Speech: Farmsafe Industry Leaders Forum

E aku rangatira, tēnā koutou katoa.  Ka nui te honore ki te mihi ki a koutou.

Good morning everyone.  Thank you Charlie for inviting me to speak to you today. 

I would like to acknowledge all of the industry leaders gathered for this forum as well as your wide range of speakers, including my Parliamentary colleague Steffan Browning.  You are packing in a varied programme which should leave you all with lots to think about and do.

New Zealand is a world leader in agricultural and horticultural production. It’s important that we have support systems and safety standards that match our world leading reputation for quality primary sector production.

Just last week, the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety reported back to Government with recommendations for improving health and safety in workplaces across New Zealand.

I commend my colleague the Minister of Labour, Simon Bridges – who I understand will be speaking to you later today – on his recent announcement to establish a new stand-alone health and safety agency.

In rural New Zealand, safety is an especially important issue. We’ve all heard about the numerous tragedies involving quad bikes on farms in the last 12 months, and suicide rates in rural areas is of grave concern.  

Farmsafe has had a positive influence in promoting safety and improving recognition of farm safety issues through its quality training courses, seminars, and assessment and consulting services.

I’d like to speak today about some relevant initiatives that the Government is involved with, particularly in relation to mental health in the rural sector, the impact of the drought on farmers and important developments in regards to food safety.

Mental health

While my colleague Peter Dunne has responsibility for mental health, as part of my Associate health portfolio I have responsibility for rural health issues.  So I have been closely following recent work to assist people in rural areas who may be experiencing mental health issues.

The 2006 New Zealand Mental Health Survey found that about 47% of New Zealanders will experience a mental illness and/or an addiction at some time in their lives.

There is a significantly higher rate of suicide in rural areas - 15.9 per 100,000 of population compared with 10.8 for those living in urban areas. 

Despite the high prevalence, mental health and addiction issues often go undiagnosed and consequently can cause serious disruption to people’s lives and wellbeing.  But there is a lot of help out there.

Federated Farmers launched a campaign earlier this year spreading information on accessible resources such as telephone help lines, online resources and talking therapies for people with common mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. They also recommend that people seek peer support through Rural Support Trusts.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the RSTs, and anyone here who is involved with them, for the important and valuable work you are doing to support rural individuals and communities.

At the request of the Ministry of Health, Federated Farmers also recommend the online self-help tool, “The Journal” fronted by John Kirwan, and two telephone services: depression helpline and Lifeline, which are part of the National Depression Initiative.

The Ministry of Health funds the Like Minds Like Mine campaign.  This campaign aims to raise awareness of mental illness and reduce stigmatisation.

The Ministry also funds the infrastructure for the delivery of mental health awareness programmes such as its Mental Health 101 course. The course promotes a message of “Recognise, Relate, Respond” helping those who are influential in their communities to recognise mental health issues and better respond to them.

A Mental Health 101 workshop was run for Dairy New Zealand in December 2012 and the organisation has purchased a second workshop for 2013.

The Ministry of Health is further leading the development of an inter-agency Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2013-16, which will be considered by the Government later this year. This could include opportunities for increasing access to services in rural areas.

But the kicker here is this.  Those who need to know about the help available are most often those paralysed by depression, often incapable of seeking the help they need.  If that is the case then it’s up to the rest of us in rural areas.  It really is incumbent on us all if we care, and I know we do, to be on the lookout and to know how to urge or support someone to get help.

Impact of the drought

The severe drought that covered most of the country has led to extremely tough conditions for farmers. The Government realises that the effects of a drought can lead to severe stress as farmers must consider the massive financial implications, animal health, and the need to provide for their families. 

Many farmers have to deal with devastating circumstances which are beyond their control. And it is easy to forget that the effects of the drought are felt far beyond the farm as contractors and local businesses suffer from dramatically reduced spending.

The message that the Government would like our rural community to understand is: a problem shared is a problem halved. I’d encourage farmers to talk with friends, neighbours, Rural Support Trust people, bankers, advisers, discussion groups, Federated Farmers, and community support networks and reach out for the help that is available to them.  Please be aware that you are not alone.

Dry conditions may have ended for large parts of the country in April, however there are still parts of the country, like Taihape and parts of the East coast, where little rain has fallen.

Furthermore, as rain begins to fall, farmers continue to struggle, as the problems created by the dry summer will be felt for some time. Farmers will need to plan for how they manage their feed supply through the rest of the year, as a large amount of supplementary feed has already been used over summer and will likely be in short supply this year.

The Government is doing its bit to assist farmers through the tough times that they are experiencing. Tax relief is available from Inland Revenue, and financial assistance is available for the most vulnerable farmers through Work and Income.

The Ministry for Primary Industries is supporting through funding for Rural Support Trusts to provide assistance by way of setting up drought committees, advocating for financial assistance, and advising farmers on business options. The trusts’ members are, as you will know, local people who have themselves faced the challenges rural life brings.

Food Safety

We are also supplying support at the other end of the food chain to ensure the food produced in New Zealand is safe and suitable for consumers – wherever they are in the world. 

We need to satisfy overseas markets that we have strong and reliable food safety systems so that we can negotiate ‘equivalence’ – achieving equivalence means that exporters don’t have to jump through regulatory hoops to get their products onto shelves in foreign supermarkets.

However, the Food Act is over 30 years old and needs replacing.  My colleague, Nikki Kaye, Minister for Food Safety, is working hard to get a Food Bill passed by Parliament to update our food safety system.

As well as supporting exporters, the Food Bill will help primary producers by allowing greater flexibility in the way they manage food safety risks.  The Bill will also align our food and animal products legislation more closely to avoid duplication of requirements.

To help open up new markets and support innovation, the Government is continuing to modernise our food regulations.  A new food standard will allow health claims on food, so that manufacturers and marketers can highlight the health benefits of certain foods.

Zoonoses

Farmers in New Zealand, like veterinarians, are at a critical interface with the “One Health” movement. One Health means an integrated risk analysis and risk management perspective across animal health, human health and ecosystem health.

One Health is getting a great deal of attention from international organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

The international focus is on reducing the impact of important zoonoses, diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans, particularly rabies.

In New Zealand we are fortunate that we are free from rabies, and we have a world class biosecurity system that aims to protect that status. But our veterinary and health authorities also recognise that we have One Health challenges of our own, and a good example is the disease leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis, or lepto, is a disease that many farmers will have had personal experience with. It is carried by sheep, cattle and pigs, so there is an occupational hazard for farmers, meat workers and veterinarians in terms of exposure to urine from infected animals that gets flicked and splashed around in farm and processing environments, resulting in exposure and infection.

The disease in humans can be quite debilitating, with chronic effects. Risk management approaches here in New Zealand are focussed on protecting the animals through vaccination, and protecting humans, for instance by appropriate design of milking sheds and by wearing the right personal protection and good basic hygiene.

Massey University, with funding by the Rural Women’s Trust, has been actively researching the risk of exposure for meat workers, and how to provide work-place protection. 

Animal Welfare Bill

I talked earlier about the importance of farmers looking out for each other, and how the government can help. It’s also important that we all take responsibility for looking after the animals that farming depends on – for the sake of the animals themselves, and to protect our highly-regarded reputation in overseas markets.

In this vein, I’d like to give you a brief update on the Government’s recent announcements on animal welfare.

In the last couple of weeks, my colleague, Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy, has announced the launch of New Zealand’s first animal welfare strategy, and introduced an Animal Welfare Amendment Bill, which will make changes to the Animal Welfare Act 1999. 

New Zealand has a very good animal welfare system.  However, with any good system there is room for improvement.

The animal welfare strategy sets out a high level framework for how we treat animals. The strategy says that it matters how animals are treated, to the animals themselves, to us as New Zealanders, and to our export markets. The strategy makes it clear that we have responsibilities toward animals, and that it is acceptable to use animals as long as it is humane.

The strategy lists four main routes to improved animal welfare:

• Better planning to prevent animal welfare problems;
• Better animal husbandry, science and technology;
• Clear expectation and sanction, with help for people to comply; and
• Measuring animal welfare performance.

I’m pleased to note that work that the industry and the Ministry for Primary Industries are already doing, both on their own and together, fits with the direction of the new strategy – most particularly the Safeguarding our animals, safeguarding our reputation programme.

The Animal Welfare Amendment Bill is also an essential part of the strategy’s success. The Bill will make some changes to the Animal Welfare Act to make it easier to enforce, clearer, and more transparent.

The changes in the Bill came from a comprehensive review of the Animal Welfare Act, which found that, while the principles of the Act are sound, the time is right to update and improve how the Act operates. The proposals were consulted with the public and farming community last year, and several changes have been made to the Bill in light of the feedback received during consultation.

In short, the changes in the Bill will make the requirements for people in charge of animals clearer, and make it easier for the Ministry to take action against people who fail to meet their requirements. Most people take great care of their animals.  However, it is important to have the right tools available to apply appropriate sanctions to people who cause pain and suffering to their animals.

The Bill has some way to go before it is passed into law – a Select Committee is likely to call for public submissions on the Bill in the near future. Further information on what the Bill does can be found on the Ministry’s website

Conclusion

I would like to finish by reaffirming this Government’s commitment to our rural communities, ensuring that New Zealand’s primary industries remain strong and continue to grow. It is in all our best interests, as primary industries remain the backbone of our economy.

I want to encourage farmers to remain safety conscious and make use of the programmes promoted by both Farmsafe and the Government.  Together we can work to ensure our rural communities are safer places to live and work.

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.