Carter David: Appropriation (2002/03 Supplementary Estimates) Bill — Second Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Carter David: Appropriation (2002/03 Supplementary Estimates) Bill — Second Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:609;Page:6396] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (NZ National) 
: 
 I start by referring to a comment that that member made about the current growth rate of 3.9 percent in rural New Zealand being a building block for our economy. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Absolutely! That’s right. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The Labour member for Waimakariri interjects and says again that that is right so I invite that member who claims that all is well in the rural economy to read— 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: And getting better. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I invite him to read the press release put out on Monday this week 16 June by his colleague Jim Sutton the Minister of Agriculture. In it he said that the rural sector of New Zealand is under extreme pressure. The Minister of Agriculture has belatedly realised that the Labour Government has squandered the opportunities that were presented to it by 3 years of buoyancy in rural New Zealand but he has not taken the opportunity to brief his junior members in caucus to say what is happening. We have just had a contribution from the member for Waimakariri who claims that the Waimakariri electorate is a rural electorate and who has not bothered to read the statements made by his Government’s Minister of Agriculture. I think that says it all because the Minister of Agriculture is finally aware that all is not well in rural New Zealand. Clayton Cosgrove needs to get out of Rangiora and drive around his rural electorate and he will find out that farmers are under pressure because commodity prices are falling. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Really! 
Hon DAVID CARTER:The 
 member did not know? The rural member had no idea that the dairy payout this year is less than last year? He had no idea that the price being received for lambs in Canterbury at Tuesday’s market is less than last year? Had the member for Waimakariri not realised that the dollar has continued to increase and the exchange rate is putting pressure on rural New Zealand? It appears not. A real threat that the member ought also to take some responsibility for is that trade access is now under threat because of the incompetence of the Prime Minister and the threats she made to the Americans. 
I want to reiterate the points made by the ACT member Gerry Eckhoff because today the Labour Government can “celebrate” almost 6 months to the day its ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Its headlong rush to ratify the protocol against all sensible advice is now coming home to roost. Within 6 months we have another press release from the Minister of Agriculture Jim Sutton which I invite the rural member for Waimakariri to read. In it he will find that the Government by stealth has today announced an $8.4 million tax on the farmers of New Zealand. I will say one thing: at least Clayton Cosgrove has gone white and quiet for a change because he now realises that New Zealand has put itself in an unenviable position over the Kyoto Protocol. We are the only country in the Southern Hemisphere that has ratified the protocol and has a commitment to it. No other country in the Southern Hemisphere was as dumb as New Zealand. What makes the matter even worse for New Zealand is that this country is absolutely unique in that 50 percent of our emissions come from animal emissions. 
Hon Damien O'Connor 
: You signed up to it. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Minister Damien O’Connor now says the National Government ratified the Kyoto Protocol. If the Minister had listened he would have heard me say the ratification occurred 6 months ago last week and if the Minister used his brains he would realise that he was a Minister in the Government 6 months ago which means it was not possible for the National Government to have ratified the protocol. That Government made the decision against all advice including the advice from the National Party yet today we have the announcement of a discussion document. This is the sneaky way this Government does tax increases. It puts out a discussion document that says it is going to extract $8.4 million out of the livestock farmers of New Zealand with the exception of pig and poultry farmers—and I would like an explanation of that from the next member who stands up— 
Darren Hughes 
: Did the member put in a submission on the discussion document? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Mr Hughes interrupts to ask whether I put a submission in. I say to him that the discussion document was released by his Minister of Agriculture only today so the chances of my putting in a submission within 6 hours of its release are not so great. What a silly member. This particular tax has a lovely name. It will be called an “AER”—an animal emission research levy. I am not sure how it will be collected. The discussion document states that it may be collected via the producer boards. Well hello the Primary Production Committee has just reported back legislation that gets rid of one of the producer boards but Mr Sutton the Minister in charge appears to have forgotten to tell Mr Hodgson the Minister in charge of climate control that that is happening. I say to the Government that when it gets junior members to stand up in here and say that all is well in the rural economy it should advise them to at least manage to read the press releases put out by their own Ministers. It is not much to ask. 
The other issue I want to talk about is the growth rate that Clayton Cosgrove took the opportunity of being so happy with. The growth rates will decline over the next year to half what they were the previous year. We see in the Budget an outlook for this country to grow at somewhere around 2 percent. I do acknowledge big surpluses and that is why I was absolutely disappointed to note that the Minister of Agriculture who is also the Minister for Biosecurity was happy to present to the select committee recently the budget for Vote Biosecurity which has been dramatically cut from $176 million a year to $138 million a year yet he tried to argue that those figures were not a cut. There is money around. There is money to spend on biosecurity—the biggest single issue facing this country—but the Government is intent on investing in sharemarkets and transport infrastructure—Air New Zealand and Tranz Rail so far and maybe Mainfreight next week; who knows? 
I want to finish very briefly on the issue of trade access because this country survives on its ability to export. 
Hon Jim Anderton 
: It’s surviving a lot better than it used to. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Jim Anderton interrupts and says it is surviving a lot better than it used to. If the Minister really seriously believes that by insulting the Americans and allowing Australia to sign a free-trade agreement with New Zealand being left out— 
Hon Jim Anderton 
: Haven’t signed one yet. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The Minister says Australia does not have one yet but he does not seem to realise that we have been cut out of the equation. The Minister for Economic Development has learnt only tonight that we have been cut out of free-trade discussions and Australia is proceeding. That says a lot for the current Minister for Economic Development.