Ploughing on with MAF clean-up

By MARK STORY

A catapult into an increasingly hot seat was just one of the many culture shocks confronting career economist Murray Sherwin on taking up the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's top job 16 months ago.

He swapped the cosy economist's cove he had moored in as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank for MAF's top job at a time when the biosecurity watchdog was in the news more than ever.

Having been a junior at the OECD in Paris, a member of the Prime Minister's advisory group in the 1980s, and executive director to the World Bank board in Washington at only 35, there was little left for Sherwin to do as an economist - other than head the Reserve Bank.

The only snag was that the bank's long-standing governor, Don Brash, looked like a permanent fixture. Ironically, nine months after Sherwin departed, Brash also jumped ship - for National Party politics.

As MAF's new chief executive and director-general, Sherwin was charged with putting the service deliverer-cum-regulatory authority back on track.

After successive rounds of unproductive restructuring, MAF had slid off the Government's top policymaking table.

Sherwin was to assume a far more hands-on and external representational role than he had played before.

As second-in-command at the Reserve Bank, his public profile was always going to be eclipsed by the media-savvy Brash. But if Sherwin had learned anything from his mentor about the power of communication, he was about to get his opportunity to prove it.

In addition to countless public speaking engagements and wall-to-wall meetings, Sherwin has assumed responsibility for buckets of unfinished business - among them the $90 million campaign to wipe out the painted apple moth.

It is an issue that is polarising town and country. MAF estimates the native Australian moth could cause up to $350 million in forestry and horticultural damage - but many West Auckland residents are dead against the aerial spraying of their suburbs, claiming a range of ill-effects.

So is MAF winning the apple moth campaign? Yes, if moth capture is any indication. Compared with the 900-odd moths MAF caught in an average week last year, it is now netting between two and five.

Sherwin believes up-front communication has helped to convert sceptics. A recent poll suggests that while West Aucklanders object to spraying, 86 per cent want MAF to take a United States-in-Iraq approach: go in, do the job and get out fast.

It is no secret that spraying can have short-term side-effects. An Auckland University study has identified more stomach, breathing and neurological problems within the target zone since spraying began.

But Waitakere City has abandoned legal action against spraying. Evidence that spray-related health effects are greater than initially expected remains inconclusive.

The painted apple moth is not the only threat that necessitates constant vigilance at our borders. Unwelcome invaders, including the redback spider, the banjo frog and Asian kelp, still get through.

MAF also sets the rules that ensure food products are safe, and advises the Government on agricultural and forestry issues.

It was this big-picture stuff that attracted Sherwin, the son of a Te Awamutu dairy farmer.

His early work with the Reserve Bank was in agricultural economics.

While MAF and the Reserve Bank are poles apart, Sherwin says both organisations are passionate about protecting the rural economy: "I'm more an ambassador for the sector than an advocate for farmers."

Up to three-quarters of New Zealand's exports are generated in activities on which MAF has a direct influence.

"There are subsets within this sector, like sausage skins, that earn more [in exports] than sexy sectors like software.

"New Zealand's economy relies heavy on an agriculture that's world scale in terms of brands, clusters and networks. I see minor miracles being performed every day by MAF's 1300 staff to protect this sector."

But how does Sherwin plan to put MAF back on the Government's top policy table when his depth of history on MAF-related issues is so limited?

He believes playing the pragmatic generalist will ensure the right expertise is used in the right places.

So what are his priorities as MAF leader? As a developmental chief executive, Sherwin is charged with repositioning MAF in the eyes of key stakeholders.

That means ensuring the ministry has the human firepower needed to participate in major policy issues such as biosecurity.

He has commissioned a strategic rethink covering MAF branding, internal systems, culture and organisational capability.

When Sherwin entered MAF he inherited a 10-person management team, and he is clearly placing huge responsibility on these direct reports to deliver on complex issues.

He is also adamant this line-up will change.

With MAF's scope so wide, Sherwin does not expect any single person to know everything. But he says if the ministry wants to help embed agriculture and related industries successfully within the Government's economic framework for the future, it has to bring to the policy table an in-depth knowledge that is missing at present.

"My job as facilitator is to ensure we present a strong, convincing stance," he says. "That means drawing the knowledge thread together across the organisation by removing the isolation between disciplines."

Sherwin's CV

* Birthplace: Te Awamutu

* Age: 50

* Education: Te Awamutu College, Windham High, Connecticut, on an American Field Service scholarship

* Degrees: Bachelor of social sciences, masters in social sciences (hons), University of Waikato

* Major titles: Reserve Bank - deputy governor; chief manager, financial markets; chief manager, banking systems. Executive director, World Bank; economic adviser, Prime Minister's advisory group

* Family situation: Married, two children

* Interests: Classic cars, wine, skiing; co-owner of a Wairarapa forest.

* Salary: $250,000-$300,000