MAF director-general plans to be visible

Wayne McNee
Wayne McNee
The new director-general of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is looking forward to re-acquainting himself with those who he says work in "the engine room of the economy".

Wayne McNee, who was raised on a North Otago farm, started his new position last Monday, and said he did not underestimate the importance of the role to New Zealanders and the New Zealand economy.

"It is a critical position, the engine room of the economy," he said in an interview last week.

Mr McNee has spent the last three years as chief executive of the Ministry of Fisheries and prior to that spent 11 years with the Government's drug buying agency Pharmac, of which he was chief executive for eight years.

For 18 months following that appointment, up to late 2007, he was seconded to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as a policy adviser on transport, local Government and energy.

He said his time at the head of fisheries re-acquainted him with people involved in the primary sector, people he described as straight shooters, and for whom he had a deep respect.

"My three years with fisheries brought me in contact with the primary sector and rekindled my interest in the sector and the realisation of the importance of the primary sector."

Maf has several projects under way which Mr McNee said he would complete, including integrating food safety into Maf and reviewing the rules around biosecurity border charging, to reward exporters and importers who consistently comply and penalise those who do not.

There are also ongoing issues managing the PSA bacteria outbreak which is decimating kiwifruit orchards.

One initiative that he saw huge potential in when heading fisheries, was Primary Growth Partnerships, where industry and Government contribute funding for major research and development projects.

"These can be game-changing, they can completely transform the primary sector."

Over the years, Mr McNee said Maf has taken on significant roles in biosecurity and food safety, with an estimated 1000 of its 1730 workforce involved in biosecurity and another 450 in food safety.

Next year Mr McNee intends looking at Maf's structure and its role in the primary sector.

He was raised on a 60ha farm at Enfield inland from Oamaru which ran sheep, cropping and trotting horses.

His father Neville and grandfather Bob also ran sawmills at Enfield and Palmerston.

His grandfather had previously owned sawmills in Clinton and in Southland.

Neville McNee was a former president of the Oamaru Trotting Club.

On leaving Waitaki Boys High School in 1981, he studied pharmacy at the University of Otago graduating with a bachelor degree and a post-graduate diploma in clinical pharmacy.

He has since completed leadership and management programmes and Oxford University and the Stanford Business School.

He intends being a visible director-general, and is already organising visits to Southland, South Canterbury and Waikato.

 

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