12. Question No. 12—AgricultureHon DAVID BENNETT (National) to the Minister of AgricultureQuestion No. 12—Agriculture12. Hon DAVID BENNETT (National) to the Minister of Agriculture: Does he stand by his statement this morning regarding labour shortages in the horticultural sector maybe just say free accommodation and see what turns up"; if so what advice if any has he received to address a reported 13500 person reduction in the horticultural workforce?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Agriculture): In answer to the first part of the question yes in the context in which it was given. Offering free accommodation is just one of many levers available to growers to attract staff. These are unprecedented times and as I said this morning it's kind of "all hands to the deck" every initiative that growers can think of as needed to get people out to pick the fruit. In answer to the second part of the question while I acknowledge there is a shortfall I don't agree with the member's assessment of the shortage. I have received a number of different figures in an attempt to quantify the shortfall.Hon David Bennett: How can he say "maybe just say free accommodation and see what turns up" when the Government's incentive scheme of $200 per week in accommodation supplement only attracted 54 people?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: This Government has committed to work with the industry in unprecedented times of COVID and the list of initiatives that we have—I'd like to just run through a few of them—to assist the horticulture and viticulture sectors and others to get people: we firstly provided a six-month extension for employer-assisted work visa holders and postponed a stand-down period for low-paid essential skills visa holders. We've changed the working holiday visa scheme to allow holders to extend their time in New Zealand. We've created a New Zealand seasonal work scheme which provides up to $3000 for people to relocate to take up seasonal work. We've made primary sector vocational education and training programmes free for all learners and we've launched Opportunity Grows Here a marketing campaign to get New Zealanders into the horticulture sectors on top of approving 2000 Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers into the country—the largest border exception and managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) allocation made to any industry or sector in this country. Hon David Bennett: Did he get his Cabinet colleagues to agree to his initiative today "maybe just say free accommodation and see what turns up" to try to meet the needs of a $6 billion horticultural industry?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: I have to say I did have to work very hard with the Minister in charge of MIQ and the Minister of Immigration to provide 2000 places for RSE workers to come into the country at a time when we have thousands of New Zealanders wanting to come back home. Part of the arrangement in that deal was that the sectors and the industry would work on all options available to try and encourage New Zealanders those returning home those who may have been displaced—in the tourism industry for example—to take up the seasonal opportunities in horticulture. We expect them to try everything possible to get those people in work and to get the fruit picked.Hon David Bennett: Can the Minister confirm that the provision of free accommodation in other primary industries such as dairy has solved their issue of labour shortages?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: The dairy industry has indeed tried hard to provide quality accommodation and incorporated that into the salary package which is quite substantive in an attempt to address the shortage in that sector. What I've said to the horticultural sectors is that the hundreds of millions of dollars which they rightfully claim has been invested in accommodation is available; is currently empty; and I would have thought through one season which is unprecedented it may be a good idea to attract Kiwis to say "It's free accommodation for two months this year; you can put that money in the bank." and next season go back to what we all hope will be a normal season.Hon David Bennett: How does the Minister reconcile the prospective losses in crops due to the shortage of staff with Labour's campaign pledge for the primary industries which says "Backing the horticulture sector to seize new opportunities for growth and [to] stay ahead of … competitors"?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: I have faith in the innovation of the horticulture and viticulture sectors and in fact all the sectors across the primary area. The shortages projected pretty much every season by horticulture and viticulture have never fully been realised. Yes it's challenging for some. Some employers never have trouble getting staff; others always seem to have challenges. Yes there is a shortage now but as has been said by people in the paper today out of Martinborough we're just going to have to work together to get through this challenge to make sure that we don't waste the opportunities."