Choudhary Ashraf: Biosecurity and Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Legislation Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Choudhary Ashraf: Biosecurity and Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Legislation Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:646;Page:15146] 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) 
: 
 Aleikum salaam. After hearing the background to this bill from the Minister for Biosecurity Jim Anderton and also from the Hon David Carter chair of the Primary Production Committee there is not really a lot one can add to what has been said. So I will take just a brief call on this bill. 
The Minister has very clearly highlighted why the Biosecurity and Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Legislation Amendment Bill was necessary. There was clearly the need for clarification between the Biosecurity Act and the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act particularly with the issue of importing honey from Australia in relation to the  
Paenibacillus alvei 
 organism which has been mentioned before. The court case has been won by the honey industry in relation to the process at the time not to the organism itself. 
This bill is now fully supported not only by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry but also by the  
Environmental Risk Management Authority the  
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Crown Law and the Legislation Advisory Committee. This clearly shows that there were issues that have now been fixed by this bill. I am delighted that the Opposition the National Party supported this bill through the select committee process and will be supporting it going right through. 
Clearly this bill is designed to highlight the fact that any passenger—what I would call stowaway—organisms that come to the country unintentionally should be dealt with through the Biosecurity Act rather than through the  
Environmental Risk Management Authority. This bill also validates any of the import health standards in relation to honey imported from Australia. I am delighted.  
The Primary Production Committee heard 15 submitters out of the 53 who sent submissions some of whom were quite emotional at times. There were very strong views held particularly by the bee industry. We also heard from importers who had quite a different view. 
I think that through this bill we have clearly set up a mechanism if you like for the bee-keepers through the independent scientific panel. Being a scientist myself I was very pleased that this issue was dealt with in a scientific manner rather than emotionally. I am pleased that the Director-General of Agriculture and Forestry will set up the scientific panel to look at this issue within 90 days of the enactment of this bill to give peace of mind to in particular the bee-keepers in this country. 
The Government takes particular pride in dealing with biosecurity issues in this country. I am delighted that these issues come up for us so that we can make sure that our border control people are doing their job in terms of preventing any of the organisms coming to this country. These organisms could be damaging to our agriculture because we depend on agricultural exports and commodities. Clearly we have to be on the lookout for any dangerous organisms that could come into this country. 
I think setting up this review panel is a great improvement to the original bill. There are not too many bee scientists and honey scientists in the country and it appears that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will probably have to get someone from overseas on to this panel to make sure that the process takes place—if the bee industry wants it. Obviously it is up to the bee industry if it wants some kind of review of this honey import to seek it. In the meantime the committee has recommended that the import of honey be banned for 90 days so that this process can take place if the industry wants it. 
Overall I think the bill is much-improved from that which came to us in the Primary Production Committee. It was a process that we had to do in a bit of a hurry but I am delighted that the select committee members on both sides of the House supported this bill. As usual we worked very closely as in any issue relating to primary production and the farming community. I thank the Opposition members and the committee for their cooperation on this bill. With those few words I commend this bill to the House.