Rurawhe Adrian; O'Connor Greg; Lewis StephSPEAKER: I declare the House in committee for further consideration of the Appropriation (2021/22 Confirmation and Validation) Bill.ANNUAL REVIEW DEBATEIn CommitteeDebate resumed from 9 May on the Appropriation (2021/22 Confirmation and Validation) Bill.CHAIRPERSON (Greg O'Connor): The House is in committee for the Appropriation (2021/22 Confirmation and Validation) Bill. This is the debate on the financial position of the Government and the annual reviews of departments Officers of Parliament Crown entities public organisations and State enterprises as reported on by select committees. There are 44 minutes remaining for this debate. The time for this debate has been allocated to parties on a proportional basis. Each debate will be led off by the chairperson or another member of the select committee that considered annual reviews most closely related to the Minister's portfolios. The Minister of Agriculture is now available for the remainder of the debate to respond to members' questions.AgricultureSteph Lewis (Chairperson of the Primary Production Committee): Thank you Mr Chair. It's my pleasure as the chair of the Primary Production Committee to lead this afternoon's debate. I want to begin by thanking members of the Primary Production Committee and our officials who responded to questions during the course of our hearings.As per the previous two years we decided to consider our report on the primary sector as a whole rather than reporting on each separate entity. We've had hearings from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) from Land Information New Zealand Pāmu Farms and Crown Irrigation Investments. We also had written reports from Animal Control Products Ltd AssureQuality Ltd New Zealand Walking Access Commission and Quotable Value.I want to also acknowledge as the officials in our hearings and the Ministers in our hearings did the impact that both Cyclone Hale and Cyclone Gabrielle have had on our primary industries—the devastation that our food producers and growers over the course of those two cyclones have experienced between Northland all the way down as far as the Wairarapa particularly impacted on the west coast. So I want to acknowledge all of those affected and acknowledge as well the Ministry for Primary Industries who at the time of the writing of the committee's report had provided more than $55 million worth of support to our primary producers.I'd like to comment on some of the topics that the committee canvassed with officials during the course of the hearings—in particular around the international pressure to reduce emissions. We noted that the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism—CBAM—which is a tariff on carbon-intensive goods entering the EU such as fertiliser and cement will take full effect by 2026. We heard from the Minister around the negotiations in the free-trade agreements and the need for us to strive to stay at the lower end of the emissions scale for our food production; provided we can do that we will remain in a good position. We need to ensure that we are investing in emissions-reducing technologies elsewhere just the same as our international competitors are doing. We heard as well that the Government is invested in an emissions-reduction programme which was pleasing to hear; it includes launching the Centre for Climate Action on Agricultural Emissions which was opened in November 2022. The centre's purpose is to accelerate research and development and the commercialisation of tools and technology to help reduce agricultural emissions. There's been a lot of interest in forestry as well—in particular the overseas purchase of productive New Zealand farmland and the conversion of that to forestry. We note that both the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Forestry said that highly productive farmland should not be converted to forestry. We had the opportunity to talk to Toitū Te Whenua—or Land Information New Zealand—about the special forestry test and they advised us that both the special forestry test and the benefit to New Zealand test potentially support forestry; however the special forestry test only allows overseas investment in existing forests and therefore it doesn't permit carbon forestry. The land must be currently forested and the test does not allow forests to be planted on land that has not been forested in the past.Also of interest to members and the wider public was an update on the actions that MPI has taken in the last 12 months to protect New Zealand against a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak which obviously we saw happen in Indonesia last year; also an update on the ministry's efforts to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis and we heard that we are making good progress to that end.We also had an update on investment from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund. To date the total investment is sitting just under $11 million. When asked for a specific example of investment there the Minister mentioned the joint venture with the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand. They're working to develop a pure wool particle that has export potential in cosmetics printing luxury goods and personal care industries.CHAIRPERSON (Greg O'Connor): The Hon Todd McClay—but just before I start: if members take their full five minutes I'm likely to take the next call; if they do it in a question and answer they're likely to get some continuity. It's just the way we'll do it.Hon Todd McClay: If I may point of order Mr Chair. I'd just like clarification: that doesn't mean we need to take a full five; someone else can intervene and we can come back for the remainder of the time by party?CHAIRPERSON (Greg O'Connor): If the member takes the full five then I'm likely to give the call to another member.