Browning Steffan: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBrowning Steffan: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 02 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19185. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]STEFFAN BROWNING (Green):I rise to speak on Vote Primary Industries mostly in response to hearing what seemed to be waffle from the Government side. I was going to speak on food safety because of the shortfalls in food safety and the many things that that Minister for Food Safety is not doing—and should be doing—in her role but we will come back to that.The Minister spoke clearly about his priority in biosecurity and I commend him for having that as a priority. But what I am not seeing is real delivery in biosecurity. What we are seeing are things that make us still very very nervous in terms of incursions into this country. Inspections are way way too low. Containers once were inspected right round them. Containers are now maybe inspected on four sides of them and then it is random enough at that although it is based on an improving system through the joint work of the Customs Service and Ministry for Primary Industries.The problem is that we then allow retailers wholesalers and importers to inspect their own containers and how crazy is that when those same people have a conflict of interest? They have got a vested interest in having the goods out of that container and out on to the shelves in shops and things. If they see something are they going to report it to the Ministry for Primary Industries? And even then is the Ministry for Primary Industries going to do a decent job?I have mentioned to the Minister before about theileria a particular strain of theileria. This Government allowed this cattle disease to get loose which is costing millions and it will cost millions for ever because it allowed the disease to get loose and to spread. At the same time Government members were chortling that they are ready for foot-and-mouth disease should it come here. That was a prime example of what they might have used to actually test their systems. They have no reason to be confident. New Zealanders have no reason to be confident that they can really control foot-and-mouth disease should it come here.I am pleased there is more and more work being done on it and the report expresses that. But there was a prime opportunity to jump on a very—how shall I say—effective protozoan parasite in cattle and use that as an example. What have we got the National Animal Identification and Tracing system for if you could not use that for animal controls and to get on top of that pest? That happened within this Parliament and this Minister has to share some of the blame for that. That one is just one.But one that also concerns me is another part—the genetic engineering in some laboratories. That is where we think genetic engineering should be but there was a breach—and the breach was back in early 2013—of a genetically modified fungus out of Lincoln University. But it is the Ministry for Primary Industries that has the responsibility for monitoring and making sure these facilities are working within the constraints of their conditions. We have been chasing the information on the report of the investigation on that for so so long and the Minister has ducked and dived and tried not to supply it. I wonder why? The report showed that for 3 years Lincoln University had inadvertently got GE fungus and was even potentially putting it out into apple orchards and Pinus radiata nurseries in this country because it has been poorly supplied by AgResearch.It is the Ministry for Primary Industries that has failed in monitoring and keeping an eye on that. Can we trust the Ministry for Primary Industries and the current Minister and this current Government to be doing better than this? We still have not got the final report on this released. Have we got confidence? No we have not got confidence because they have not been able to supply the report to the people who are caring about it the people who are very very concerned. The research was fine. The research had good intent.Vote agreed to.