Young Jonathan: National Animal Identification and Tracing Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Young Jonathan: National Animal Identification and Tracing Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:389. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 I would like to just draw perhaps a backdrop behind this National Animal Identification and Tracing Bill of events that happened as we will remember some time ago particularly in the United Kingdom where the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy or what is called mad cow disease created such a furore amongst the industry there where 180000 cattle were infected and 4.4 million head of cattle were slaughtered during the eradication programme which is something that I think is a horrific thought to farmers and agriculturists here in New Zealand. The National Animal Identification and Tracing Bill will enable the establishment of a tracing system that will control and prevent animal disease and product contamination. This is an investment in current and modern technology that is going to protect an industry that is contributing over half of our annual export volume to the rest of the world.  
The global consumption of meat since 1961—and this is one of the major areas that this legislation will touch on—has tripled and it does continue to increase rapidly. It is fuelled by rising living standards in nations such as India and China. As consumer incomes rise there is the tendency to buy more protein. We understand that; we know that is why our exports and our commodities in this country have seen such a tremendous lift in recent years. Indeed people who live in developed countries consume four times as much meat as those in developing countries. You would be interested to know that since 1961 average consumption has risen from 56 kilograms to 89 kilograms per person per year in India and from 89 to 124 kilograms per person in the US according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. In 1961 the Chinese consumed only 4 kilograms of meat per person per year but that figure has reached over 55 kilograms and is still rising. So we see an international demand driving growth in this particular area in this particular industry.  
 It is incredibly important that management around disease prevention is hugely enhanced. We understand that nations that New Zealand competes with are progressing in these particular areas and current animal-tracing schemes here in New Zealand are falling behind the systems used by our trading partners. We live in a time of global opportunity in this particular area and it bodes well for us that we provide adequate information for responding to biosecurity risks and incursions so we do not place our market access at risk. The Food and Agriculture Organization reports that import bans on meat produced in disease-afflicted countries in early 2004 for example affected approximately a third of global meat exports or 6 million tonnes. This is the sort of thing that happens when disease or diseases can affect animals. From 2002 to 2006 alternating disease outbreaks and recoveries resulted in rapid shortages and increases in exportable meat supplies led to considerable fluctuations in international prices.  
The National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) system is a very reliable up-to-date information system on individual animal locations and movements. It is going to enable New Zealand to respond quickly in the event of a biosecurity threat such as a disease outbreak or a food safety threat such as residues being found in animal-derived food products. Such a quick response will help limit the spread and reduce the economic impact of such an event. This is incredibly important in order to protect not just the economic well-being but also the social well-being of our country. These things are incredibly important. National wants to grow the economy in order to deliver greater prosperity security and opportunity to all New Zealanders. We want to deliver—and are delivering—longer-lasting solutions for our biosecurity and primary sector to boost productivity and to protect those exports. We are very proud of the history of supporting our primary sector and our rural communities.  
The NAIT system would enable rapid and accurate tracking of animals from birth to death for live export. I recall speaking to a manager of one of our food processing factories in Taranaki and he stated that if it came across a biosecurity threat it would instantly be able to identify not only the animal but where it came from and the animals that were associated with it that came from the same locality. That would enable it to very very quickly isolate that biosecurity threat. That not only protects all of the farms or the animals that live in proximity to that situation but it also stops unnecessary wastage because of doubt about where that biosecurity threat may have spread to. So it protects our economic base. Also with this sort of technology that is proven it gives a degree of confidence to our markets so they can continue to purchase our products knowing that we have a very strong system in place.  
The NAIT scheme is a partnership that started before 2004—we understand that and we have heard that this evening—between industry and the Crown recognising the public interest and the private good of identifying and tracing animals. Industry across the board is highly supportive of this bill. The NAIT scheme brings the New Zealand primary sector up to speed with those of most other agricultural producing nations that already have in place such schemes. It is effectively an insurance policy to support New Zealand’s uniquely high livestock health status and biosecurity infrastructure and can enable other attributes of livestock to be recorded to improve productivity and on-farm management. This is I believe a tremendous step forward that will enable our primary sector to have great confidence as it forges ahead and continues to have a dominant place in the world market.