4. SUE MORONEY (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Agriculture
What initiatives has the Government announced to encourage innovation in our most important pastoral and food industries?
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Minister of Agriculture) Link to this
Today the Prime Minister, the Minister for Economic Development, and I launched New Zealand Fast Forward. This historic initiative is a partnership between the Labour-Progressive Government and the powerhouse industries in the engine room of the New Zealand economy. This new partnership is designed to take our country’s economic and environmental performance forward in a quantum leap. Today the Government committed $700 million in a capital sum for investment over the next 10 to 15 years. The food and pastoral industries have pledged to match this funding annually. Over the next decade or so, $2 billion is expected to be invested in research and development, as well as in skills training, education, and innovation. This will ensure that New Zealand is capable of meeting the challenges confronting our economy and of seizing the opportunities that lie within our comparative advantages.
Innovation is especially crucial in our primary sector because our primary sector is so crucial to New Zealand.
Hon Dr Nick SmithIf Mr Smith wants to object to this, I ask him to tell us clearly why, and we will spread that around the rural areas. If we can achieve a step change in the performance of our pastoral and food industries then we have an opportunity, which does not come along very often, to change the economic destiny of New Zealand. This Government does not talk vaguely and in imprecise, slippery terms about how ambitious we are for New Zealand. Today’s announcement shows that only the Labour-Progressive Government has a genuine vision and a plan to take New Zealand forward.
R Doug WoolertonNew Zealand First agrees absolutely with the proposed Agricultural Innovation Fund, but as strong advocates of agriculture science we ask the Minister why has he not done this much earlier.
The Government has increased its own investment in research, science, and technology, but the problem has been that the private sector is relatively low by OECD standards. In stumping up the up to $1 billion in an upfront fund, which we dedicated especially to research, science, and technology development, we have challenged the private sector to match that sum so we can lever off up to $2 billion. The private sector has done exactly that. I notice that the National Party’s rural affairs policy stated that National would put up a sustainable fund. But it would put it up by selling Landcorp. That tells us something about National’s agenda.
I have seen reports from a range of organisations expressing considerable support for New Zealand Fast Forward. The chair of DairyNZ, the Hon John Luxton, has welcomed the initiative and described it as being significant for the dairy industry. The Professor of Agriculture at Massey University, Jacqueline Rowarth, said that today’s New Zealand Fast Forward announcement is a huge statement about the value that the Government places upon the primary sector. She said that the step taken today is the foundation for a paradigm shift that we need, with skills, science, and innovation enhanced in the primary sector. New Zealand will be a model for the rest of the world. And well may a Government that can lead that model stay in power to do it.
Hon David CarterWhy did it take the Labour Government 20 years to realise that agriculture is not “a sunset industry”, as it was described by David Lange in 1988, and to finally realise that agriculture is the backbone of the New Zealand economy?
It is a bit rich when the member blames someone who is dead for a policy that his party does not have itself. For 9 years National was in Government and it did nothing about this issue. For nearly 9 years National has been in Opposition and has done nothing about it except put up the sale of Landcorp. I would call that pretty bankrupt in policy terms if I was anybody.