Ardern Shane: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Ardern Shane: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
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SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 I rise in support of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill along with the rest of the Parliament. This is a rare occasion when the Parliament I understand is unanimously—100 percent 122 votes—in favour of the bill. It does happen from time to time and when it does it should be celebrated. 
The interesting thing about the debate from members on the other side of the House is that I have never been subjected to so many angry speeches in support of legislation. I think the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill may have arrived just in time for some of my colleagues on the other side of the House. Clearly something is going on over there from a cruelty point of view that could make them so angry when they are in support of legislation. I wonder what they are like when they do not like something. I have been sitting here pondering what could have caused it. I think I have come to a conclusion and the member Sue Kedgley may have given me the hint. After 12 long years of Labour and Green Governments they were unable to do anything; they never achieved anything. Nothing was done. And what happens? A National Government which according to the last speaker apparently supports farmers who are cruel to animals—not—comes along and introduces legislation that will fix up some of the issues that have been ongoing as the member said for a very long time. 
Hon David Carter 
: It only took 18 months. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: Yes that is right; in 18 months it is already done. 
The further point that needs to be made—and it was raised by some of the previous speakers—is about the lack of resources. The National Government not only introduced a bill to fix up some of the problems but also added another $8.2 million towards a lot more resources to solve the issue. 
Dr Cam Calder 
: How much? 
SHANE ARDERN 
: It is worth repeating—an extra $8.2 million will help with the fight against cruelty to animals. 
The Hon Damien O’Connor who was a member of the Primary Production Committee spent most of his speech talking about this legislation in terms of how it addresses issues of negative behaviour of people in society. Well he must not have listened to submitters during the submission process who said time and time again that there is an absolute link between cruelty to animals and further violence in society towards people. So in answer to Damien O’Connor’s challenge to the House about what National is doing in the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill to address problems in society like violence towards people I say that this bill according to those submitters whom I have no reason to doubt will go a long way to prevent some of the negative heinous behaviour that we often see from people who start off by being cruel to animals and progress to being violent towards their partners their families their children or whatever the case may be. 
The Primary Production Committee received the bill in good faith from the Government on 23 February 2010. The closing date for submissions was 15 March 2010 and the committee delivered. We received the bill we got the submissions in—17 different organisations across the country submitted to the committee—and we went through the process and delivered a result. We made some recommendations to the Government in terms of changes that might be considered and the Government looked at those recommendations and put them in the bill. This legislation has had a sound robust parliamentary process. It is supported by all members in the Parliament. 
I need to finish with one point: New Zealand is an agricultural nation. I know that a lot of people in New Zealand hate that and I know that a lot of people in New Zealand would like to change that. But the fact is that we are an agricultural nation. Members from the Green Party are gesturing as though that is some kind of revelation to them. Well I mention to them that when I attended a political meeting in my own electorate in Raglan members of the Green Party were there and said that they would ban agriculture if they were given a chance. So I need to point that out to the members over there. We are an agricultural nation we are dependent on our primary production systems and we need to make sure that we present to the world farming systems that can stand up to scrutiny as far as animal welfare concerns go. I believe this bill will go a long way in doing that.