Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Liz Shackleton: Animal and Plant Health NZ CEO on the Government's commitment to cutting delays for animal and plant health approvals

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Liz Shackleton: Animal and Plant Health NZ CEO on the Government's commitment to cutting delays for animal and plant health approvals · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The government is committing to speed up approvals for animal
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and plant health products. All sixteen of the Ministry of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Regulations recommendations were accepted and so now we're get a
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: fast track. So Plant and Animal Health Chief Executive is
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Sheckleton has got a b early for us and good
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: morning toils.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Oh I'm Marie Andrew lovely to connect.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, so what will this do for Fanning?
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: So look, Andrew, If regulators can deliver on the direction
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: set out by ministers in this report, the primary sector
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: economy will grow. It's a glimmer of hope that change
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: is coming. But the real test now is if regulators
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: can turn the ship around and implement the recommendations. You know,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: this is about getting solutions out of a queue and
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: into the hands of our farmers and growers to help
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: them fight today some of today's toughest challenges. And you know,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: let's look at the products we're talking about here, software, chemistry,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: inhibitor solutions, alternatives for resistant tests, biologicals prevented of solution.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: You know, if farmers have these options, it's a race
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: to the top. Without them, it's a race to the bottom.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Here's a month ago you were complaining on the Miclasting
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Breakfast that there was a backlog of more than one
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: hundred applications of waiting approval for the sort of stuff
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: you've just talked about. And you said there could be
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: a four year time spent to clear the queue. So
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: does that still exist? Is it still going to take
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: this long?
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah? So, look, this report confirmed everything that we've been
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: saying about the eye watering delays. And look, Androlette put
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: it in the perspective of a farmer. And here, you know,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: say white cattle farmers there this morning. They need meetain
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: and nitrous oxide emission solutions. They've got less than five
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: years to meet the twenty thirty climate targets. This report
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: is saying approval will take five point six years. You know,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: that's just too little, too late if you're a farmer.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: M and you know, I can give you some other
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: examples about what we've been hearing, because you know, the
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: urgency around this queue is significant.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Why do you think we dropped the ball so much?
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Look, I think it's a complex system, and this is
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: something that this report absolutely lays out today. But I
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: think what's more important now is looking forward and actually
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: delivery to turn this hope into reality about turning this
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: quy around. We absolutely remain committed to work with regulators
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: and want to support them with that. But what our
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: members are calling for is access, you know, engagement, urgency,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: transparency and accountability. You know, because at a time when
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: our government's crying out for investment in New Zealand here andrew,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: our members, the keyrean global businesses say, are saying clearly,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: these delays make the future here untenable, you know. So
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: it's about working together, but ultimately can regulators deliver and
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: implement the recommendation.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Of course, of course our advantage is innovation, but if
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: we're sewing down the innovation, then we're losing the advantage.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Liz Sheckleton, thank you so much. This is the chief
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: executive of Planned and Animal Health, New Zealand.
• 3:03
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• 3:06
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• 3:09
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