Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We had a very thorough, comprehensive and informative trip to New Zealand, but I have to say I've never come across so much hatred for our beloved possums as you find in New Zealand. But New Zealand has an ambitious plan to become predator-free by 2050, and that is through removing all of those introduced species. Our two countries collaborate very strongly on biosecurity, which is very, very important. As the chair has mentioned, New Zealand has seen an incursion of myrtle rust in the last four or five months. There is a strong collaboration with Australia on how to manage that, with the aim of eradication. This has to happen because myrtle rust will have a significant economic impact on the Manuka honey production in that country. Manuka honey, we found, can fetch up to $1,000 per kilo.

Biosecurity was raised in nearly every meeting that we had, particularly with the politicians that we met and in particular the Minister for Primary Industries, the Hon. Nathan Guy MP. As I am from Tasmania, I dared not mention apples while I was there. We won't go into that! The committee met with members of the New Zealand parliamentary committee on primary production, chaired by Mr Ian McKelvie MP and the Hon. Damien O'Connor MP, and we discussed the issues of interest to our committee—water-use efficiencies, country-of-origin food labelling and export market access. The New Zealand parliament are keen to look at how they may introduce similar country-of-origin food labelling. Although perhaps it is not as thorough as what we have, a private member's bill introduced by Green Party MP Mr Steffan Browning is a start. The bill may not be dealt with before the upcoming election, but it's certainly one for us to monitor.

Given the committee's current inquiry into irrigation and water efficiencies, we met with a number of people in this space, in particular Irrigation New Zealand's Deputy Chair, Hugh Ritchie, and its CEO, Andrew Curtis. Like most of Australia, New Zealand have an abundance of water resources supporting intensive agricultural production, which makes up about 6.5 per cent of their GDP but dominates New Zealand exports. The challenge, as we heard from just about everyone we met, is with water quality. New Zealand is less driven by water-use efficiency but the heat—the political and public heat—is on quality, the discharge into rivers and the recharge into aquifers. This will drive efficiencies, maybe not to achieve a reduction in volumes but to manage nutrient load. This in turn will drive innovation and technology in New Zealand.

New Zealand farmers are well supported by telecommunications and connectivity, which is really exciting. Fonterra are continuing to develop smart apps for farmers, as we saw firsthand—for example, the ability to look at remote sensing in paddocks so that they can reduce inputs and increase productivity. The dairy cows are wearing Fitbits on their collars to provide information on oestrus so a farmer can take advantage of choosing the sex of calves.

New Zealand continue to develop smarter land and water-use strategies in agriculture to manage water quality and the challenges of intensification. But what was really impressive to the committee was the collaborative nature of academia, government research centres—similar to our GBEs here in Australia—and industry. This seems to put New Zealand in good stead to ensure farmers now and into the future are skilled, knowledgeable and adaptive to the transitions in technology and research.

The committee's previous inquiry into honey bee biosecurity enabled us to discuss further with New Zealand industry, in a visit to Arataki Honey in the Hawke's Bay region and its director Pam Flack, the role of management and the status of its industry some 17 years after the initial varroa incursion. We were informed that it's imperative that Australia have suitable chemicals registered for when varroa hits our shores. However, the mite is becomingly increasingly resistant to the chemicals being used. This is more the case in the US but will soon become the norm. While the number of New Zealand hives has increased since varroa, this is mainly due to the market demand and price of Manuka honey. However, the threat of myrtle rust on the source of this product means it is a precarious time for the industry and their economy in New Zealand.

Like the chair, I would also like to thank those who generously gave their time to committee members to assist us with our work and our extensive program. As the chair mentioned, Ms Ruth Lewis and Mr Winton Holmes from the New Zealand Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives really made our visit truly memorable and gave us such a holistic view of the agriculture industry in New Zealand and one that we will treasure, I think, for many years to come. I would also like to thank the Australian High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr Peter Woolcott, as well as Anna Brown, Alison Duncan and of course the Right Honourable David Carter MP, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, for his frank discussions about New Zealand politics and the structure of their parliament and for his hospitality. Thank you very much.

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