And despite the law saying compensation for losses made as a result of MPI exercising its powers should leave farmers no worse off, the ministry was likely to make offers to farmers even when they could document actual loss figures.
There is also little likelihood of payments being made quickly.
Other than some small, interim, hardship payouts most compensation was yet to be approved for payment, MPI response incident controller David Yard said.
The van Leeuwen Dairy Group (VLDG), where the first significant culling of cows took place, has called for MPI to get accountable before it’s too late.
“Unfortunately, the processes to achieve that no-worse-off position plainly do not work to an acceptable time frame for New Zealand farmers.”
Van Leeuwen said the VLDG had lodged verified claims totalling more than $4.5 million, including a claim for culling 3357 stock, which equated to 25% of the group’s business.
“And we estimate that will triple,” van Leeuwen said.
While the stock values were clear cut van Leeuwen was horrified to be told by MPI it would likely come back and make an offer.
“This is not negotiable. We have all the paperwork down to the last cent, including the additional costs incurred and the loss of production.
“This is about responsibility and accountability. Biosecurity is at risk here and if we are not getting the compensation what farmer is going to ever report a biosecurity incident like this again?
“There is huge financial pressure that is critically stressing on everyone involved and farmers are expected to sit back and wait on this slow bureaucratic machine.”
Van Leeuwen was concerned for farmers on other infected properties.
“That is a very bad situation and does not bode at all well for the other farmers who are also now incurring mandated costs under the Act and will in all probability not get a timely payment of their costs.
“This situation is unacceptable and something needs to be done.
“The industry is being taken for a ride here and no-one from the Minister down is helping at all.
“MPI is causing havoc for many hard working families. It is ridiculous what is going on and if it doesn’t stop, many will not survive the season.”
Yard had empathy for farmers awaiting compensation payments but said there were due processes that had to be worked through.
“We would love to pay compensation immediately but that’s not possible.”
The number of claims was going up and up, as was their complexity.
While confirming MPI had received 44 claims to date, he would not be drawn on their overall value.
There was no set timeframe for paying out.
“It’s likely to be months to settle any one claim,” Yard said.
The number of infected properties was also going up with the tally now at 23 and growing by the week.
The latest three properties confirmed by MPI were one at Middlemarch, one in Southland and in a new area, a dry stock property near Lake Ohau in the Mackenzie Country.
The number of properties under Restricted Place Notices had risen to 38.
Despite the growing numbers Yard said MPI remained committed to eradication.
“But we are gearing people up for what results we may get in the nationwide surveillance programme.”
The nationwide surveillance rolled out this month and MPI expected to reach every one of the 12,000 dairy farms across the country.
All the major dairy companies are involved and farmers who didn’t leave samples out would be chased up.
“It will be these results that will inform our decision-making, once we know where the disease is, to decide which direction the response will go from there.”
Yard said if it was found to be contained in clusters then there would need to be a lot more assessment to attempt eradication or do more culling.
“If it’s too widely spread then we will join all the other countries in the world that have it. If we can confine and contain it we can continue to be one of two countries that don’t have it.” The other country without M bovis is Norway.
“But that is a difficult and political decision.”
As for the much-anticipated pathways report, Yard expected that to be released in conjunction with the Technical Advisory Group’s review in the next two to three weeks.
While not being drawn on what it might reveal he said every possibility, both legal and illegal, had been considered.
“It has been a very thorough investigation and it remains a possibility that it could have come in via an illegal importation route but that would be very difficult to identify.”
NAIT was also an area of concern.
“Not pulling any punches but the failure to complete records certainly slowed the response and the effectiveness of animal tracing was significantly impacted.
“I am not bagging farmers as we know the programme is not user-friendly but we do know improvements are on the way,” Yard said.
