Ardern Shane: New Organisms and Other Matters Bill — In Committee 
Ardern Shane: New Organisms and Other Matters Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:612;Page:8937] 
SHANE ARDERN (NZ National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is with great pleasure that I stand to speak in favour of this bill but with some very deep reservations. 
Hon Rick Barker 
: Remember Myrtle! 
SHANE ARDERN 
: Clearly an agricultural piece of machinery is a new organism for that Minister over there! He has never seen anything like it in his life. [ 
Interruption 
] I would love to participate in the debate with the Minister opposite but I had better come back to the bill. I am disappointed that he left the chair because I am sure he could explain some of the questions I am about to ask the Minister with regard to this part. Is it not true that when Henry Ford first opened his factory the good residents of the area rose up and beat on the side of the factory with sticks wood and all manner of machinery because the machine that he would mass produce would kill thousands of people and frighten the horses? Is that not true? Can the Minister answer that question? The answer to that is that it is true. 
Are we are not in exactly the same situation here today where we are looking at high-tech modern state-of-the-art science-based technology and there is a fear of it— and justifiably there is a fear of it. It is the fear of the unknown and a fear of where it might go but at the end of the day will we become like those citizens way back at the time when Henry Ford manufactured his car who beat on the side of the factory because it would kill thousands of people and frighten the horses? That is where this Government is at with this issue. 
I would like this Minister present now to stand up to explain to us what “cultural spiritual and ethical” means with regard to this bill. It is simple enough. One can usually explain these things without too much effort. I am sure the Minister will be able to explain it in very simple language so that those of us from the country can understand it. I am sure that she will but so far she has not and it is still a question. Nobody actually knows what it means. 
The royal commission spent months and months and $6.5 million I am told—at the request of the Green Party as a deal done with the incoming Labour Government and the Green Party—pondering over this question and what did it come up with? Nobody actually knows. It said that it is a difficult issue to resolve. The Environmental Risk Management Authority has turned itself inside out over this question. It has spent hours going through what it means. It has spent months and no doubt thousands or millions of dollars I am not sure but it is certainly a huge resource being employed to try to figure out what this means and it does not know. 
I am sure the Minister will be able to answer this riddle. I am sure that Simon Power my very good colleague has got it bang on when he stated that this is the “most likely to buy the new Mercedes for the lawyers” part. I am sure that is what it is. I am sure it is out of concern for our poor hungry starving lawyers around the country that the Government has inserted this part. I am sure that that is so. I know that the member for Tukituki has a particular concern about the profitability of lawyers. I am sure that that is the reason that he insisted that this should be in the legislation but the rest of us really do not know why it is there and we would like that answered. 
I have one theory and the Minister can tell me I am wrong if I am wrong. I think it is a typical Helen Clark Prime Minister outcome where one can go around the country and tell businesses: “We’re lifting the moratorium. We’re going to do what the businesses want.” Then they can go across to the Green supporters and say: “We’re lifting the moratorium but we are tying it up in so much mumbo-jumbo hocus-pocus that nothing will ever go anywhere so you’ve got nothing to fear.” It is a typical Helen Clark Prime Minister outcome. She can also go to Maori and say: “Well we’re looking after your interests. We’ve put into this part of the bill that the Maoris are well taken care of. We’ve no idea what the hell it means but we’ve put it in. So you have nothing to fear from this Government. We will look after your best interests.”