Tuesday, 19 December 2017 10:55

MPI escapes the knife

Written by  Peter Burke
Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor. Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor.

Labour has scotched its pre-election plans to split up MPI and create stand-alone entities for food safety and biosecurity.

Instead, Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor has announced that MPI will be reorganised and under its umbrella there will be four portfolio entities to cover forestry, fisheries, food safety and biosecurity.

While these discrete areas will have their own separate funding and branding, they will all come under the overall control of MPI.

O’Connor says apart from these four areas, MPI will continue to function as it has always done, except for fisheries and forestry. The Minister of Agriculture will have ministerial responsibility for agriculture including food safety and biosecurity.

While the splitting up of MPI was a talking point during the election, the words changed from ‘split’ to ‘greater focus’ as it quickly became clear that the cost and disruption of a major reorganisation of MPI would blow Labour’s budget. It’s understood that MPI came up with this compromise proposal, which saves them from a major restructuring and enables O’Connor not to lose too much face.

In announcing the change, O’Connor claims the priority is to achieve greater clarity and unity of purpose in these four areas.

“We are seeking enhanced visibility of government policy and regulatory activities and clearer lines of accountability and engagement for stakeholders. We are now looking to the director-general of MPI to work with his team to achieve this, while ensuring prudent and efficient use of taxpayer and industry funds.”

In the case of forestry, O’Connor says MPI will build up its presence in Rotorua, the home of major forestry groups including the CRI Scion.

It’s estimated that it will cost $6.8 million to establish the four new entities and an extra $2.3m annually to run them. O’Connor says ‘reprioritised’ money from the Primary Growth Partnership Fund will pay for the changes and there will be no extra cost to taxpayers.

The new entities are expected to be up and running by April 1 next year.

More like this

Bikinis in cowshed

OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.

Editorial: Agri's mojo is back

OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.

Featured

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

DairyNZ plantain trials cut nitrate leaching by 26%

DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.

National

Machinery & Products

Tech might take time

Agritech Unleashed – a one-day event held recently at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton – focused on technology as an ‘enabler’…

John Deere acquires GUSS Automation

John Deere has announced the full acquisition of GUSS Automation, LLC, a globally recognised leader in supervised high-value crop autonomy,…

Fencing excellence celebrated

The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards,…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

A step too far

OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…

Save us from SAFE

OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter