Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeEstimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5617. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAN McKELVIE (Chairperson of the Primary Production Committee): What an interesting time to chair the Primary Production Committee and to lead the discussion in this estimates debate. The committee considered the estimates for Vote Lands and Vote Primary Industries and Food Safety and of course those are the areas of Ministers Guy Goodhew and Upston. I think we need to look back a little to look forward at this time. Looking back at the ministries that merged to create the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry for Primary Industries as it has moved through that process in the last few years there have been some very testing times faced but there have been a couple of factors that I think have emphasised the value of that merger. The fruit fly outbreak in Auckland earlier in the year has been very successfully combatted by an extremely strong team. The 1080 contamination threat was also in my view very well handled in a very difficult environment by a very strong and capable ministry performing cohesively.The recent Budget provided some $179 million for border control and domestic biosecurity risk matters and $24.9 million more has been allocated to border security in increased dog and X-ray - based facilities. I myself witnessed this in action last Wednesday on returning through Auckland Airport with the New Zealand Special Olympics team from the Special Olympics World Summer Games and a very successful team it was too. But it was really quite impressive to watch the performance of the—[Interruption] thank you—biosecurity team at Auckland Airport and in fact the things that I suppose you could call hounds really and I guess that if you are a member of the hunting fraternity they most certainly were hounds. But they were very impressive and I think the system is working really well.The Animal Welfare Amendment Bill passed through this Parliament some 3 or 4 months ago and more money has been provided for this critical leg of our productive sector. The money will ensure that the very high standards we have in this area are maintained and improved which is a really important factor for New Zealand agriculture.Food safety is the second critical leg of our No. 1 industry and some $103 million will be spent on ensuring that this most important area remains secure. It is quite a challenging area for us and of course when you think of our place in the world food industry and our place in food supplies generally it is absolutely critical that this sector of our economy is maintained and maintained very strongly.The Minister in the chair Nathan Guy has faced some challenges in this role—some pretty significant challenges: the whey protein concentrate scare; the 1080 threat which Minister Goodhew of course was very strongly a part of as well; and the fruit fly incursion and the way they have handled those just shows the strength of our biosecurity system. The Rangitīkei Wanganui and South Taranaki flood event just recently is going to make a significant dent and cause some significant impact on our economy—our local economy in my electorate particularly and of course in Mr Chairperson Borrows’ electorate as well.The downturn in dairy prices is certainly a testing issue for us but not one that we in agriculture find unusual. We have gone through these things many times in my lifetime in farming and we will go through many more of them. It is just the cycle we go through in agriculture and food supply and I think it will always happen. It is very difficult to protect us from it. We have never achieved that in 150 years of farming in this country and I do not suppose we will in the future.Has not Fonterra which is so often criticised in this House done such a great job in the last few days of supporting its cooperative members with its 50c announcement last week pointing very strongly to the value of a strong cooperative? It is something the kiwifruit industry is benefiting from right at this minute and something that the Meat Industry Excellence group would dearly love the meat industry to achieve as well. It really does point to the strength of having a cooperative in a very small economy. I think it is most important that we have this kind of strength and that those cooperatives and the companies that operate in New Zealand have the confidence in the Ministry for Primary Industries—and in the various ministries I guess—to ensure that our industry stays in the prime position it is in.I want to touch on building capacity through investment in the Primary Growth Partnership and people and three aspects of that in particular. I want to talk about the Precision Seafood Harvesting Primary Growth Partnership project which is really when you think about the potential it has got going to achieve some hugely exciting opportunities for New Zealand and for the New Zealand fishing industry. If it can achieve what it certainly looks as though it will achieve we are going to see our fishing industry restocked.