Guy Nathan: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGuy Nathan: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 03 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10710. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister for Primary Industries): Was that not a fascinating contribution from David Cunliffe? What he has forgotten about with the Overseas Investment Office is when his mate David Parker was in signing off these large tracts of agricultural land. Last time I had a look at a time-frame level Labour had proportionally sold about twice as many as what the National Government has sold. He has got short-term memory loss. He has forgotten all of that and he stands up here and talks about: “We want high-quality foreign investment and we want good trade.” And yet on that side of the Chamber they do not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership and so I cannot believe that anything that David Cunliffe says actually has any credibility.What I want to talk about this evening on this final call from the Government’s side on the Primary Sector—Hon David Cunliffe: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I take offence at the fact that the member who has just resumed the chair could possibly infer from a rational opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): No. No the member will be seated. That is a frivolous point of order. He knows it is not a genuine point of order. A man of his extensive experience should never have called it.Hon NATHAN GUY: Is it not great when you get under David Cunliffe’s skin? Anyway what I wanted to do moving right on to the issues that really matter—it is about the leadership of the Primary Production Committee. I want to acknowledge Ian McKelvie and the great job that he does and the reviews that he has done over the last 12 months. I also want to talk about—because it has not been touched on this evening—having had contributions while I have been in the chair about animal welfare about irrigation about water quality about biosecurity. Those sorts of things are very important. But what we have not touched on in the primary sector is actually research and development and how we are going to see the aspirational goal of doubling the value of our primary sector exports by investing wisely in research and development. The Primary Growth Partnership is a classic example of where the Government is partnering with industry and we are starting to see some really tangible results.If I think about the Precision Seafood Harvesting net design—recently I was up there applauding the commercial sector in the Hauraki area where they have now got 100 percent camera-coverage and vessel monitoring systems which is basically the GPS. As a result of that—and we link in with the fantastic net design—fish are able to be selected for size at sea which is fundamental to the overall ocean sustainability of our fishing stocks. They come on board the vessel in a better shape—another selection process there. Boats are now being designed with holding tanks to hold these fish in a pristine condition. This is all about sustainability. This is reaching into these very important lucrative markets that of course Labour and New Zealand First and the others do not want to support through the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This is about New Zealand investing in world-leading net technology and I am really excited about it.Another one that is really important for the forestry sector is the steepland harvester. It has been so successful that it has now been exported around the world. It was designed by a couple of Kiwi guys in Nelson. Basically it is a digger that operates on a steepland slope. And now they have designed it so that you do not need to have an operator working this machine. Is that not fantastic? Just last year I saw the guy—and my kids are not bad on the PlayStation but I saw this operator and he was even better—working remotely offsite. The digger was operating felling trees a cable coming down with a sensor on the end of it and a grapple picking up these trees—not a human on site. You think about the productivity advantages from this technology but we should not forget health and safety as well. So once again New Zealand is leading the world in research and technology.Also we have just recently celebrated nearly $7 million in the Sustainable Farming Fund. It has been going actually since Labour’s time and it has been very successful. In 16 years $125 million has been invested in grassroots programmes. Very very successful whereby farming groups and arable groups come forward to the Ministry for Primary Industries with ideas and they are appraised by a technical group deciding which programmes get funding. But this is about grassroots research and technology: farmers and growers and foresters making decisions for themselves to actually help us to realise our aspirational goal of doubling the value of our primary sector exports out to 2025. There is a huge amount happening and I am very excited and very supportive of a big part of the New Zealand economy which is our primary sector.Reports noted.