Heatley Phil: Wool Industry Restructuring Bill — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Heatley Phil: Wool Industry Restructuring Bill — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:7117] 
PHIL HEATLEY (NZ National—Whangarei) 
: 
 I am delighted to stand in support of this bill. The National Party as members have heard over the last few months has always supported the dissolution of the Wool Board and National recognises that we do so with the overwhelming support of farmers in the industry. 
It all started a long time ago of course in the 1990s. I acknowledge John Luxton who started the process during the forth-fifth Parliament. John made quite a contribution during the 1990s. He had vision. He worked with all sorts of other people in the industry to see this measure go through and now in the forty-seventh Parliament we are seeing this bill pass. One would think that it would be passed today. 
I must say that the members of the Primary Production Committee were put under tremendous pressure not just because we had to deal with Ian Ewen-Street’s endless questions intelligent though they were but also because of the time frames we had to work with. Ian Ewen-Street is the Green member of the committee. He is the member who galvanises that select committee there is no doubt about that but he galvanises it against him. The bill is already behind time. The Hon Jim Sutton promised that this bill would be introduced at the end of November. It was not introduced until 11 December 2002 and David Carter the select committee chairperson was under tremendous pressure to ensure that it went through. The Minister promised that it would be passed by early May. It was not. The restructuring date in the bill is 1 July. That is outdated now. Mr Sutton has been behind the game the whole way through and I think members should acknowledge that. 
But we have brought the bill to this stage. It will pass today with the National Party’s support but there is no doubt that that is because of the select committee process. The select committee was efficient. We listened to concerns and re-listened to concerns. We all received unsolicited mail and solicited mail as well and we saw David Carter bring this bill through the whole process. So I acknowledge him and my colleague Shane Ardern as well. 
A number of issues that were of concern were brought up during the select committee process. The first concern was about the mandate whereby 97 percent of farmers voted to see the Wool Board disestablished. Concerns were raised as to whether when they did that they voted for what would be established in its place in the future. But 97 percent of farmers did vote in favour. Although there was only a 36 percent turn-out that is a good turn-out in the farming industry. I do not think anyone would argue against that. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Better than the National Party. 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: Clayton Cosgrove I know would be delighted to have a 36 percent turn-out of even his board members in his local electorate so let us not argue about that. 
The second issue of concern to people was the Meat Industry Association’s claim on I think $41 million of reserves. The select committee considered that. We appreciated the argument but ultimately two things nullify it to a greater degree. Firstly the reserves were actually not recent levies but World War II payments—that applies to some of the issue. Secondly although the Meat Industry Association acknowledges that it paid part of the more recent levy that sum was then deducted from the price of lamb. If a $100 killing sheep was sold $60 would go one way but part of the remaining $40 was the Meat Board levy ultimately. So we believe that to a greater or lesser degree that particular issue has been addressed. 
Thirdly there was concern about the number of sheep a farmer should own before he got part of the assets. Ninety-three percent of farmers as I said before supported the concept of the shareholding being based on sheep numbers. The Greens wanted the number to be 100 sheep the rest of us were satisfied with 250 and 250 it will be. I do not know how many sheep that Green member runs on his farm but we felt that 100 was a little low so we have settled on 250. 
The fourth issue was to do with the Wool Board presenting a restructuring plan to the Minister of Agriculture. The information we have about Canesis Network came to the Primary Production Committee late and we acknowledge that it has come late to farmers. But we believe that we have beefed up the requirements for a report to be made to the Minister and that concern will be addressed in that way. 
So with those issues addressed I leave this second reading to other speakers. I hope that they will support along with the National Party the passage of this bill. 
Bill read a second time.