Producer Board Project
Team
November 1998 - October 1999
Producer boards
For many years, New Zealand's
agricultural sector has been governed or strongly influenced
by a group of statutory boards exercising a range of coercive
powers. Some boards had monopsony exporting powers - which
is to say, only the board could export particular products
overseas. These included:
The Dairy Board
The Apple and Pear Board
The Kiwfruit Board
The Raspberry Board,
and
The Hop Board
Other boards retained only
mandatory powers to levy growers. These included:
The Wool Board
The Meat Board
The Pork Board, and
The Game Board
Background
In May 1998, the Government invited each Board to produce
a plan for deregulation. Most Board's provided plans that
effectively retained their statutory powers, with any change
expressed in vague terms without clear timeframes. A General
Election was due in early November 1999.
Project team
In August
1998, the Government formed the Produce Board Project Team,
an interdisciplinary group comprising:
Officials from the Ministries
of Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, Commerce (now MED), and
Inland Revenue; and
Consultants in law, economics, international
trade and merchant banking, market development;
Objective
The objective
was to develop and implement for each board a reform package
toward a more open and efficient market for exporting, which
included removing the Board's statutory protections.
Keysteps
The key
steps in the project were to:
Assess each Board's
plan and report to the Government
Design a strategy for facilitating
change in each Board
Negotiate with each
Board, and their various consultants, at a senior level
to explore options for deregulation
Address a wide range of complex issues
relating to pricing and financial structure, enterprise
and share value, tax implications, contractual legal risks,
international trade and quota rights, intellectual property,
export licensing, compulsory levies and 'public good' activities,
organisational governance, alternative corporate forms,
Board strategies and business plans, corporatisation processes,
Commerce Act authorisation, and legislation design
Develop a reform package for each Board
Liaise closely with industry organisations,
stakeholders, members of Parliament and individual growers
Consult with Maori groups under the Government's
Treaty obligation
Report to Cabinet on reform proposals
and seek approval to proceed
Prepare reform legislation for each package
Support the Select Committee process
Liaise on communications
issues
My role
As Project
Leader, I was responsible for:
Managing the project
team to deliver each of the steps above to a high standard
Operating within the project budget
Providing intellectual and personal leadership
at all levels in relation to each Board
Reporting
As project leader, I reported
to:
A senior officials group, comprising
the chief executives from the Ministries of Agriculture,
Commerce (now MED), Treasury and Foreign Affairs
A group of senior Ministers, including
the Prime Minister
The chief executive of the Ministry of
Agriculture (by whom I was contracted)
I consulted with a Ministerial
Advisory Group comprising, which included Sir Peter Elworthy,
John Palmer and Joe Pope.
References
Briefing
to Incoming Government – This report provides a
useful ‘state of play’ overview of the producer
boards as at early 2000, following the reforms during 1999.
This briefing report was prepared by Tony’s successor,
Phil Barry as team leader.
