Webb Duncan; Rurawhe AdrianDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā. This is a fantastic piece of legislation yet another block in building a New Zealand we can be proud of one that is inclusive looks after everyone—farmers included. You know the wellbeing of farmers is just as important as the wellbeing of any other citizen in this country and absolutely essential to our economy. I fundamentally recognise the pivotal place that those great men and women do out there day and night. I must say I've worked in the area of debt recovery—often on the side of the debtor I must say—and I know the impact that this kind of financial crisis in a farm or other business can cause on mental health as Minister Julie Anne Genter mentioned before. This is also just being decent and looking after people and having a country where we recognise and we care for everyone.The other thing that I want to mention here just before I get into a few more details is that this is about building a strong economy because we have a structural problem one that the Reserve Bank has pointed out and that is the high leveraging in some dairy farms. So we're just getting started here building a resilient economy. The Reserve Bank in its recent financial stability report noted—and I quote—[one] third of dairy debt is held in farms with high [debt to income] ratios. [They] struggle to make profits … repay debt despite good milk prices." So there we have it. In fact it gives the number in there: $35 of debt per kilo of milk solids produced annually. That is a very significant ratio there and what it means is that if dairy prices fall then we've got a problem in our dairy farm sector. Nobody wants to see a farmer thrown off their land and I recognise that for some families they'll have been there for generations that it's more than just a business for them; it really is their tūrangawaewae. It's where they belong. So we want to look after not just the financial aspect of this but also something that runs a lot deeper than that.We know that mortgagee sales are not the best solution and even if the business isn't sustainable even if the fact of the matter is that they're over-leveraged they've made some poor business decisions and they need to exit that farm you want to do it in a careful managed and humane way and that's what this bill is about. It's not about letting people get off their financial obligations it's not about sticking it to the banks; it's about saying let's de-conflict this let's negotiate let's mediate let's find the best solution. That might be the sale of the farm. It might be putting a manager into the farm to help it over the debt crisis that they're in at the moment or it might just be giving a bit of a breather so that they can ride out the storm recapitalising the debt whatever it might be. So there are a whole lot of solutions which if you get into a debt recovery mode you don't see.Can I just say this is another example of this Government being innovative when it comes to dispute resolution. Just like the Canterbury earthquakes tribunal we're not doing it the same old broken way; we're trying new things and this is exactly where we'll need it. So we're going to have a farming sector which if the farmers get into trouble they will be dealt with reasonably carefully and if the banks don't act in good faith—or other creditors if they don't act in good faith—you can hit the pause button for a full six months. So it's a real incentive for banks and other creditors to come to the party and try to work through this debt crisis.So once again a great piece of legislation doing it differently doing it right doing it in a caring way building a New Zealand we can be proud of. Thank you Mr Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): I call Barbara Kuriger—five minutes."