Allan KiritapuKIRITAPU ALLAN (Labour): Kia orana e Maine Vaa Tuatua. It's a delight to be able to take a brief call in the primary industries appropriations debate for the upcoming period. Things have become a little excitable over the last half-hour and rightly so because the primary industries are blimmin' exciting. But one thing I must say having had the opportunity to sit in on the Primary Industry Committee here and there is I do want to acknowledge the bipartisanship and just general approach to the primary sector from across the House. I want to acknowledge the chair Brett Hudson—Kieran McAnulty: Ha ha!KIRITAPU ALLAN: —and our colleagues from both sides of the aisle. That wasn't funny Mr McAnulty.Kieran McAnulty: It's the wrong bloke.KIRITAPU ALLAN: Yeah that's right. Ha ha! We digress. There's a range of I guess particular areas where I really want to commend the Minister Minister O'Connor for his leadership and vision. Many of us who are based in the regions are required to engage thoroughly (1) because we love it and (2) because the primary industries are the backbone of our regional economies. Minister O'Connor in every single environment I go to—now I don't know about what these guys are saying from across the aisle but at pretty much every single primary industry event that I attend the Minister is spoken about extremely highly by the leaders and workers within the primary industries. So Minister thank you for your leadership.Look one of the things that I find particularly necessary is that the Minister's approach to the primary industries is that we have to work in partnership—Government side by side with our primary sector because at the end of the day what's good for our primary industries is good for our regions. What's good for our regions is good for New Zealand. Look I want to note a couple of the particular instances where I think that the Minister has shown real leadership. It's been widely traversed this evening—the response to M. bovis. I too want to join with the plethora of voices from across both sides of the aisle that acknowledge those that have been caught within—I guess we could recognise it as—almost a national tragedy. So I do want to acknowledge your work and leadership alongside the primary industry leaders. I know that there's a lot of work that went into the determination to eradicate; so thank you for your leadership there.There's also been a whole range of discussions this evening about the Primary Sector Council and the Opposition seem to be slagging it left right and centre but the thing is that every single primary industry environment that I've been in at every single event I've been at over the past well month or so at the very least there's been a lot of hope actually. There's a lot of jubilation about what the leaders from across the primary sector generally may achieve when working in collaboration with each other and with us. So I want to acknowledge your work there.Third: a tricky issue that seemed to be one of the many stumbling blocks of the previous Government was trying to reach a determination on the mānuka definition. Now that had its challenges but again very short into the Minister's tenure there was a determination around the scientific definition of mānuka. So too I want to acknowledge your work there. Look there's been a fair bit of discussion this evening about—I've mentioned M. bovis but also a topic very dear to my heart particularly being from the East Coast—horticulture and the biosecurity risks that threaten our primary industries particularly from the horticultural perspective.There was an immeasurable investment that the Minister and this Government made into biosecurity. There are challenges. As I've heard the Minister say the biggest challenge for us collectively—New Zealand—is biosecurity risks when it comes to our primary industries. This isn't an issue just for the Minister and the Government; it's an issue for us all. So I thank you again for your leadership there. Tēnā koe.