Davis Kelvin: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Davis Kelvin: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6263] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 So many of our industries are dependent on New Zealand having rigorous biosecurity systems. Members can take the tourism industry as an example. Tourism thrives under our “100% Pure New Zealand” brand. The “100% Pure New Zealand” brand is successful because we have such fantastic landscapes culture and people. The New Zealand reality at present matches the traveller’s expectation. Tourists come to New Zealand to visit and enjoy our lakes rivers mountains and bush. There are no other countries that boast rainforests that tourists can tramp through with absolutely no risk to them from wild animals such as bears snakes or poisonous insects. The only threat to tourists in our native bush is from the elements. 
However although humans are not at risk from our bush our native bush is at risk because of biosecurity incursions introduced by humans. These incursions are from possums rats stoats ferrets and other species introduced by humans for whatever misguided reasons. Possums alone consume over 21000 tonnes of native foliage in a single night. In the bush where I come from one can see whole stands of giant native trees denuded of foliage and dying because of those types of biosecurity risks. Possums rats stoats and ferrets eat the eggs and chicks of native birds—in particular our native kukupa or kereru as it is known in other areas. It is a bird vital in the distribution of native seeds and therefore the rejuvenation of our bush. These birds have been decimated by those pests. 
Our native bush is at risk and when our native bush is at risk so too is a major part of our “100% Pure New Zealand” brand. If our brand is at risk so too is our tourism industry. If our tourism industry is at risk so too is our economy because tourism provides one in 10 New Zealanders with a job makes up 20 percent of our foreign exchange and is our biggest export earner. We cannot afford any further biosecurity incursions that jeopardise a single element of our tourism industry. 
However tourism is more than just sightseeing and tramping in the bush. Another key element of tourism is the dining experience. New Zealand seafood is renowned the world over. Our aquaculture industry is vital to the supply of high-quality seafood. I might add that Maori have a huge stake in the seafood industry. So if we want Maori along with the tourism industry to be successful protecting the aquaculture industry from biosecurity incursions is vital. 
The possibility for marine biosecurity incursions is huge. In fact a survey of ports around New Zealand conducted over the last few years—in itself a major biosecurity exercise requiring the participation of a number of highly trained and expert staff—found that many invasive species were already established. Each one of these incursions is a threat to our aquaculture industry which is bad enough but the flow-on effects on industries such as tourism mean our country’s economy is hugely jeopardised. In fact the Pacific oyster itself a delicacy up north is actually a hitchhiker and a pest. My uncle once told me how as a kid he used to walk along the Kawakawa River for some 3 or 4 miles in the 1930s and 1940s. These days it would be impossible to walk along it as our feet would be torn to shreds on the oyster shells growing along the same river banks. Those Pacific oysters were transported amongst ballast rocks on the ships that sailed up our river having come from the Pacific Islands. In order to get as far as possible up the river as it became more and more shallow the ships’ crews would dump their ballast rocks and thus the oyster spat attached to those rocks on to the river banks along the way. Those piles of ballast rocks can be seen today under layers of oysters. 
The modern-day equivalent of ballast holds are the bags the suitcases and even the footwear of travellers from every corner of the world. Instead of oyster spat in the hold we are threatened with food fruit plant cuttings seeds fungus barnacles meat animal products smuggled animals insects and even viruses. Members will remember the calicivirus outbreak not too many years ago when frustrated farmers smuggled in the virus to control rabbits. 
That brings us to the purpose of the Biosecurity Amendment Bill. Labour supports this bill going to a select committee. Labour believes that an effective biosecurity regime is vital for protecting our interests. Biosecurity is essential to protect New Zealand from environmental and economic damage. 
Raising fines as suggested by this bill if someone is convicted of not properly declaring goods that should have been declared is a good idea but of little point if the biosecurity system as a whole is jeopardised by the axing of 54 jobs and $2 million from the biosecurity budget. This budget cut is a risk to our country’s primary industries our tourism trade and our economy in general and may therefore compound the effects of the recession. Last year 66 known incursions of unwanted pests and organisms were dealt with by New Zealand’s biosecurity staff. Those job cuts mean that less staff will be charged with protecting our borders at a time when the Prime Minister is looking to open our border with Australia. Open borders mean more visitors. More visitors mean more opportunity for biosecurity incursion. Biosecurity risks arrive in New Zealand by many vectors not just air travellers: the hulls of yachts inside containers and container ships amongst cargo in luggage and on the bottom of shoes just to name a few. We need more biosecurity staff to protect us not less. 
On 8 July it was reported in the  
Bay of Plenty Times 
 that because of a 13 percent drop in cargo volumes and a 4 percent drop in passenger arrivals Biosecurity New Zealand was reviewing its operations and those 54 jobs were cut. The reality is that the review of operations is a result of the $2 million budget cut not a drop in cargo volumes or passenger numbers. We have read recent reports that we may be emerging from the recession. One would assume that this would mean both cargo and passenger numbers would rise as a result. We can add to that the new procedures that will be put in place when our border with Australia is opened up. Common sense would suggest that now is a good time to train staff to be able to deal with the new customs procedures not lay them off so that when traveller numbers increase again and the common border is set up we have staff there who are prepared and ready to cope with the changes. It is an opportunity missed. 
On the face of it it seems reasonable for the select committee to have an opportunity to hear submissions on the part of the bill enabling the amount of infringement fees to be increased in regulations and the detail of the infringement offence regime to be prescribed in regulations rather than in the Act itself. 
I ask for the House’s indulgence while I recount a short tale from my time as a school principal at Karetu where we studied the effects of the possum on our local bush. I organised a short field trip to my uncle’s place down the road because this uncle was the head of a possum gang. Each day the gang would go into the bush laying lines of cyanide. Part of the study was learning about possum culling seeing the effects of the possum on our bush and looking for alternative uses for possum products such as the pelts. On this particular day one of the form 2 boys brought in a live possum in a trap. I took this creature down to my uncle’s place with the class and asked him to quickly euthanise the animal around the back of the shed and to demonstrate to the kids how a possum was skinned. My uncle duly dispatched this possum and showed us how to skin it which is a bit difficult when it is freshly killed but the House can be reassured that these kids were all typical country kids who did not need counselling afterwards. After a bit of difficulty my uncle completed skinning the possum—[ 
Interruption 
]—hang on members should wait for the punchline—to a round of applause. All the kids were suitably impressed except for one. I looked round and saw that the boy who had brought the possum to school was crying. I asked one of the kids what was wrong with Daniel and he replied: “Sir that possum was his pet.” I guess the moral of the story might be that biosecurity incursions are bound to cause somebody a bit of pain. Thank you. 
Debate interrupted.