9. SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) Link to this
to the Minister of Agriculture
What steps has the Government recently taken to further primary sector innovation?
Hon DAVID CARTER (Minister of Agriculture) Link to this
Yesterday I was delighted to announce three successful funding bids under the Government’s Primary Growth Partnership. These three bids will collectively see $45 million invested in primary sector innovation projects, and will add significant value to the New Zealand economy.
The successful projects fund a diverse range of work, including a major supply-chain programme to expand the production of merino fine wool, a programme to develop better harvesting technologies for forestry on steep country, and a project to develop bird-deterrent grasses. These projects are just the beginning, and we can expect a number of further significant announcements around the Primary Growth Partnership in coming months.
David ShearerWhy will he not offer an apology to scientists and businesses who have waited almost 20 months for funding, after he cut the $700 million out of the Fast Forward Fund, and when KPMG has warned that it could be only 5 years before we lose our competitive advantage in agriculture?
The member who asks the question is the one who should be apologising to scientists. The last Government developed a fund for $700 million and did not receive a single application for it. It was a figment of the imagination of Labour members. It was an absolute fantasy of an idea.
Hon Damien O’Connor Link to this
What real commitment does the Government have to research and development in the primary sector, given that it has cut over $20 million from the Primary Growth Partnership in this year’s Budget?
The Government has made no cuts to the Primary Growth Partnership. We currently have $320 million of projects submitted to the Primary Growth Partnership. We have $160 million worth of projects under active investigation, and, as announced today, $20 million has been approved. There have been no cuts.
John BoscawenWhat does he say to farmers, National Party members, and Rural Women of New Zealand, who say that the best way for the Government to further primary sector innovation is to defer the emissions trading scheme, which is imposing such costs and uncertainty when no other country on the planet is putting its farmers through it?
I always speak in a very friendly tone to Rural Women, Federated Farmers, and the farmers of New Zealand. It is a bit difficult for them to now ask us to defer the emissions trading scheme. The member should realise that it started on 1 January 2008 under the previous legislation. Deferral is now simply not an option.
Hon Damien O’Connor Link to this
Is it not true that Budget 2009 had a total of $190 million in the Primary Growth Partnership’s 4-year appropriation, that Budget 2010 has just $169 million in the Primary Growth Partnership’s 4-year appropriation, and that that equates to a cut of over $20 million?
I take this opportunity to again assure the member that there is absolutely no cut at all to the Primary Growth Partnership’s funding. I am happy to take that member through the Budget documents so that he can better understand them.
Does he stand by his statement to the Dairy NZ Farmers’ Forum on 5 May, in respect of spurring primary sector innovation, that the emissions trading scheme will cost only 2.5c per kilogram of milksolids in 2015; if not, why not, and what is the correct figure?
Hon Damien O’Connor Link to this
What assurances can he give to small, innovative primary sector research groups that their Primary Growth Partnership funding applications will be fairly assessed, when in the first round of grants allocated, which were just announced by the Minister, $15 million of the $20 million went to Merino New Zealand, whose chief executive officer sat on the advisory panel dishing out the money?
I can assure the member that every application put before the Primary Growth Partnership will be well considered by the investment advisory panel. I am aware that in the case of Merino New Zealand, Mr Brakenridge stood to one side and took no part in any discussions on the application from his company. At the end of the day, the decision about how the money is dished out is not made by the investment advisory panel or by me as the Minister of Agriculture; it is in the hands of the Director-General himself.
I seek leave to table in the House the current issue of the National Farming Review, with a photograph on the front page of the Minister of Agriculture protesting against Labour’s “fart tax”.
Mr SPEAKERLeave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection? I beg the member’s pardon—there is objection.
I seek leave to table in the House a statement from Liz Evans, vice-president of Rural Women of New Zealand, released yesterday calling on the Government to delay the implementation of the emissions trading scheme.
I seek leave to table a copy of David Carter’s speech to the Dairy NZ Farmers’ Forum, where he quotes a cost for milksolids—