Guy Nathan: Meat Board Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Guy Nathan: Meat Board Amendment Bill — In Committee 
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NATHAN GUY (National) 
: 
 I would like to take a call on this Meat Board Amendment Bill. It is a Government bill that is being supported by the Primary Production Committee. The bill pretty much confirms the status quo. We should bear in mind that exporters need an export registration certification to be a part of this process. Whether meat-processing plants export or are involved in domestic supply they will still need an export ticket. That means every plant throughout New Zealand needs to be at an optimum high standard of hygiene. 
I urge those members in the Chamber who have not been through a meat-processing plant to go through and have a look because the cleanliness of plants in New Zealand is fantastic in comparison with plants in other parts of the world—and I was fortunate enough to go through a few in North America when I went there on a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship in 2000 to follow our New Zealand beef exports—and in those big markets to which we export. Our industry has had to invest millions and millions to meet the United States Department of Agriculture safety standards. The people of New Zealand need to be reassured that our meat-processing plants—commonly called “the works” but I like to call them processing plants—actually have very good high standards of hygiene which is fantastic. 
We need to have a look at the wider industry benefits of this quota and at how they flow through not just to farmers at the farm gate but to rural New Zealand and those provincial towns right across New Zealand. I am talking about the fertiliser companies stock and station agents and other people right through to the greengrocer and the person running the local dairy where one buys one’s milk. All of these people will benefit from this amendment passing through the Committee today. 
Another important thing is how we value our clean green natural resources in this country. That is a significant part of this bill when we look at our quota and at meeting our export requirements around the world. Fundamentally we in this country are blessed with wonderful natural resources. But farmers are environmentalists in their own hearts. They have been brought up on the land for generations and they know that if they do wrong environmentally they cause suffering right down through the chain and into our markets as well. 
The speech made the other day by Charlie Pederson president of Federated Farmers sparked debate around this whole environmentalist approach. We need to be cautious that we do not get too extreme in our approach but we need to be mindful of the fact that we need to maintain our clean green aspect that we have in this country. We are an island nation and that aspect is worth billions—absolutely billions—to us as a country. But we need to be mindful of the fact that if we go down the road of extreme environmentalism that will be detrimental to our overall productivity. We will see unemployment levels grow and fewer jobs in the rural provincial areas of New Zealand. It is a fine balancing act and farmers along with industry organisations like Fonterra the Meat Board and others are actually doing fantastically well. 
The other thing I will touch on is the issue of biosecurity and how that impacts on our island nation. We would be down the gurgler if we got something like foot-and-mouth bovine spongiform encephalopathy or tuberculosis in this country. 
Shane Jones 
: National have already got that. 
NATHAN GUY 
: What was that from the member over there? I have forgotten his name. Anyway one back-bencher from over the other side is trying to chime in. He probably does not even own a pair of gumboots. He probably has not even been out to talk to any cockies in their woolsheds. He probably would not even know what this bill was about like a lot of people on that side of the Chamber. We have seen Mr Sutton unfortunately be pushed out by a replacement Minister and now farmers are left with no one rural to represent them.