Reports that many hundreds of tonnes of New Zealand meat were held up on the wharves of China for almost a month, due to certification issues supposedly managed by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), has only added to these.
This latest China meat issue comes on top of a number of other problems that can be traced right back to MPI’s door. These include how and why the Psa disease that has decimated our kiwifruit industry was allowed into New Zealand, worries about the cleanliness of PKE imports from Malaysia, and the pig industry’s continuing court action over allowing fresh pork imports into New Zealand and the attendant risk of bringing the deadly PRRS disease to our shores.
And to top it all off, current director general Wayne McNee is about to pack his bags and head for the greener pastures of LIC. This potential leadership vacuum, and repeated failures of what should be core business functions for MPI, is a major concern for the primary sector and the wider economy.
As Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said, in relation to the Chinese meat export debacle, “Accurately certifying exports of New Zealand agricultural goods is a core function of the ministry and this mistake should never have occurred. Officials have a responsibility to meat exporters and to all New Zealanders to get the basic details right.”
Guy now must act quickly to tidy up and steady the ship at MPI. A good start would be the appointment of a strong, practical and demanding new chief executive to replace McNee. MPI’s new boss must ensure the ministry is clearly focussed on its core functions and be quick to reprimand – and replace if necessary – staff who are not up to their jobs. Accountability should not just be expected, but demanded.
The predictably partisan political call by Labour’s Damien O’Connor for Guy to resign over the Chinese meat issue does not do him, or the wider primary sector, any favours. The minister did not cock up the certification issue; it was staff at MPI who did, and that is where the blame should and does lie.
Meanwhile, O’Connor’s ‘back to the future’ fix for MPI by reinstating the old Food Safety, Biosecurity and MAF bureaucracies is the last thing the ministry needs or the sector wants. If Labour seriously believes that more bureaucracy, public servants and red tape is the answer to taking our primary sector – and the country – forward, then they deserve to continue to languish in opposition.
