we will progress this legislation, and I'll sorry to say that we won't
have it passed before
this Parliament lifts tomorrow. Richard
Prosser. Thank you, Mr Chair. Mr
Chair, before I begin
my contribution, I would also like
to add my voice to those who have
given their congratulations
their congratulations to yourself, sir, and appreciation for your
services both in the Chair and in
the Chairman's chair, the
Speaker's chair, and the
select committee, which I have very much enjoyed
sitting on with yourself, and
with the committee and other members. Mr
Chair, New Zealand
First has supported this bill up to
this point, and I do have to say now,
as my colleague Mr
O'Connor has referenced in the dying stages
of the Parliament, we are
Parliament, we are no law longer supporting this bill. That is
not a reflection on either
the select committee process or the minister,
who I do genuinely respect and
believe has morphed, as I made
mention of earlier, from being
Nationals attack dog
into being really quite an amenable sort of
..and I think he has been open to the representations that have been
made to him. But I reference back
to a comment that my colleague
Darroch Ball made in
an earlier speech tonight, and also something
that Clare Curran said before.
It's talk talking to the provinces.
Our initial objection to this bill
talking to the provinces. Our
because we did initially object to some parts of
because we did initially object to
not include Country of Origin Labelling.
Labelling. However, when Steffan Browning managed to
get his Country of Origin Labelling bill drawn in
the ballot, most of those
objections went away. However, since that
time
people out in rural New Zealand, out in the provinces, out
in the heartland. And like other people,
we do listen to what the
provinces are saying, and the message that
we have been getting back from those people
Robertson and Peters bus tour in, where they have been speaking to
people in New Zealand
where they have been speaking to
discovered that their feelings about where this bill goes are not in line
with the approach that the
Government appears to be taking.
Now, we fully understand that, in
the wake of the Fonterra botulism
scare, something did
need to be done. Four operations of that
scare, something did need to be
operations of that scale, for operations of that scale that
were primarily directed towards
export. But we've also become very, very
cognisant of the fact that
ordinary people out in middle New Zealand are
very concerned
very concerned about the repercussions
very concerned about the
legislation of this type on the ordinary activities
ordinary activities of regular everyday New Zealanders. When we
look at food plans, as they
are suggested in this
look at food plans, as they are
that are designed to apply to the likes of Fonterra, Sinlay,
and the other big
industries, and the fact that every stage of a process has to be subject
to a specified schedule
of activity and has to be tested and has to
be
operations of a large scale. But when we start talking
about small
Biddy and her cheese in Effatahoona
cheese, the artisan producers, the creative people, the people who
epitomise that innovating
spirit that defines
epitomise that innovating spirit
the ones who are going to suffer because of this
bill. And there needs to be a clear distinction
made between the approach
that is taken by Government and by the regulatory
authorities to the large industrial
organisations
authorities to the large industrial
approach that is taken to the small artisan producer who doesn't export.
It's worth mentioning
that Biddy's Cheese is ordered and
purchased by Bellamy's to
Bellamy's to bring here to Parliament
Parliament when there are foreign delegations. Biddy has four cows on
10 acres near Eccatahuna, and she
makes some cheese. Her turnover is
about
makes some cheese. Her turnover is
costs under this bill are about
from Biddy, but from people out in the
from Biddy, but from people out in
that puts them all in the same basket is just not going
to cut it. Mr Chair, I'm not going to drag this
process on, because
this bill is not going to pass through the
course of this Parliament anyway. But I do
want to make the point
that it's extremely
extremely important that Government
lose sight of what it is that makes New Zealand, New Zealand. And
part of what makes New
Zealand, New Zealand, is an appreciation of the
innovative spirit, of
the artisans, of the creators, of the people
out there in the heartland who
make the primary
primary industries what they are. For
primary industries what they are.
impositions that this bill puts upon them
impositions that this bill puts upon
it.
Steffan Browning. Thank you, Mr Chair. As I rise to speak
in the committee stages
Chair. As I rise to speak in the
partly the proposed amendments to the Food Safety
partly the proposed amendments to
spoke at the second reading about the bill in general and covered
a lot of the aspects of it. I
voted at the time that I intended to do
an amendment.