Carter David: General Debate 
Carter David: General Debate 
[Volume:669;Page:15744] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (Minister for Biosecurity) 
: 
 I start by picking up on the contribution of my colleague the Hon Nathan Guy. I take this opportunity to extend my thoughts and my prayers to the West Coast community particularly the families of the miners in the Pike River Coal tragedy as it continues to unfold. No one can really imagine how frustrating it must be for the families as they wait. It is day 5 today. A number of rescuers have been there right from the start of this tragedy wanting to do something yet everyone has had to wait until we ascertain the extent of the situation and ascertain what can be done without further endangering life. It is a difficult time for all and I extend my thoughts to the community. 
I want to comment on the kiwifruit disease which was in the media over the last couple of weeks prior to the Pike River Coal tragedy. I do not think that its place in the media has been surpassed because of that tragedy; it has been surpassed and the disease is off the pages of the media because we have made progress and have some action under way. First I commend the maturity and cohesion of the industry that I had to deal with. The fact that we were dealing with such a united industry made the issue of firstly establishing the extent of the incursion relatively easy. Although I know that everybody jumped to conclusions about how the disease got here it may take us some time to be sure as to when it arrived. I guess at this stage it would seem that the disease has certainly been here for a number of years. We have now found positive testings on pollen dating back to 2007. So it does not look as if it is a recent incursion which is what the Opposition seemed to be almost gleefully hoping for. 
It also means that it is probably going to be easier to deal with the situation in that if the disease has been here for that long it may not always manifest itself with the severity with which it has manifested itself this year. That seems to suggest to us that in fact the industry as a whole has been managing the disease over other years almost inadvertently because it did not realise it was coping with  
Pseudomonas syringae 
 pv.  
Actinidiae 
 at the time. Last week we managed to get an arrangement whereby a $50 million package was delivered with 50 percent from Government and 50 percent from the industry. That money is being spent as we speak particularly in the Te Puke region where there is an aggressive pruning campaign under way in an attempt to contain this disease contain the amount of bacterium that is associated with the rapid manifestation of the disease and get things under way so that control into the future is possible. 
There has been some nervousness amongst my primary sectors as we have moved to look at the best way we can manage our borders. We have been talking to the industry about the need for a much closer engagement through Government industry agreements whereby we can facilitate better protection at our border but at the same time ensure that when incursions occur we will have a better way of managing those incursions. The only way we can develop those protocols is by knowing what is important to the industry. I take this opportunity to congratulate the kiwifruit industry. I particularly acknowledge the work of Lain Jager chief executive of Zespri Peter Ombler president of New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers and Dr Barry O’Neil who has been the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s leading official in this response. All of them have been superb to work with and I think that is why we have got the situation to where it is today. 
It would be inappropriate if I did not finish this contribution by taking the opportunity in respect of the Mana by-election to congratulate my parliamentary colleague Hekia Parata on a superb campaign. 
Chris Hipkins 
: The runner-up. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: She was the runner-up but I remember the Labour Party saying that the by-election would be a test of the National Government’s policies. We proudly went into the Mana by-election and took the chance to take that test to the voters of Mana and we saw a 6.6 percent swing in favour of the policies of the National Government. That is why we are pleased with the result and that is why we are very pleased to come a very close second.