McKelvie Ian: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMcKelvie Ian: General Debate[Sitting date: 12 June 2013. Volume:691;Page:11065. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei):What a joy it has been to sit in this House this afternoon and listen to some people with a knowledge of agriculture.Andrew Williams: Thank you very much.IAN McKELVIE: I will get to you in a minute Andrew Williams. Agriculture of course produces 70 percent of the cash income of this country and to listen to the Hon Kate Wilkinson the Hon Michael Woodhouse Chris Auchinvole and John Hayes in particular speaking about agriculture—Dr David Clark: What does Michael Woodhouse know about agriculture?IAN McKELVIE: —despite the fact that Michael Woodhouse comes from Dunedin and in fact the worst MP from Dunedin for 50 years is interjecting right now. This is the big week for agriculture in New Zealand and we had to wait until Rino Tirikatene before we got a mention of agriculture from the Opposition. That pretty much sums up the attitude of the Opposition to agriculture.As I said in the beginning of my few words tonight this is one of the big weeks for agriculture in this country as we showcase ourselves to the rest of the world through the National Agricultural Fieldays at Mystery Creek. Jon Calder the National Fieldays Society Chief Executive Officer said: “Fieldays’ focus has always been on the advancement of New Zealand Agriculture on the domestic and now global stage.”In the last week we have had some pretty significant events in agriculture. Last night the Meat Industry Association held a function in Wellington where we heard from Bill Falconer about the impact that the Primary Growth Partnership is having on agriculture and particularly the meat industry. Some $658 million as we have heard thisafternoon has been invested in the Primary Growth Partnership already by the Government and its partners. I think it is fantastic. It is doing a great job for us. We have also had Fonterra in the last couple of weeks bringing out its $7 payout for next season which is hugely encouraging for our dairy industry and will make a massive difference to the income going around in rural New Zealand.Some 3 weeks ago the Government through our Minister of Finance Bill English presented a Budget to ensure New Zealand’s future—a Budget that builds on the last four financial statements by the Minister and gives New Zealanders the confidence to invest in growth and subsequent jobs. This is what keeps agriculture going in New Zealand. We have been through an extremely challenging few years where almost all comparable economies have suffered from zero growth or shrinkage. Through the actions of this Government we have continued to grow and trade with great success in a world challenged by recession. Our country’s statistics speak for themselves.Before getting on to the real business today I want to comment on what I see as an increasing use of what I can only term as the industrial sabotage of New Zealanders’ futures. We saw it with the power scheme called NZ Power which was advanced by the Greens and reds. It is a policy that does nothing to address the challenges facing rural New Zealand and the distribution challenges our lines companies face reticulating the vast rural networks. There is no doubt this was a cynical and high-risk attempt by the Opposition to undermine Government policy at some cost to the public purse. We have heard Kennedy Graham going on this afternoon at length about the climate change proposals of the Greens and the cost this will impose on our consumers in New Zealand. Any savings that they might have got through their power scheme will be well eaten up by those charges.We are now seeing the Greens scaremongering over rehabilitated land farms in Taranaki and drilling in Tararua etc. Again it is highly unethical and typical of a party that will do anything for a headline. If there was scientific evidence of a problem we would be the first to support its accusations but there is not. The co-leader of that party has long been anti - dairy farming and anti-Fonterra. The New Zealand farmer for the most part is more green by far than the Greens. It is time the party stopped sticking the knife in at every opportunity and worked with the people who really do understand the environment and will make the single-biggest positive difference to New Zealand in the future.I want to move very briefly on to the roads of national significance. We have heard Andrew Williams harping on over there for some time about rural roads.Andrew Williams: What about rural roads?IAN McKELVIE: Thank you. I find the opposition to this again from the other side of the House absolutely baffling. Anyone who understands transport—and he clearly does not—would realise that it is no good fixing the hose if the tap is not working. You must first ensure the trucks can get there before sending them off on the journey. This policy will provide the biggest boost to our export-led economy when completed of all of our proposals. Once the roads of national significance are completed it will enable the councils and the Government to get on with the roads that join up the puzzle allowing our logs milk and meat to get to the market quicker and better.Andrew Little: Not State Highway 3 in Taranaki.IAN McKELVIE: As someone who uses State Highway 3 quite often—in fact it runs through my electorate—it is doing very well. Thank you.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.