Q+A Panel Discussion - Response to Pork Importation Rules

Q + A
PANEL DISCUSSION 3
Hosted by SUSAN WOOD
In response to Pork Importation Rules

SUSAN Welcome back to the panel. We’ve got Sam joining us. We’re breaking rules today. I thought we just needed a bit of a youth voice on the panel. And Corin, of course, has joined us on the end there.

SAM Corin’s very youthful.

SUSAN He is very youthful, but you’re just a bit younger.

JOSIE And we just like him so much.

SUSAN We do like him. We like his enthusiasm.

JOSIE We don’t want him to go. We’re keeping him.

SUSAN Do you know anything about pig farming?

SAM I’m from a farm in Mayfield, actually, so probably not, but we’ve got a farm.

SUSAN Because what we’re going to talk about and we do hope you’ve finished eating your bacon at this point – yes, unless it’s home-grown New Zealand bacon – New Zealand is one of the very few countries in the world to be free of the pig disease. It’s called porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, or PRRS, as it’s known. Now, the infection causes pregnant pigs to simultaneous or spontaneously abort or deliver stillborn piglets, and it devastates the herds. More than 800 tonnes of pork is imported every year— beg your pardon, every week from countries where this disease is common. To safeguard our pork industry, the meat is currently quarantined and heat-treated before it goes into the processed products. But the ministry charged with protecting our biosecurity borders wants to change that. It claims fresh pork weighing less than 3 kilos and with its lymph nodes removed is safe. The New Zealand Pork Industry sees it very very differently. It claims these rules could see the disease devastate our pig industry within 10 years, and it’s spending millions of dollars fighting the ministry in court. A decision is due out shortly. Panel, what do we think? Why are letting this stuff in the country. I know it’s cheap.

WYATT Yeah. I’ve been involved in the food industry myself for a number of years, and if you’re involved in the New Zealand food industry and you understand the risk of foot and mouth, the risk of PRRS, the risk of any of these diseases, you can’t help but be alarmist. If they came here, it would be devastating. So we expect— I think everyone in the farming industry, everyone involved in the food industry expects high standards for the people who are responsible for looking after biosecurity.

JOSIE But is it not—? Sorry, is it not true, though, that the Ministry of Primary Industries has spent about 10 years on this science – analysing this science – and we have to trust the good science, don’t we? So they say it’s safe. Otherwise we can’t go to Australia and say, ‘Take our apples.’

SUSAN Sam, do we trust the science when we’ve seen Varroa with bees, we’ve seen PSA with kiwifruit? Do we trust it?

SAM Yes, I don’t know if we do or not. Personally, I think it comes down to the consumer, like should we be buying this pork? Should we be just staying a bit more strong – is this what we buy? Should we be buying something else?

WYATT The pork industry in New Zealand is actually not growing, and about half of our pork comes in mostly from Canada and the United States. And it comes there because they seem to, amazingly, be able to produce it significantly cheaper than you can in New Zealand, which doesn’t really make sense.

SUSAN Your point’s right, Sam. We should be buying New Zealand, but the trouble is you go to the supermarket – it’s way more expensive.

JENNIFER Well, and also we don’t have compulsory country-of-origin labelling here, which they do in Australia. So you can cannot pick up a piece of pork from Canada and see that its country of origin is Canada.

SUSAN What you do see now, though, is New Zealand-made, generally, because there’s been quite a big push. Would you be in support, Sam, of country-of-origin labelling?

SAM Yeah, I would be, actually. I’m a big supporter of what Dick Smith champions in Australia with his buy locally— buy local food products. You know, I’m from a farm. You know, it’s tough as a farmer out there as well right now. It’s hard as a grain farmer trying to move grain around and really make headway. And, in fact, we do need to do a bit more work in that and support our local industries.

SUSAN Wyatt, are we likely to see the pork industry winning on this one? I mean, they’ve spent $1.6 million fighting.

WYATT Well, it’s a bit like Josie says. I mean, at the end of the day, the authorities do a lot of science, and on the basis of the science, they satisfy themselves that you don’t need to take the protections of the industry – things should be there. But it’ll always be a big tension between the two.

JOSIE And that’s probably a healthy thing. I’ve got a lot of sympathy of the pork farmers too, but you’ve really got to look at the whole of our New Zealand economy, that we export our products and our meat, our apples, and we have to agree that we accept the science if it’s robust. And there’s been a High Court case, I think, and a Court of Appeal case which has said the science is robust.

SUSAN I think you’re right. We’re going to be doing some more on food safety on the programme next week, actually. Now, Corin, recess week again. What’s coming up, though?

CORIN Yes, it is recess week, but we’re heading into polling season. There’s a few big polls coming out. Labour has gone into— will go into a retreat – a caucus retreat – for a couple of days in Napier, I think it is. That’s obviously going to be interesting with a lot of the discussion around last week or the week before about leadership and those sorts of things. Also, John Key is going to Korea – South Korea – for an overseas visit and then, I think, on to the Philippines as well. And the GCSB Bill is going to be pretty big next week, because they are going to meet, I think, in private. There won’t be a public meeting from that committee, but it’s getting to the crunch now in terms of getting the detail into that law if John Key’s going to make some changes. It’s at select committee at least.

SUSAN Very good. Now, the question I was going to ask you, Sam, in the interview I didn’t get to, and I think I’ve got 30 seconds now. Let me frame it in— There’s been a lot of talk about Labour leadership. Labour’s deputy – openly gay. Is New Zealand ready for a gay prime minister, Sam?

SAM You know, I think we are, or I don’t think that’s the important issue. I think we’ve moved beyond that. I hope that the issue of gay or straight doesn’t ever really come back into the debate. It’s about the ideas, about the champion, it’s about the type of leader that we’ve got, and so I’d be very open to that as a gay man myself, but, actually, that’s not the important part. It’s whether the person has the competence and the skill to do the job and is that the leader we want for the world representing us.

SUSAN Well put.

JOSIE Good answer.

SUSAN Very good answer. You’ve got a future in politics.

WYATT I don’t think people care about that. 30 years ago it would have been impossible, but now the world has moved on a lot.

SUSAN Nice place to leave it. Thank you, panel, Sam, Corin.

ENDS

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