McKelvie IanPrimary SectorIAN McKELVIE (Chairperson of the Primary Production Committee): It is a pleasure to take a call on behalf of the biggest industry in New Zealand and to point out I guess a few facts about it and how important it is to us. This industry—and the sector that is run by primary industry and by the Ministers concerned three of them—is very important in New Zealand. It is absolutely critical to our economy and to our prosperity. Its diversity is also critical to New Zealand's future.I want to make the point here that this whole sector is diversifying very quickly in New Zealand. Whilst we were a country of wool meat and dairy products we are now a country of great diversity and I want to make the point that the kiwifruit industry wine horticulture forestry and a number of industries are contributing significantly to the diversifying of our land use. They are helping with the challenges around the environment that our sector faces.This sector's growth is vital and I want also to make the point very strongly that whilst the Government has a goal of doubling the value that this sector produces by 2025 that in no way means the doubling of production. It is certainly not the Government's intention nor the sector's intention to double our production. It is all around the fact that we can double the value of what we do produce and diversify that production as well.There are four critical sectors in this area: food safety biosecurity animal welfare and the environmental sustainability that our sector is facing. These are the keys to the future of this sector and they are the keys to the future of New Zealand. Whether we like it or not we are very good at producing food and all those other—well fibre I guess is the other part of that sector. So these things are very important to us. It is extremely important that we maintain very high levels and standards around our biosecurity our animal welfare and our food safety. We will hear no doubt the Minister talking much more about biosecurity as this debate progresses.This year we heard from a couple of organisations that we have not heard from before during the course of the annual reviews. One of them was the Walking Access Commission. One of the things that really interested us I think about the Walking Access Commission was the fact that many of you will remember some significant challenges around the Walking Access Commission when it was first introduced to New Zealand some 8 or 9 years ago. It created quite a bit of controversy. One of the things it pointed out to us very strongly in the course of the time it spent with us was the great cooperation of New Zealand landowners and in particular interestingly those from overseas who have acquired iconic pieces of New Zealand land and their willingness to make that available for all New Zealanders to enjoy. I think it is a trend that is increasing in New Zealand and one that I think is very important to most of us: that we do have access to some of the best parts of New Zealand and that we are able to walk or find our way around some very exciting and beautiful bits of New Zealand many of which have historically been held by private landowners who are now making those available for other people to enjoy. I think that is particularly important to us.I want to talk very briefly about Landcorp because Landcorp epitomises the challenges I think that our primary sector faces and the challenges that our farmers face. More especially it epitomises the challenges that corporate operations face farming in New Zealand. The reason for that is that historically this sector has been run by family farms: small operations very successful operations that live and work the land and do it successfully. Landcorp has in recent years really shown the great challenge that the requirement for a commercial return to the Government shows in that sector.The other issue I want to raise very quickly is irrigation and the extraordinary contribution that irrigation if we manage it well has got to make to our provincial economies. The really important thing for us in New Zealand is I think that we do not force people to urbanise; that we encourage and create opportunities for people to live in provincial New Zealand. Thank you.