van de Molen TimTIM VAN DE MOLEN (National—Waikato): Thank you Mr Chair. Look it's been an interesting period going through these annual reviews as a first-time MP and to sit on these for the first opportunity. It was really interesting to see the work that was being done in the different entities. I'd just like to start with Crown Irrigation. There's been a lot happening in this space and a lot of project work in the pipeline. In New Zealand we are particularly fortunate to be very wealthy in terms of our freshwater resource. Now we utilise only about 3 percent of that resource on an annual basis so there is massive opportunity for us to continue to capture some of that potential opportunity around enhancing the economic the social and the environmental benefits for our rural communities through irrigation projects. That was something that was highlighted to us through the annual review—the value in particular around some of the economic gains and the environmental aspects that can be enhanced. Now environmentally there was a significant opportunity to improve the water quality and to maintain minimum flows and some of those aspects were considered to be major drawcards for continuing with the irrigation projects that were on the cards. Of course we've heard that the new Government is not continuing with these projects and is indeed looking to pull out of some of the projects that had already moved into various stages of discussion. Of course there is an argument that says Hey there was no legal obligation entered into." and that may well be the case but we also need to consider what is the moral obligation upon us in this House to make and adhere to commitments that have been signalled well within the communities especially where there has been significant investment already committed in good faith by members of those communities. That was something that was certainly raised with some concern from the Crown Irrigation perspective. Of course then there was uncertainty also around the potential to fund some of these projects through the regional development fund and they classified some of the smaller projects that were currently on their work programme to be considered as localised projects which had been indicated as potentially being up for funding. So really what I'm getting to here is that there was a lot of uncertainty around these projects that were in the pipeline and whether or not they will indeed be continuing and we've been told it is unlikely that they will be. Moving on to the Ministry for Primary Industries we had a range of different topics covered in that area and again some really interesting initiatives. There's been a lot of work happening in that space and primary industries is a passion of mine so it was really fascinating to hear of some of the great work that has been done over a number of years now. Some of those areas—biosecurity is one that continues to be a constant challenge for New Zealand. We are lucky to be an island nation where we have no other land borders. That presents some challenges and requires a continued ongoing focus on biosecurity. There will always be risks to that and we've seen those over time with the Queensland fruit fly the brown marmorated stink bug and more recently Mycoplasma bovis and myrtle rust as well. So those challenges are something we need to fight back against and be prepared to manage when they arise. What was raised with us was there was a little bit of concern around the timing the assets that are being put towards some of those now and most recently of course the most topical issue being Mycoplasma bovis. That has been a challenging situation to deal with and I just want to acknowledge that for anyone involved in that it must be a particularly difficult situation for them. But really we need a quick response. We need to have the best information we can at hand in managing that appropriately. Of course likewise with the stink bug incursions—and we've had some of these in the past. They've been dealt with and managed efficiently and this time we had another incursion. There was concern that some of these stink bugs had travelled significant distances within our borders and so this was really highlighting some of the challenges and the need to continue a focus with the new Government on biosecurity. I would encourage them to do just that. Of course we then had a reasonable discussion around dairy the dairy industry and where that's going. Obviously now we're looking at a review of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act as well which is pretty significant for this industry. It looks to incorporate aspects much wider than just dairy—for example some of the environmental considerations. Are we going to see a stocking rate cap coming in? Are we going to see limits put in place? Is Fonterra going to be required to continue to pick up all milk from suppliers? That's one where we see an ongoing focus around the environmental space so that would be an area I would encourage prompt action on. Of course then we heard a bit about forestry and honey as well and the flip-flopping on some of those decisions more recently. So a lot of work happening in this space Mr Chair."