Primary Production Select Committee
I trudged off to my Primary Production select committe the other day and came across a wee surprise.
This is typically a committee that operates below the media radar and gets on with grass roots issues affecting the engine room of our economy. It is an unusual select committee in that during this term of Parliament numbers have been hung i.e 4 National and 4 Labour MPs, making the politics very interesting.
Long time Cabinet Minister Hon Steve Maharey has been used to fronting up at the head of select committee tables to present his reports – but to my shock horror, he now sits on the Labour side of the committee after announcing he will be retiring from politics to head up Massey University. At least he will now arrive at Massey knowing the pressing issues that the rural sector faces.
Labour has lost touch with the provinces as there are no farmers in its caucus and Mr Maharey will have a bit of work to do in his new role to ensure the training numbers of Veterinarian students increases from Massey . Currently NZ is being forced to pay big money to imports vets – with the situation very similar to that of GPs.
Good luck Steve at my old varsity.