Norman Russel: Ministerial Statements — Dairy Products Whey Protein—Contamination IncidentText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNorman Russel: Ministerial Statements — Dairy Products Whey Protein—Contamination Incident[Sitting date: 06 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12295. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green):I rise to say just a few words on behalf of the Green Party. The Greens will be playing our part as a part of this Parliament to find out what happened. I think that is important because we are doing it on behalf of New Zealand parents but we are also doing it on behalf of parents all around the world and that needs to be our No. 1 priority.Mums and dads both here in New Zealand but elsewhere as well in other parts of the world need to be sure that the food they are feeding their kids is safe. That needs to be the fundamental starting point for anything that we do and anything that we say as a Parliament. I believe that around this Chamber today that is a common understanding. I believe that we will all do everything we can to ensure in the first instance that we locate all the contaminated ingredients and that we provide all the information necessary to the parents so that they can be aware of that.I would also say that I think there is a much more important role for the Ministry of Health. I would like to see the Ministry of Health stepping up and providing advice to parents. The Ministry for Primary Industries is fine but it is the Ministry of Health that I think should be playing a bigger role in this. We need more information and a much larger campaign to get that information out than what we have seen to date.I would also say that there are a number of critical questions that we are going to need answers to when we go forward and deal with this issue. Are our food regulations adequate? Does the regulator have a sufficiently independent and powerful position in regard to the industry? It is very important I believe that the regulator in this case the Ministry for Primary Industries is in a position where it can control the industry and if necessary enforce standards and make sure that the industry is operating within the rules that the regulator sets rather than the other way round. We need to make sure that that is exactly what has happened here.We also have a question about whether the lessons from the dicyandiamide scare have been learnt. We know that that was in some ways the first concern that came up a number of months ago and we want to make sure that we have learnt the lessons from the dicyandiamide scare.This is not just a Fonterra problem and it is not just a Ministry for Primary Industries problem; it is a problem for all of us. I think that we as a Parliament need to reinforce the fundamental values that underpin Parliament. It seems to me that there is a place for the nanny State and there is a time for the nanny State and if that is not protecting the safety of food that we feed to our children then I do not know when else we would have the nanny State. This is exactly when we need that kind of State to protect the well-being of our children.We have some fundamental questions to ask about the time lag between the discovering of theClostridium and the determination that it wasClostridiumbotulinum . The number of months between those two points in the time line seems to me particularly critical. I think I have now got my head around whyClostridium was not found at the beginning. It was found only when it was tested later to go into the baby-formula food stream. That makes sense to me but why the gap between the identification that there wasClostridium there and that it wasC.botulinum ? It seems to me that those months there need more explaining as to why there was such a big gap between those two points in the time line. I hope that the Government puts that as a priority in the inquiries that follow this.Federated Farmers’ WillyLeferink said in theDominion Post today: “If there’s any break in this pasture to plate chain then product does not go or rather that is how thingsare meant to work”. That chain of custody seems to me critical to the food security issues that we need to get right. I look forward to the Government inquiry that comes once we have got through this initial period of making sure that people and children are safe.