Prosser Richard: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeProsser Richard: General Debate[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17057. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RICHARD PROSSER (NZ First):I am glad once again for the opportunity to rise to take a call in this general debate to once again raise the awareness to hammer the point and to bang the drum yet again as I and other members on this side of the House have promised to continue doing with regards to this Government’s blasé irresponsible “Look Mum no hands!” approach to biosecurity. There is an old saying: “Penny wise pound foolish.” That sums up the National Government’s approach to biosecurity very succinctly—in a nutshell you might say; possibly an undetected nutshell possibly even an unfumigated nutshell such is the dearth of capacity to examine goods arriving at the border.The latest fruit fly incursion in Northland is alarming to say the least. Somehow these potentially extremely damaging pests are getting through. Somehow despite the best efforts of our beleaguered border officers they are managing to slip the net. Maybe just maybe this could be because we inspect just one container in four of the tens of thousands that arrive on our shores every year.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How many?RICHARD PROSSER: One container in four—25 percent. A mere quarter of shipping containers are actually inspected or so those very same border officers tell us speaking anonymously in fear for their jobs—in very real fear for their jobs in what is still bizarrely and inexplicably a shrinking service. It is shrinking in real terms despite the protestations of this Government. Whatever the dollars being spent the number of actual boots on the ground is diminishing and so is the number of paws. We have too few sniffer dogs to service all our airports and seaports all the points of entry through which an ever-increasing volume of people and goods continues to flow. Border officers customs officials Ministry for Primary Industries staff MAF Biosecurity New Zealand—the people on the ground tell us that shortages and deficiencies lead to three-quarters of containers that arrive from overseas being opened and unloaded uninspected. There are not enough officers. There are not enough X-ray machines. There are too few dogs. So we just let them in to clear the ports to make way for the next wave of arrivals. There could be anything in those containers and in all reality there probably is.At this rate it is only a matter of time before we lose this battle as we have lost other biosecurity threats. It is as though nothing was learnt from the Psa incursion into kiwifruit. The varroa parasite that worked its way down the country is a case in point and is expected to cost New Zealand between $400 million and $900 million over the next 30 years as varroa becomes resistant to sprays. And what else might it cost us? If we have no bees we have no pollinators. Without pollinators we have no plants that require pollination. Three-quarters of the economy depends on agriculture and at least half of that depends on plant pollination.Three-quarters is a recurring theme here. Three-quarters of the economy depends on the primary sector yet three-quarters of the shipping containers that arrive here go uninspected for the biosecurity risks that threaten that sector because this Government expends only three-quarters of 1 percent of the value of agricultural exports on biosecurity measures to protect them. That is right—three-quarters of 1 percent $180 million - odd spent to protect about $25 billion worth of exports. And that is only the direct exposure. Taken to the next degree about $60 billion worth of New Zealand’s economy is at risk from biosecurity threats. Instead we have computer systems that are rolled out despite being less than three-quarters ready for a combined ministry that is still only about three-quarters properly integrated.Three-quarters of 1 percent is also about what this Government spends on military defence. Perhaps there are parallels here. A strongly resourced biosecurity system is just as important in terms of the defence of our country as our military is. As we arm the Defence Force so that New Zealand is part of the collective security for the region so we must also arm ourselves to defend our future well-being against unknown biosecurity strikes. A $60 billion economy depends on it. Given this Government’s colossal lack of understanding of the need to resource defence properly and adequately perhaps it is no surprise that it should similarly ignore the need for proper resourcing in biosecurity. Curiously enough about three-quarters is also the proportion of the public of this country who agree with New Zealand First that we should never have got rid of the air combat force and that we want it back.Three-quarters of an effort appears to be enough for Government members. They are about three-quarters concerned making maybe three-quarters of an effort. I would be generous if I said they were perhaps three-quarters adequate enough to be doing the job—maybe three-quarters too generous. The voters can decide on that one. In just over 5 months they can do just that. This Government must be living in hope that we do not have a foot-and-mouth outbreak before then because this country’s biosecurity is nowhere near three-quarters ready to deal with one.This problem is not going to go away in this global age when travel and trade are increasing daily. New Zealand intercepts thousands of risky organisms and risky goods each year that could threaten our $60 billion export trade yet our biosecurity teams do not have the weapons and the staff they need to search every container coming in. New Zealand First will properly resource our border biosecurity and we will fund science and research adequately so that New Zealand is ready to handle incursions.