ACT Party president John Thompson has denied personal financial gain is the sole motivation behind his proposal to restructure New Zealand kiwifruit export regulations, which would allow a new entity he is likely to chair to export into China alongside Zespri.
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI) president Neil Trebilco slammed the proposal in media reports earlier this week, labelling it “purely about self-interest.”However, Thompson told Asiafruit the duopoly model was designed improve grower returns and create more accountability through the introduction of a competitor.
“Growers will benefit from choice and increased transparency that results from contestability,” Thompson said. “Also growers will benefit from better industry governance.”
Thompson also accused Zespri and industry regulator Kiwifruit New Zealand (KNZ) of leaking the details of a failed collaborative marketing bid to Fairfax Media.In a company statement, Zespri said it had been approached by Thompson and associate Mark Bayly, a former Zespri director, last November in regards to a collaborative marketing proposal in China.Zespri claimed to have told the pair it was unlikely to support the programme because of its scale, which Fairfax suggest involved 50 per cent of the country’s gold kiwifruit volume.
Thompson confirmed he and Bayly met with Zespri officials in November, adding this was after they had handed a collaborative marketing request to KNZ but before the regulator had returned its verdict on the proposal, which was later declined.Thompson alleges Zespri staff members present at the meeting had a copy of the request, suggesting it had been illegally forwarded on by KNZ.Thompson claimed the same request was leaked to Fairfax.
“As KNZ had not accepted our collaborative marketing proposal, they had no right to forward the document to Zespri,” Thompson explained.“Zespri had no right to leak that document to the media as they have. I had only given that document to KNZ in hard copy, which they have returned, but they received an electronic copy from Mark Bayly.”
Zespri CEO Lain Jager confirmed the single-desk marketer had received and responded to questions from a New Zealand-based journalist but denied it had shared any form of confidential documentation.Jager suggested Thompson’s remarks where an attempt to save some face after the details of the duopoly proposal were made public.
“I think he is thrashing about now that details of his covert campaign to restructure the industry have seen sunlight,” Jager told Asiafruit.“I don’t regret that this campaign has been made visible. It’s driven only by private, commercial interests.”
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