kiwifruit Export Regulations 1999. Those regulations govern all kiwifruit exports except for kiwifruit exported for consumption in Australia. They provide for only Zespri Group Ltd and approved collaborative marketers to export kiwifruit to these other markets. 
Kiwifruit exports are New Zealand’s single most important horticultural export accounting for almost 30 percent of the total value of horticultural exports in the year to 30 June 2002. Australia was the sixth most important market for kiwifruit exports and was worth $31 million. However the price received for kiwifruit exported to Australia was 29 percent less per kilogram than the average price received for kiwifruit exported to the rest of the world. 
Lower kiwifruit prices in Australia have a wider negative effect. The price differential between Australia and other markets especially Asian markets encourages illegal re-exports of New Zealand kiwifruit from Australia. Such re-exports are illegal because kiwifruit exports from New Zealand other than for consumption in Australia must comply with the kiwifruit export regulations. Higher prices in Australia would reduce the incentive for this activity and licensing exporters to Australia would aid enforcement. 
It is important to note that this bill does not in itself regulate kiwifruit exports to Australia. Once the Act is amended an industry body representing growers and exporters of kiwifruit to Australia would need to seek growers and exporters support and then apply to the Minister to prescribe kiwifruit exports to Australia by Order in Council under the Act. The time line for the bill is driven by the kiwifruit industry’s desire for kiwifruit exported to Australia to be prescribed under the Act as soon as possible and certainly in time for the season commencing April 2004. 
The second amendment in this bill is to remove the ability for quantitative restrictions to be imposed under the Act. Such quantitative restrictions could limit either or both the number of exporters and the volume of exports. The Government proposes this amendment for two reasons: first as exporters generally oppose the use of quantitative restriction provisions they are neither currently being used nor likely to be used in the future; second these provisions potentially could be used in a way that would be inconsistent with New Zealand’s international obligations. 
The final three amendments in this bill are administrative in nature. The first of these improves the transparency of the Horticulture Export Authority’s statutory decision-making processes through allowing applicants to seek a reconsideration of the authority’s decision. The second administrative amendment relates to the powers of the arbitrator who under the Act considers appeals of the Horticulture Export Authority’s statutory decisions. The last administrative amendment is to allow the Horticulture Export Authority to revoke redundant export licences. 
This bill is necessary to achieve these changes. The Horticulture Export Authority supports these amendments and most kiwifruit growers and exporters support enabling kiwifruit exports to Australia to be prescribed under the Act. I welcome the support of most parties in this House for this non-controversial legislation and I commend this bill to the House.