O'Connor Damien: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
O'Connor Damien: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 18 July 2012. Volume:681;Page:3692. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman) 
: 
 I would like to acknowledge the good efforts of my colleagues! They do not always want me in the House but on this occasion they saw some value in bringing me back in so I appreciate that. 
Labour will support this Biosecurity Law Reform Bill. It is important. It is a bill that was actually developed in concept by the Labour Government. It came out of the sad and sorry state around the varroa mite infestation coming into this country. The response from the bee industry at that time was a bit muddled to be nice about it I guess. We saw the need for a coordinated and collaborative approach from industry sectors should that kind of thing occur in the future hence the concept of Government-industry agreements. This is at the heart of the bill. 
The bill does cover other areas. Part 1 in particular which we are debating here covers technical aspects of updating systems of biosecurity to ensure that Biosecurity New Zealand or the Ministry for Primary Industries or whatever the Minister for Primary Industries wants to call it now has the technical capability to transfer knowledge in order for people to find out about these things in the best way possible. 
In supporting the bill though I have to put on record—as we have done before—our concerns. In fact since the bill has been in the House we have had every reason to be further concerned about the biosecurity systems in this country. So in supporting the bill we are not in any way endorsing the biosecurity system as it is at this point in this country. I think it is sadly lacking I think there are insufficient resources and there is huge risk to our economy every single day. The passage of this bill will hopefully assist in reducing the risk of unwanted pests and organisms coming into this country and the more we reduce the risks the better for us as a country. 
I will through the debate refer to points made by industry sector leaders about the Government-industry agreements. I hope the Minister will get up and explain. He has put before the House a Supplementary Order Paper that goes some way we understand to address the concerns of the industry sectors. When we were last debating this bill they were concerned that they were not going to be properly consulted. That the Government-industry agreements focused on cost-sharing should an incursion take place was one thing but an information approach and a collaborative approach to prevention was something that they were locked out of. The intent of Supplementary Order Paper 27 is that each sector will be part of the consideration but I am told not necessarily the decision-making process. The Minister may want to get up and explain why that is the case. 
I think there is some ideological belief that the sectors are self-interested—and that is probably not far from the truth—and that they do not have an ability to balance the requirements of open trade and biosecurity protection. I do not buy into that. Most producers in this country are fully aware of the need for open trade internationally. They understand we cannot close our borders unnecessarily but they do rely on science-based evidence to have fair risk assessment and risk analysis. What we have seen in recent times—I have here  
A Review of Import Requirements and Border Processes in Light of the Entry of Psa into New Zealand 
. It is very disturbing reading. It points to flaws in the science flaws in the risk analysis flaws in the communication in biosecurity. 
Producer groups or sector groups are concerned that they are not able to not only be part of the process but also be part of the decision making and the final risk analysis because their lives and their sectors are on the line here. The one thing about a biosecurity incursion more often than not is that once it occurs it is irreversible. You cannot turn back the clock. Varroa is here to stay. Didymo is here to stay. In the case of a military intervention we would hopefully chase the army away. In the case of drugs coming over the border we often catch them destroy them and we move on. When a biosecurity breach of our borders occurs more often than not we are stuck with it. Sectors such as avocados for example or summer fruits or kiwifruits in the case of Psa incur the cost from now into the future of all the additional prevention measures including the replacement of plants and whatever else might occur. I do not even want to mention foot-and-mouth. The cost to our economy would be astronomical. 
So in supporting this piece of legislation we are doing so with a view to improving the system. We are not in any way admitting that the system is right at the moment. We hear the chief executive officer of the Ministry for Primary Industries saying that we have a world-class biosecurity system. I do not believe him. We have a reasonable system and we have worked on it but the resources have been squeezed and the risks have increased. It is the same as our thinking we have got a First World economy. By many measures we are actually approaching Third World status—our level of debt and some of the challenges in front of us. We always try to be optimistic. In the area of biosecurity being optimistic is not good enough. We actually have to guarantee that we have got secure borders. That is why we are going to push the Government on this. We are going to ask the hard questions. 
In fact the bill as originally introduced by the Government had major flaws in it. I would like to acknowledge once again the good work of the Primary Production Committee chair Shane Ardern. You should be a Minister Shane—shame about that. I know I am not helping you but nonetheless— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: That’d be recognising talent and that’s not a good thing for the Nats to do. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: No it is not and unfortunately he has had his last chance because we will be in Government next time with a bit of luck and a bit of good hard work. Who knows? It may be very very soon depending on the outcome of a meeting taking place now. Anyone heard a report? 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Is that the police meeting or is that the Maori Party meeting? 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: It could be either one. I think there are two coalition partners in trouble as we speak. 
We hope that we can take charge of the biosecurity system. We doubled the funding for biosecurity when we were in power from $94 million to $187 million. That was the commitment of the Labour Government to biosecurity. In its first Budget in 2009 the National Government cut the funding for biosecurity and cut the number of jobs. In fact the flow-on from that is that close to 90 jobs are now gone. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Are they the ones who cut the dogs as well? 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: It has cut the dogs. There has not been a dog at Wellington Airport since October of last year. 
John Hayes 
: Not true. There was one there the other day. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: You saw one the other day? 
John Hayes 
: Yep. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: That is right they may have borrowed one from Auckland or Christchurch. In fact I think one was going to be brought up from Christchurch just to satisfy a few politicians coming back from Australia. But unfortunately it is not permanent yet. 
The system has huge gaps in it. People are writing to me and they are writing to the Minister and saying there are huge gaps in the biosecurity system. If the officials stand up and say we have a world-class system and it is all hunky-dory they are wrong. I understand they have to work with the limited resources the National Government gives them but you cannot kid yourself that we have a world-class biosecurity system. If this bill passes and I guess it will—we are certainly supporting it—then it will take us some way forward but the guts of the Government-industry agreements is actually around how you manage an incursion once it has happened. Well in fact good biosecurity systems will prevent incursions and that is the area we need more focus on. Although the Minister’s Supplementary Order Paper does assist in that area there is still a long way to go to make sure that all sectors big and small in this country are listened to and are able to participate in the risk assessments and the whole process—not just sharing the costs but actually ensuring that firstly we prevent anything from coming into the country and then should it occur that each and every person involved from the Government and from the sectors is working efficiently.