O'Connor Damien: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
O'Connor Damien: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Sitting date: 17 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:7745. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour) 
: 
 I am pleased to be able to take the first call in the Committee stage of the Biosecurity Amendment Bill. This is a bill that Labour will support. We realise that biosecurity is perhaps the No. 1 issue shared by both rural and urban New Zealanders given the concern that without proper biosecurity this country would come to a grinding halt. We are a biologically based economy. We produce a lot we sell a lot and it is on the basis that we have integrity of our systems protecting our natural flora and fauna that we protect the process of growing grass growing trees protecting bees— 
Paul Quinn 
: Not a bad tie Damien. A nice tie. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: I thank the member very much. It is good that something is noticed by members from that side of the Chamber; there is not much that they notice otherwise. 
Hon John Carter 
: That’s very cutting at this time of night! 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: Mr Carter is awake too. I note the flippancy with which the Government approaches this bill. This is a very serious bill; it is a serious issue. Effectively the bill lifts the level of penalty for infringements against the biosecurity legislation. We do not mind that if it gives a clear indication that we are serious about biosecurity—as I said our country and our economy depend upon proper biosecurity—but if legislation just penalises people who do not know how important that is then it begs the question of whether we have this right. 
Anyone who has come into the country—and I know that quite a few members on that side of the Chamber have recently come into the country after the adjournment we have just had—will have a passenger arrival card that people are required to fill out. It is full of fine print with a few really serious questions on it. The questions are well hidden I have to say but anyone who fills out this form erroneously does not understand it and is apprehended for something that they had no intention of ever doing or that they did not know that they were carrying or did not know that whatever they were carrying was illegal will now be subject to a fine of up to $1000. The Primary Production Committee recommended an increase from $800 to $1000. The bill originally shifted the penalty from $400 to $800 and now it has gone up to $1000. 
That is still a small fine if there is a serious risk to our economy but there is a point of principle that I and my colleagues raise; that is if people cannot understand the information they receive on the plane up in lights at the airport when they arrive or before they get on to a plane then we have to try harder to inform them. Reducing the biosecurity risk to this country is not about simply increasing the penalties. This is a Government that chopped $2 million off the biosecurity budget and chopped over 50 front-line positions from MAF Biosecurity New Zealand. That is what this Government thinks about biosecurity. It thinks that passing this bill and increasing the penalties will create a big enough disincentive to more than compensate for the loss of front-line staff. I say that those members are kidding themselves. It is just a joke. It is typical of this Government. It wants to be tough and rough on law and order and then hands the responsibility to the private sector as we have just seen in the previous bill the Corrections (Contract Management of Prisons) Amendment Bill. It does not want the responsibility; its members want to ride around on their high horse saying they are tough and mighty but then hand ultimate responsibility to the private sector. Those people who are penalised may not pay the penalty; they may not be able to afford to pay the $1000 fine. They may end up in a private prison because the National Government thought in its wisdom that we should chop the biosecurity budget increase the penalties and hand over responsibility to the private sector for ensuring that that penalty is carried through. 
It is a bizarre situation but it is typical of the philosophy that drives the current National Government. Labour members will follow through with these things and I look forward to the Minister for Biosecurity answering some of the points that I have raised here.