Cameron MarkMARK CAMERON (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. Well gee whiz! What an absolute shemozzle—another ideological bill from the Champagne and chardonnay socialists on the left. The Labour Government just loves to ban stuff. We're in a cost of living crisis—find ever increasing ways to kill off industry. This industry is worth $261 million last fiscal year and we know economically it has a ripple effect—half a billion bucks I wager anyone. This bill is purely ideological. I also sit with my colleagues and the colleagues on the left in the Primary Production Committee. I heard multiple submissions in support of the continuation of this trade. So many submitters felt jilted. The conversation was one sided and they weren't being listened to. The process they said to me was disingenuous. I wager anyone in this House that this is a complete departure from common sense. I am a farmer. I've used this trade. It's brilliant. It creates a fiscal revenue stream for me. In the absence of anything else I can see it being hugely problematic. It is predicated as we well know on the downing of the Gulf Livestock 1 ship. Tragic—we all accept there was a tragic loss of life and livestock. But this however has blurred the lines between the animal welfare standards in transit and the incident on that tragic day. Terrible loss of life—terrible loss of livestock. We've confused the lines between animal welfare and transit and the welfare at destination and apparently the Green member Chlöe Swarbrick thinks that she should have oversight into foreign jurisdictions over what they do. Noted submitters veterinarians stakeholders and farmer growers—it was seen by them as an erosion of all trust by Government.If we're not going to do it who is? I think that's the fundamental question. It's not being asked. That production Minister—you know full well—will be pushed offshore and by virtue of that the animal welfare standards fall. The detractors of the trade can only espouse that. They don't actually have an honest narrative. It spoke of our international reputation. Well I wager anyone in this House we are the number one farmers in the world and our welfare standards are amongst that. Significance was also paid to animal welfare and the sentience of animals and the five concerns in what animal welfare and the designation meant. We heard a lot of submissions. They spoke to significant mortality on farm compared to—well no; I'll rephrase that. They spoke to mortality being significantly less—I apologise—than on average percentage compared to farms here in New Zealand. How do you justify that? I can't make sense of this.It spoke to condition score gains—now half a condition score. I'm not sure if the members on that side of the House actually know what a condition score is—crickets. They don't know. They actually don't know. Have they ever been on a farm? This is the interesting thing. That speaks to weight gain for the individuals on the other side of the House. Investment in pre-departure conditioning: the tens of thousands of man hours that go into this trade every year to secure that reality. Rural communities and jobs—we heard from submitters—and the employment it created across rural New Zealand. This will totally erode that. Notably—and I think the members on the right hand side of the House would agree with me—there will be a glut on the bobby market. We absolutely know it. There's going to be another 150000 to 200000-odd bobby calves going into the trade. Arguably the left side of the House doesn't care about that but hey look that's their burden to contend with. Further overburden of the meat sector that's what we heard and I think that's what needs to be addressed.Submitters noted conditions on board with purpose-built ships and the average age of the training fleet.Now I'm cognisant and the people on the right side of the House are cognisant there is the capacity to have a regulated gold standard. The Heron report spoke to the continuation of the trade which we all canvassed in select committee worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We are in a cost of living crisis. This is not the time to shrink this trade. It absolutely speaks to localised rural economies and arguably—I wager anyone—this Government is totally turned off to the rural sector.The industry absolutely agrees there's always the capacity to do more to speak to that gold standard. Changes on 1 June that were proposed 2021: the Ministry for Primary Industries implemented a new minimum conditions code—and again I reiterate that the left-hand side of the House doesn't understand that concept. Have a minimum live weight of 200 kilograms—well I spend a lot of time with livestock and I can tell you 200 kilos is a yearling. The average size of these animals is significantly more than that. Decrease the minimum/maximum stage of pregnancy—well anyone who's farming understands the concept of in-calf cattle going offshore and the mitigations that would have to be employed in the process. The new requirements for drafting—fair enough absolutely. This is the kind of facilitation and logic that the rural sector can employ when being challenged to improve.The 1 November 2021 changes: bulls and heifers to be kept separately pre-export—well gosh anyone farming knows that concept. I mean this is the reality these are the challenges met these are the mitigations that can be put in place—and recently mated heifers to be given an extra 15 percent on board by area—absolutely damnably good stuff. The ability to self-regulate work within a gold standard and continue this trade prescriptions on purpose-built ships facilitation of purpose-built ventilation specialised effluent disposal increased bedding areas per square metreage in transit and the animal production numbers needed to facilitate this trade forward will only create further revenue to a depressed—and oppressed by that of the left—economy. Adequate and increased food storage for considered delays that may happen during voyage and at sea—absolutely. This speaks to the gold standard this Government has totally overlooked.ACT beliefs in the consistent principled approach of objectives to further improve animal welfare. We are the number one country that speaks to ruralists in determining animal welfare and it can only get better with further oversight. ACT would absolutely repeal this ban as part of any Government. In a contracted economy it is not time for an ideological political pontificating crew out of the left to ban this trade and it's a further beat-up of the primary sector. It's absolute total malarkey. Thank you Madam Speaker.