Guy Nathan; Tolley AnneHon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki): Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity to make a contribution on the Farm Debt Mediation Bill (No 2). I was reflecting listening to the speeches this afternoon back on to the 1980s and indeed the late Collis Blake who was a farmer in Levin. He effectively stopped mortgagee sales in the 1980s by blocking access onto farmers' driveways with tractors and trucks and then went and negotiated singlehandedly with banks. I must say the relationship with farmers and banks has come a long way since the 1980s but I fear even more than ever that we are heading back into a situation like those farmers in the 1980s found themselves in. Because the fear that I have is that Government policy is creating a lot of uncertainty in rural communities. I think that this bill—and that's partly the reason why the National Party is supporting this bill—is necessary because when you have a look at the confidence in farmers and if you look across the whole range of business confidence surveys whether it's Federated Farmers whether it's Rabobank whether it's ANZ and the list goes on farmers' confidence is at an all-time low. Now why is that? Because their prices are very good apart from wool. Beef prices: good. Dairy prices: good. Horticulture prices: gangbusters. The list goes on—forestry prices: looking good. But why is it that farmer confidence and sentiment is extremely low the lowest it's been in decades right through even beyond the global financial crisis? And the reason has to be because they are facing an onslaught of Government policies. I don't want to spend all of my contribution talking about the onslaught of those Government policies that are causing a negative reaction in rural communities. I could but I don't want to because that would be seen as negative and the list would go on and then the bell would go and I'd be asking to extend my contribution because the list is as long as both of my arms. This bill is important right now for not only what's happening with Government policies but we have also the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act potential changes and that is also reverberating around rural communities right now with banks who are turning up and sitting around the kitchen table and saying to farmers Right you have been paying off interest OK thank you very much. But now we want you to pay off principal as well." Not all debt in agriculture in the primary sector is bad. And I've heard from a variety of speakers this afternoon alluding to the fact that farmers are out there with their chequebook spending willy-nilly and they've caused this demise of ratcheting up debt on themselves. Well I want to defend farmers and say actually in a lot of cases they have been investing in lifting the overall performance and viability of their individual farms particularly around environmental policies that they have made. And all of those decisions: fencing their waterways 24000 kilometres from here in Wellington to Chicago and back riparian planting—look at the Waihopai River. It got the supreme award last week. That's a river near Invercargill surrounded in farmland—it got the supreme award for water quality improvements and that is because they work collectively together. The reason that this bill is necessary is—I've talked about Government policies I've talked about the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act changes—is also that we know that the family home is on the parcel of land that is a working farming business. So it's different isn't it? It's a bit like a dairy owner. Quite often the dairy owner lives in the business. Farmers live in the family home that is on the particular property so when farmers find themselves being rounded on by the banks—that's starting to happen right now—it means the family home is very very vulnerable. So this bill is necessary for that reason as well. I'm pleased to see that the Primary Production Committee has capped the mediation costs that farmers will pay up to $2000. I think that's also very very important. And another note is that it means that farmers will be able to go to their bank and say they want early intervention. So I support this bill. I think it's necessary right now; there's a flood of farms on the market. Some of them are choosing to exit because of Government policies; some are choosing to exit because of the pressure that they're being put under by their banks. That's why I support this bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This is a split call."