Hon Jim Anderton
Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity
Minister of Fisheries, Minister of Forestry
Associate Minister of Health
Associate Minister for Tertiary Education
Progressive Leader
16 May 2008 Media Statement
National stuffs up... again
A statement from National’s Agriculture Spokesman that the Government has
done a u-turn to support a meat industry 'mega-merger' shows how little work National has done in Opposition,
agriculture minister Jim Anderton says.
“National has a bad habit of just saying stuff, regardless of the facts. They just say anything and no one holds them to
account. The claim that the government didn’t previously support closer meat industry cooperation, and now we do, is
entirely without foundation and just plain wrong. David Carter has made this up, either because he is being dishonest or
because he
is asleep at the wheel.
“No wonder National is reduced to making policy on the hoof all the time - it has no awareness of what’s going on. An
Opposition is supposed to watch what the government is doing. Instead, it just makes stuff up.
“I’ve been working closely with meat companies to encourage more co-operation in the industry and closer work together
has been a mantra since I became agriculture minister. My entire keynote address at the
Primary Production Summit last year was dedicated to encouraging closer
co-operation to solve the issues our primary industries face. Before the
National Party had even heard about a 'mega-merger' I brought the last chairmen of PPCS and Alliance together for merger
discussions in Dunedin and Christchurch.
“What I refused to support was National’s policy of subsidising meat companies with a $200 million hand out from the
government. A meat merger will have to stand on its own business merits. If it isn’t profitable in its own right, it
shouldn’t go ahead. If it is profitable, why would it need a subsidy from taxpayers that would in turn create mayhem for
us in overseas markets? Plus it would require us to increase taxes or debt to fund the hand out Mr Key promised to stump
up for.
It appears Mr Carter still wants to go back to the failed policies of the past and using taxpayers’ cash to subsidise
agriculture. He can't understand that we can encourage meat industry cooperation without using taxpayer cash to fund
it,” Jim Anderton said.
ENDS