00:00:00 Speaker 1: The best of the country with Rabobank. Choose the bank with one hundred and twenty years global agribusiness experience grow with Rubbobak. 00:00:10 Speaker 2: All the weather outside is frightful. What the fire is so delightful? 00:00:17 Speaker 3: And since we've not pleased to go, let its no let its good. Anne, Good Morning New Zealand. Nine names, Jamie Mackay. This is the best of the country each and every Saturday morning here on news Talk said be It's brought to you by Rabobank. We're growing a better New Zealand together. Kicking it off with lounge room Lizard Krooner and rat packer Dean Martin. How cool was he? This is my favorite version of let it snow? Getting a bit Christmasy for our penultimate show of the year, gonna kick it off with Stuart Nash, former Labor Cabinet Minister, former Minister of Forestry. He didn't like what the government did regarding the new forestry and carbon farming regulations announced last week. A good news story from bruce Ware Banks GM of Country Banking. The fourth and final Rural Confidence survey for twenty twenty four seas farmer sentiment now at its highest level since mid twenty seventeen. Damian O'Connor. The gloves came off for one last time in twenty twenty four. Always enjoy but a banter with him. Ray Smith, Director General of MPI. The Situation and Outlook Report came out this week for the primary industries, mainly in fact nearly all good or great news for New Zealand and our economy. And of course there is no show without punch. I booked in midweek for an argument with the Deputy PM, New Zealand First Leader and newly minted Minister of raul Winston Peters. It's all on the best of the country and it's brought to you by Rabobank. That is no. 00:01:56 Speaker 1: The best of the country with Rabobank. Choose the bank for a huge network of progressive farming clients. Rabobank. 00:02:03 Speaker 3: Good to hear from this man when I was talking to Toby Williams from Federated Farmers on Friday's show. Stuart Nash, former Minister of Forestry. Of course, his great grandfather was a Prime Minister for New Zealand. Some people said, Stuart Nash that you could have been a future prime minister. Where did you go wrong? 00:02:22 Speaker 1: Oh? 00:02:22 Speaker 4: I don't know what I went wrong, mate. I statly enjoyed my time in politics at five on the Hockey's and cabinet mates and significant changes, and now I'm taking the business world. I'm loving it. 00:02:31 Speaker 3: I always thought you were in the wrong party. I'm not the first one who ever said that to you. 00:02:36 Speaker 4: If I had a dollar every time someone said that to me, I would never have needed to fund raise. But you know, look, I was probably to the right of Labor and to the left of National So you know I set somewhere in the pragmatic middle. 00:02:47 Speaker 3: I think you're sitting in there with your mates Winston and Shane in the middle. 00:02:53 Speaker 4: Well, you know that this is the interesting thing. So I was listening to your show and I had said farmers guy Klaan and say, what the government has done is absolutely fantastic. And I could not believe this. I mean, you know, not even labor. We're going to go so far and have central government dictate what farmers could and could not do with their land. We're going to leave it to territorial authorities to make those decisions in consultation with the community. 00:03:16 Speaker 1: Yeah, but the. 00:03:17 Speaker 3: Government has Stuart Nash, the government had to do something because the relentless march of carbon farming was taking over a really good productive land that should be growing livestock or crops. 00:03:28 Speaker 4: One hundred percent agree with that, and that's why, you know, when I was a Minister of Forestry, we came up with this plan to every farm had to every forest cabin or otherwise had to be managed. But the thing is is, you know, you're making an assumption now that the government knows best around what farmers should be doing with their land. So are you saying are you saying that the farmer doesn't know what's best for his land because of her land? 00:03:50 Speaker 3: Oh no, I'm not saying that at all. But what I don't want to see is blanket planting of pines on farms full stock. 00:03:59 Speaker 4: I don't want to see that. And the vast majority of farmers that I know I want to see that either, So very you. 00:04:05 Speaker 3: Know, Stuart Stewart, it's happening out there. That is the problem. 00:04:10 Speaker 4: So farmers, so you know, we all know this. Let's be honest, it's the bloody elfint the room. It always has been farmers farm for capital gains, right. I mean I was talking to a farmer the other day and they're developing a ship at Hawk's Bay that has no wool because he's just sick to death of paying money to share his sheep and make absolutely no money from it. So the only reason he's paying is he's sharing a sheep is for animal welfare. It's not for economics. And that's another story. That's an absolute disaster. All it's such a good product, But that's another story we. 00:04:42 Speaker 3: Need to stewart. We need to differentiate, don't we. And you know a hell of a lot more about forestry than I do, between production forestry and carbon farming, because I think the carbon credits are a good add on, another bite to the cherry for the forestry industry, and goodness knows it needs it at the moment because time's a bit tough out there for the foresters. 00:05:01 Speaker 5: Yeah, but so to some farmers. 00:05:03 Speaker 4: I mean a number of farms that I used to speak to when asked Minister of Forestry and also just a minister of other things. Was these guys understood that there were parts of the farm which we were uneconomic from a pastoral farming perspective, too far away from a production forestry perspective, the land was no good. So just planted up, and you know, you do it from a conservation perspective. But the thing Chamber that I always said is it had to be managed in a way that allowed the transition from radiata to native. You just cannot have blanket planting. And the reason I said this, and I went round the country side, this is because radiator in a plantation setting without management has a life of about eighty to one hundred and twenty years. So if you just plant a hillside at twelve hundred stems per hectare, you are inviting an ecological disaster in eighty years time. Now, you know that the farmers that I that I know and I respect and value, you know, knew they weren't going to be around in eighty years, but they wanted their farms to be around in eighty years. So you manage these forests in a way that allowed a transition from radiartic to indigenous. It was reasonably easy to do, but it took a bit of management. 00:06:12 Speaker 3: Yeah it hang on, no, no, no, getting to an indigenous forest is not easy, Stewart. Now you know as well as I do, and I've got experience at the coal face on this one. Natives are bloody hard to establish. 00:06:25 Speaker 4: Well. It depends on where you are. I mean, if you if you've got a farm beside her, if you're planting radiator beside a blocker native, then there's no problems whatsoever. 00:06:34 Speaker 5: It's very easier. 00:06:35 Speaker 4: But what you've got to do. This is why this is when we talk about the managing carbon vice. So there's a step. Actually, he's got a decent spread just out of Wellington and he's got all these different regimes. It's quite one of these serendipitous sort of moments where so he's got never planted production, but they're proved live stocking, so you still get your cam credits off them, and my god, the native regeneration through those is fantastic. This is the other thing. If you're just planting twelve hundred cents a hectare, you're geting no lighter and possible to impossible to anything outside of radiator. But you pune them and get lightwell from there, then it's not difficult to do. There's got to be a little bit of management or a little bit of seeding if you're far, far far away from a native forest, but most farms aren't a lot you know, you know what I'm saying. And most of the really dodgy land on farms if it's gullies or it's steep, and a lot of it is near native stuff anyway, So I'm generalizing you, Jamie, you know that. But all I'm saying is if the forest, if a carbon forest, is managed well with a silver cultural regime that allows natives to come through, and what you do is you can't need any carbon off those pine trees after fifty Therefore it promotes an active management. As you transition from carbon from you, from the radiator, through carbon from the natives, then that is okay. But I don't think there's anyone, no forester, no farmer that wants to see highly productive land or even mildly productive land. You know three and four planted and radiator. That is not a good use of productive land. We all agree. What we don't agree is how you manage these bloody carbon vils. 00:08:13 Speaker 3: But as it stands at the moment, under this new government policy, they're effectively driving production forestry to the hills. You can't plant on land use classification one to five. You're very limited on LUC six. So it's seven eight nine that's steep, it's far away from ports, it's non economic. 00:08:34 Speaker 4: It's unbelievable that it just shows that they actually have a lack of knowledge around how the farming sicker works. But then to have bid farmers come out and say, oh, yeah, this is bloody wonderful. I wonder if that guy that actually spoken to his members, you know that I won't name them, but there's a number of innovative farms that I spoke to that said, yeah, you know, on our farm, it is a mixture of pastoral and production forestry and a little bit of carbon forestry, and we've retired some stuff for native you know, we all know this. Every farmer listened to the show will know that there are parts of the farm that are more suitable for other land uses than you know that not every part of the farm you can have a sheep. But to say you can't have forestry, sorry, you can't have forestry on classes four and five, I mean, seriously tell us that about So. 00:09:28 Speaker 3: Is this twenty five percent threshold only allowing twenty five percent of the farm to be planted. According to doctor Elizabeth High from the Forest Owners Association, she says that's like just an arbitrary pig and the sand threshold. You'd agree with that. 00:09:45 Speaker 4: I would agree with that. I mean, you know, very very briefly, I was acting Minister of Land Information and the Land Information Portfolio at the time. The ship still does because the Overseas Investment Act. And what I did is when people were looking to buy farms to plant into forestry or even just buy a farm to farm, I would make sure that what they had to have was a ost management plan put in place. But you know, just saying twenty five percent, well, so you know, we all know, every single listener knows that a farm in the white coat is different from the farm and Central Hawk's pay which is different from a farm in Tailafferty, right, farms bevery you just can't have an arbitrary number it says twenty five percent. It's got to be bespoke depending on the farm itself. 00:10:32 Speaker 3: Well, there we go our food for thought. Stuart Nash always good to catch up, keep keep in touch. I enjoyed you. Well might get you back. 00:10:39 Speaker 1: Thanks, shemy, I love to come back the best of the country with Rabobank, the bank with local agri banking experts passionate about the future of rural communities. Rubbo Bank hot off. 00:10:51 Speaker 3: The press Rabobank's latest rural confidence survey. It's the fourth of four this year, and it's good news. Farmer sentiment now at its highest level since mid twenty seventeen. Rabobank GM for Country Banking. Bruce Whare joins us from the HQ office in Hamilton. Hey, Bruce, this is a good news story. I guess it's not surprising though, with some of the good stories we've had in recent weeks. 00:11:19 Speaker 6: Good after Jamie, Yeah, you're right, haven't battled a really tough period, I guess, especially the passed eighteen months. Farmers are now seeing some light at the end of the tunal. Confidence is up. Is like you say, confidence is as strong as it has been since twenty seventeen. We certainly are welcome it as we close out the year, but more so welcome as we look towards a strong year ahead. 00:11:41 Speaker 3: And the reason farmers are confident when we dig a wee bit deeper into your latest rural confidence survey, a higher commodity price is nearly sixty percent said that was the reason for optimism, and the other one would have to be I'm surprised this number isn't even higher Bruce falling interest rates twenty two percent. 00:12:01 Speaker 6: Tried, Jamie, and given they serve they finished in the twenty seventh of November. There's actually been several pieces of the good news since then too. We've had a further fifty basis point cut in the acre as we all know indications that could be cut further. We've had Fonterra raise their midpoint farm great milk price by fifty cents and taking that to a record fiften dollars of milk solids as well, So I guess it might be safe to say, despite them with their challenges in some parts of the country, we can actually see confidence up on this number as well. 00:12:33 Speaker 3: Now the interesting thing is, well it's not really interesting. It's obvious, and that is dairy farmers are the most confident of the lot at the moment. But it's good to see the sheep farmers, the red meat farmers showing more confidence absolutely. 00:12:47 Speaker 6: And what I was excited about there, Jamie, is that actually only one in ten sheep and beef farmers are expecting conditions to worsen, so good to see some confidence here as well. 00:12:57 Speaker 3: The pastoral farmers looking good or looking a lot better. What about the growers the horticulturalists out. 00:13:05 Speaker 4: Thought TV fruit. 00:13:07 Speaker 6: The horticulturists just haven't seen the price revivals as their postural counterparts, which is understandable. It's just those lingering concerns over and input costs are just holding their confidence flat. 00:13:18 Speaker 3: I guess something else you've recently been surveying and your Rural Confidence survey is farmers expectations for rural land values now. In recent times, they've been as flat as a pancake, if not going backwards. But the good news is, and no surprise here, with falling interest rates, farmers are expecting land values to go up, which is great news. It's good news for your balance sheet. Maybe not such good news if you're looking to buy a farm. 00:13:46 Speaker 6: I think it's quite positive across the board with investment intentions and impecating percent of all those surveyed suggests a looking at investment, and it's lead on to the property market, with about thirty percent saying we feel that property values may list or their sort of subdued bottom where they are now. But I guess too, what the survey's telling us is is that farmers are still cautiously optimistic about the property mark. 00:14:13 Speaker 3: Oh there, that's Bruce Ware Rabobanks, GM of Country Banking good news in that fourth and final Rural Confidence survey for twenty twenty four. The good news continues a bit later in the show with Ray Smith, Director General of MPI Winston Peters to wrap it, but up next Damian O'Connor, former Minister of Agriculture Labour's current trade spokesperson, paying tribute to Federated Farmers legend Chris Allen before the gloves came off for one more time in twenty twenty four. 00:14:42 Speaker 7: Finally, here's good night. 00:14:45 Speaker 1: The best of the Country with Rubbobank. Choose the bank with one hundred and twenty years global agribusiness experience, grow with Rubbobank. 00:14:53 Speaker 3: Damian O'Connor is, of course, a former Minister of Agriculture and Labour's current trade spokesperson, Damien. Just before we take the gloves off one more time for twenty twenty four, I know you worked closely with Chris Allen from Federated Farmers during those mid Canterbury floods. Like the rest of us, you'll be shocked and saddened by his death. 00:15:14 Speaker 8: Oh cure, Jamie. Yeah, so I certainly was I heard this morning, and look, he was affected directly himself, but you know a lot of advocacy work just speaking out on behalf of the whole community, but particularly those partners who had been affected. And I'm not familiar with the details of his death, but very very tragic, and his sympathy goes to his family, of course, who will be struggling with. 00:15:40 Speaker 3: This absolutely now. Talking about Federated farmers, they're on the war path at the moment, and in their sights are the banks. You're in a good position, you're outside the tent looking in now, Damien, are the banks ripping off farmers? 00:15:56 Speaker 8: Well, I've been raising these issues for many years. Of course, feder and farmers have been silent through through the swap loans issues that I took up a long time ago. Of course, there had been some unfair practices from the banks towards the farming secret. I think the problem with this inquiry is there's too many questions. I don't think it's going to deliver on on expectations that some may have. Look, it does need to be investigated. We've got four big banks. You know, they laid down the rules they you know, are charging high interest rates relative to other banks around the world. And you know farmers from in the farming line there and very high levels of across the ex sector and you know it's the biggest single pressure on farming. It's not something that is often admitted, but you know it's the real reality. 00:16:52 Speaker 3: Of course, banks have a major effect on farmer's profitability. Yes, you're right, it was the one one of the major areas of concern. But the g A coming off, Damien, nothing like when you were in power, when the major area of concern was of course government policy. 00:17:07 Speaker 4: Oh was it really? 00:17:08 Speaker 3: Yes it was and no that was no no, hang on, that was fact. That was from the rabobank farmer confidence. 00:17:14 Speaker 8: Can you just point out the issues? What was the major concerning Jack? Was it change? Water quality? You know, animal welfare? There's the issues. Actually, if you woke up this morning you'll find it. Those are the issues that we've confronted with because our customers are asking more about those things. And actually this government does culture. Government is court that's pens down because it doesn't know what to do in any of those areas. 00:17:38 Speaker 3: Come on, Damien. It was a vanity project project for the former PM. She wanted to lead the charge on the world stage, and you it's and the other followers just got sucked along behind us. 00:17:52 Speaker 8: The customers asked from terror, Ask the people now who need to know, firstly, know your number, which is most of the Fonterra farmers, and then how you're going to reduce those missions over time. That's just one area I think of concern the poor people. I think it's one May school last week woke up to the fact that they couldn't drink near water because of nitrates. We've been saying we've got to move ahead on this to make sure we retain the social license for the farming sector. We can continue to be productive. That we've got to improve practices that are impacting on aquifers and on degrading water quality. And if we don't do it now, it gets harder into the future. 00:18:32 Speaker 3: Damien, what do you make of the latest polls? And I put it to you, Yeah, I mean, Chippy's a centrist sort of guy. I think labor are sometimes sensible. I can't say that of hang on, I've got to play nice before Christmas. Okay, you're not much chopped, but you're better than to party Mari or the Greens. 00:18:52 Speaker 5: We're very, very good. 00:18:53 Speaker 8: We've done over the years, over the decades, we have made all the best calls for the farmers. Really, go and do some research on that one, Jamie. Yeah, I suppose you were protesting against taking away the subsidies? Were you naneities here? 00:19:07 Speaker 3: You know a lot of people thought Damien and you and I are of the same generation. A lot of people thought that the Longye Douglas government was the worst labor government of all time. You obviously eclipsed that between twenty twenty and twenty twenty three, easily the worst government in living history. 00:19:22 Speaker 8: But you're really stretching it the little no no, but. 00:19:26 Speaker 3: I will say, I will say Roger Douglas was a visionary and I think following Muldoon, even though Longy chickened out with the cup of tea, he went in the right direction. He made a positive contribution to New Zealand agriculture. I'm not sure that your second term of Justinda's government and Shippy's ever did that well. 00:19:47 Speaker 8: We were in a post COVID environment. We had a few challenges and I think we were trying to lay out in front of particularly the primary sector. The challenges ahead of us. The things that we have to do and up this coalition government still has to do them, in spite of them trying to kick the can down the road for another five years in the missions, trying to do you know, back off some of the water quality issues. Look, there are some challenges, you know. I was in North Enery yesterday, some of the aquifers there. The nitrate levels are going up. They are in many parts of Canterbury. 00:20:21 Speaker 4: We've just got to you know, we've got to do something. 00:20:23 Speaker 8: To try and slow down or stop that further gross of nitrates and make sure that the public, the wider community support the ongoing prosperity of the dairy industry and other farming activity. 00:20:35 Speaker 3: Okay, let's just finish Damen because I need to move on. I've got a John there tractor to give away and this is something. 00:20:40 Speaker 9: To have it. 00:20:41 Speaker 3: Well, you don't need it. You've got to do. You've got a really well paid off farm income at the moment and doing bugger all is a backbench list MP. That's the way to go. 00:20:52 Speaker 4: I do more than that. 00:20:53 Speaker 8: He's sitting around in a radio studio. 00:20:55 Speaker 3: Well, you've got to come in here and collect your bear and chips and I'll tell you what it's looking. DI see you're going to get it. A final word for you, to your credit, you did good work in trade. I'm not taking that away from you. Trump and trade. Where are we heading? 00:21:09 Speaker 8: No one knows. And that's a worry when when you see the rhetoric and the threats he's made against Mexico and against Canada. These are the two key nations on their doorstep of the US, very interdependent on one another for a whole range of reasons. And you know he's kind of waving the stick around and threatening all sorts of things. That's quite a worry because whatever happens there will affect the rest of the world, and so in most trade circles people are worried and they don't really know what's going to happen. 00:21:42 Speaker 3: Damian O'Connor, we've agreed to disagree all yeah, but it's been a lot of fun and I hope you make a return in twenty twenty five, have a happy new year and a prosperous twenty twenty five under this wonderful coalition government. 00:21:57 Speaker 8: Well look, Dot Jamie, thank you very much for the opportunit. I feel I've failed to shift your thinking in any way at all. So I'll just I live in hope that I can do that. In twenty five go well. 00:22:08 Speaker 1: The best of the Country with Rabobank. Choose the bank with a huge network of progressive farming clients. Rabobank. 00:22:16 Speaker 2: The weather outside is pay for what the fuckday. 00:22:20 Speaker 3: And good Morning New Zealand. I'm Jamie McKay. You are listening to the Best of the Country each and every Saturday morning here on News Talks. They'd be It's brought to you by Rabobank. Next week we're giving away one thousand dollars worth of Rabobank cash. But it's not going to you, It's going to the charity of your choice. Listen out for that one. But up next the good news continues here on the Best of the Country Racemouth, Director General of MPI, with the latest Situation and Outlook report for primary industries. All good news. We wrap it with Winston Peters and just talking about Rabobank. They're doing a great job in the space of rural mental health. I've got the Surfing for Farmers initiative going as we speak. They've also kicked off rural riders in eleven locations across the country so you can step away from the farm and join other like minded farmers giving mountain biking ago. Rabobank is passionate about boosting rural well being and it's very proud to support the Rural Riders program. Try saying that quickly. For more details, visit rabobank or visit the rabobank enz Facebook page. Up next, Ray Smith. 00:23:26 Speaker 10: When we finally kiss, wouldn't the best of the country with Rabobank, the bank with local acri banking experts, passionate about the future of rural communities. 00:23:37 Speaker 3: Rabobank if you ever needed proof that farming and the primary sector was the backbone of this country. While it came out this morning with the latest SOAPY report Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries Report, the Director General of MPI, Ray Smith's going to crunch the numbers with us good news. Export revenue expect that to jump by seven seven percent to fifty seven or close to fifty seven billion in the year to June twenty twenty five onwards and upwards. 00:24:07 Speaker 5: All what a massive result for the primary sector, you know, congratulations to everyone out there. Let's put a contribution in from farm to process, in market and some really big gains there. You know, you see a tencent gain and dairy production first time. Q Fruit's gotten over three billion dollars, Apple's over a billion dollars for the first time. Aquaculture as well, you know, more than six hundred million for the first time. So a bunch of firsts and a really good positive science Jane. 00:24:34 Speaker 3: Yeah, and also forecast hit fifty eight point three billion in the following year. So that's good, mind you Ray, The government's a hard taskmaster. They want you or MPI or the primary sector to double export revenue in the next ten years. Is it possible? 00:24:52 Speaker 5: I reckon, we'll do it. We just need a fair breeze and we'll get there. And I'll tell you why. There is this huge demand for New Zealand's protein products and our health related produce. So look at dairy production. We've got a comparative and competitive advantage over the rest of the world and producing dairy protein. And you know, if you look even at America at the moment there heard numbers are down, they've got heat streets, reproduction volumes are down. Any of these countries that are going to be closer to the equator are going to start to struggle with climate change and New Zealand's going to be able to keep producing because it will be relatively better off. And we've got a very very developed dairy system. And look the meat and mill sector, it's probably another year before you start to see a stronger recovery. They just remember you're competing against a kind of a massive outflow from Australia of sheet meat, which is kind of really depressed prices. But look, it'll come back because all these things take their turn in the cycle. 00:25:46 Speaker 3: So when we look at that and break down the various sectors, as you said, dairy increase of ten percent to twenty five point five billion, that's close to half of our total primary exports income. It's amazing. It is the biggest act in town. Can it do any more heavy lifting? 00:26:07 Speaker 5: Well it can. And I think that you know, we've talked about this before. I think the potential for dairy farming to increase its volumes, I think that that potential has to be there for New Zealand. It's what we're best at, it's what we're well seated to doing. It's where most of our development and capability is. Look, if you look at those high fat products that go into sort of baking related products and food service products. I mean, they've just gone over five billion for the first time. So look, Frontier and the other big dairy companies are doing an amazing job of taking our products to the world, and I think we've got potential at home to produce more volume. 00:26:41 Speaker 3: What about dairy conversions, It's a bit of a hoary chestnut, this one, Cameron Bagri. I think initially throughout the idea that we have to have some more dairy conversions, but can the environment handle it? Have we already reached Pete Cow? Have we been there? And where have we learned our lesson from that? 00:26:59 Speaker 5: I think we can more conversions because we have learned a lot. You know, we don't need to stand still because of the issues that we found that were being created environmentally. We've learned from those and there are a lot of technologies now that are available to be put in place or ways of setting up farming systems that reduce the impact on the environment. And if you think about meat and production and climate change, we will lead the world in the development of products that reduce methane and extensively farmed animals and so you know, those products are going to start to come to the market over this next over this next year and the year following. So look, I think there's plenty of room for us to manage the climate and environmental risks and see us get even greater yields out about your reproduction. 00:27:42 Speaker 3: Okay, so dairies number one, meat and walls number two, although let's be honest, most of that is made up of meat. It used to be that horticulture and forestry were neck and neck is third, but forestry has fallen back a bit and it's been a tough year. We're a tough few years for forestry. Is it going to improve? 00:28:01 Speaker 5: Yeah, the Hordicock has certainly taken that third spot. It'll be beginning to chase down measurable next But I think you know, for the forestry sector, you know, they're very exposed as well to the China market. Look, there is an improvement following sort of three years of decline, but ninety one percent of those logs that go to China are very dependent on the China market having a bit of a pack up and it's building a construction area. Now we might see that come through with the big China stimulus pickets that's being announced that will flow through, But then you've got the closed down the facilities like these big pulp processing facilities in the North Island. So look, I think it's a bit of a mixed story for the forestry sector and it'll be in the confidence and the building is both domestically and internationally. 00:28:47 Speaker 3: Let's just finish on a topic you and I were talking about about about a week ago, the outbreak of av and flu bird flu. We have it contained or should I say you MPI have it contained to one farm and you've eradicated, euthanized all the chickens I think two hundred thousand on that farm. Are you declaring victory yet, Ray, No. 00:29:09 Speaker 5: Truly for that, but look we're pretty pleased. I mean this time. You know, two weeks ago we didn't know we had bird flu off the strain in New Zealand, and it's a serious one. And you're right, yesterday we Mainland Poultry completed the color of two hundred thousand duds. They've all been sort of bisecurely disposed of. Now we have to go through the cleaning and disinfecting process much like we did with them Bobus through the farms. We've got to clean those poultry sheds up now, make sure that there's no virus there, so it'll be a bit of a standdown period. I think, Jamie, once we get to the end of December, if we don't see the virus pop up in any of the other farms that we've been monitoring them, will be feeling pretty comfortable. But in terms of what we've done in the last fortnight, hats off to Mainland Poultry into my team. We've had a couple of hundred people on this. They've done an amazing job. Whether it's in the laboratories we've had more than two thousand tests done, or whether whether it's out on farm we're overseeing the activities. You know, we've done the best we can and now we've got to keep your fingers crossed and keep keep monitoring. 00:30:09 Speaker 3: Good stuff. Hey, Ray Smith, to you and the team at MPI, thanks for your hard work throughout twenty twenty four. This is an outstanding result. We will catch you again next year. 00:30:18 Speaker 5: Merry Christmas, thanks mister for Jamie. 00:30:21 Speaker 1: Merry Christmas the best of the country with Rubbobank. Choose the bank with one hundred and twenty years global agribusiness experience grow with Rubbobank. 00:30:33 Speaker 11: Come in? 00:30:36 Speaker 4: Is this the right run for an argument? I've told you once? 00:30:39 Speaker 8: No you haven't. 00:30:40 Speaker 1: Is a just now, no you didn't? 00:30:42 Speaker 3: I did didn't didn't tell you you did not. 00:30:45 Speaker 8: I'm sorry just one moment, is it? 00:30:46 Speaker 3: There you go? But of John Clice Monty Python the argument sketch, Well that's a good intro to this man. His name is Winston Peters, and Winston I heard you this morning with Heather duplus c Allen. I kind of one to have an argument with you today, but I find myself agreeing with you more often than not these days, and I'm worried that now that I'm a pensioner that I'll turn into a New Zealand first voter. Help me. 00:31:13 Speaker 12: Well, who said that when you get older you get wiser? So I police begot to haven't but not just all overnight. 00:31:18 Speaker 3: Well maybe we could have an argument or continue the argument you had with Heather this morning on ZB Around the Fairies. This was an announcement about an announcement. Barry Soaper said, you have come up with an indefensible faery plan and the government is finishing the year derailed. 00:31:37 Speaker 12: Look here we were having when mister o Rail in twenty twenty in May asked him to go and find two votes for under this price of four hundred and one million, coming into government to find the whole thing had blown out to three point two billion. And Treasury said on the way to four billion. Now, where upon, in hearing that could we not have to be forced to make a sound decision to get things back on track and get things back into affordable manner? And that's what we've done. So why am I hearing all this controversy now went from twenty twenty one when they first started blowing out this cost and making all sorts of silly decisions. Did I hear any comment from the mainstream media. No, it's some sort of let's have a go at Winston Peters. He's been the job for five minutes and let's see how we can gaslight in. Now. I'm not trying to be difficult here, but I'm very confident going forward that we can fix this and at a price far, far far less than that which we were being fortune. 00:32:41 Speaker 3: But are we penny pinching Because in an ideal world you talk about infrastructure, we would have a four lane highway the length of the country, and we would have a kick ass excuse my French, their fairy system with roll on roll off for the railway wagons. 00:32:59 Speaker 12: Well, I can't believe that I'm talking to somebody from Gore who doesn't understand about saving money and spending money wisely. It's in your background now. I know your listeners will know that we should be as careful about spending their money as we are spending our own, and they expected of us. Excepting in the case of the Umal fairy story recently, it's just been the absolute opposite, where went out to buy two fairies and decided, here's a chance to screw the taxpayer. We'll get all infrastructure. So the end, the fairy is only about less than twenty percent of the cast, and all of us was infrastructure, which no one was all about in the first place. 00:33:30 Speaker 3: Born in Gore, I'm a river style boy though once then, just put your right on that one. Okay. The other news story this week, because the argument over the fairies is one I may not one, although it has been a bit of a dog's breakfast, which is a nice segue onto the greyhound racing industry. Was this over your dead body, how. 00:33:49 Speaker 12: Do you mean. I was the one that made the decision at the beginning of the year that I didn't like the fact that there was a review of the damage to Race Resting House in twenty thirteen, another review in twenty seventeen, a substantial review, and a further one in twenty twenty one, and I all pointed to the fact that there were too many serious injuries and too many dogs unaccountable. At the end, we made the decision, did it very confidentially, went of course to every other political party and said either it's now never to do the right thing by these dogs, and we have got a vote of two of one hundred and twenty two to do it, passed the legislation, all in the space of two hours one afternoon this week. 00:34:31 Speaker 3: You've been in politics since nineteen seventy eight, or in parliament since nineteen seventy eight. As a nation, right here, right now, are we the most divided we've been since say nineteen eighty one on the Spring Book tour. 00:34:45 Speaker 12: I believe more divided than eighty one. We're more divided now because of the attitude of certain people in our society. And do I say at certain political parties. I can look at political parties in Parliament and say that the founding members of your party would recognize you now, and it scarce daylight because some of the stories you're hearing out of this parliament comes right out of the Marxist playbook. They're not to do with the party's beliefs in say the Green Movement or the Valuest Party of nine in seventy two, dere I said that moped into the Green Party and the Latter Party these days, I mean they something like the Party of Kirk and Savage and people like that. No, they're on about all these issues are to do and to do with minority, while the mass majority of pay all the taxes are simply ignored. So no, this is the worst I've ever seen it. But we're not going to let them get away with it. We're going to turn that around. 00:35:34 Speaker 3: There's twenty twenty five going to be a tough year for you handing over that Deputy prime minister's role to your arch nemesis. Can I call them that, David Seymour, Now, I don't. 00:35:45 Speaker 12: Look at things that way. I look at the possibilities going forward, and that's the reason why we're in great shape. Why we have been so high in our polls in all year, ranking far higher than what the poles are saying out there in public. We are very confident that this has been a mess. Simply substantial bill year for a party called New Zealand First, and we've packed the halls like no other party has. We've had it as zeven nine hundred and parts of this country when nobody else and other political parays have got anything like that figure. But out of the provinces where it matters, it's kind great. 00:36:17 Speaker 3: I got a text final one I'm going to finish with this from a mate of mine on the media who said, I never thought I would say this, but I'm voting New Zealand First. I am loving Winnie and Martua. So there you go. You've got one more vote than you had yesterday. 00:36:32 Speaker 12: Earlier on there, we've got tens and tens of thousands coming around that way and it shows in our party sport base. 00:36:40 Speaker 3: Well, I'm just worried I might be a New Zealand First voter. As I said at the beginning of the interview, Winston helped. 00:36:45 Speaker 12: Me, well, now, if you're going to be in New Zealand First voter, we do want you to be long on the lip and slow on the hip, so start helping out. Probably okay the past job. Other parties are loaded with millions and millions of dollars. You know how little we've been given by way of money. Because New Zealand First stands for New Zealand First and the only people first. That's why we're not popular in certain sectors, but that doesn't matter. It's the reason why we're the most successful new party in New Zealand's political history of recent decades. Now that said, you have a great Christmas and your listeners have a wonderful Christmas as well. Look after yourselves and get ready for a bright, tough new year. 00:37:22 Speaker 3: Well you enjoy a break to and enjoy a Machaia's I see you later. Thanks for being on the show in twenty twenty four. I've enjoyed it. 00:37:28 Speaker 12: No, thank you very much. It's been very edifying experience having to put up with these questions. But never mind, I've enjoyed it myself. 00:37:34 Speaker 1: The best of the country with Rabobank. Choose the bank with a huge network of progressive farming clients. 00:37:41 Speaker 3: Rabobank seventy nine not out and still going strong. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters wrapping at the best of the Country. It's brought to you by Rabobank. We'll do it one more time for twenty twenty four, same time, same place, next time, Saturday morning here on News Talk, sa'd be. My name's Jamie McKay. I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite Christmas songs from the crooner himself, Dean Martin. Let it snow. 00:38:10 Speaker 7: The lights are turned to weed down low, Let it snow. Let it not when we finally kissed good night? How I'll keep going out in the storm. 00:38:24 Speaker 13: But if you really hole mid time all the way home, are they warm? And the fire is slow and dying, And my dear, we're still goodbye. 00:38:38 Speaker 9: But as long as you love me, soul, let its no. Let its now ends. When we finally kiss good. 00:39:02 Speaker 3: Night, how, I'll he gone out in the storm, But. 00:39:07 Speaker 11: If you really grab me tied all the way home, I'll be warm. Oh, the fire is slowly dying, and my dear, we're still good bye. 00:39:21 Speaker 9: But as long as you love me. 00:39:23 Speaker 3: Soul, let it snow. 00:39:26 Speaker 9: Let it snow, Let it snow.