Prosser Richard: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeProsser Richard: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate[Sitting date: 26 June 2013. Volume:691;Page:11303. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Supplementary EstimatesRICHARD PROSSER (NZ First):I am pleased to rise on behalf of New Zealand First to take a call on the Appropriation (2012/13 Supplementary Estimates) Bill. I want to talk about—actually I do not want to talk about it but I am compelled to talk about it again—this Government’s incomprehensible irresponsibility when it comes to biosecurity. Three-quarters of New Zealand’s economy is based on agriculture. Directly or indirectly somewhere north of 75 percent of this country’s income its export earnings is generated by the things that we fish from the sea or grow in the ground: the forestry the vineyards the orchards the market gardens and the arable crops. From the green dairy pastures of the Waikato and “the Naki” to the even greener farms of Southland from the great granary that is Canterbury to the vineyards that are Marlborough the bulk of New Zealand’s wealth comes from down on the farm.Then there are the animals which provide a great part of that wealth. So I want to talk about foot-and-mouth disease. I think it is important that we address the subject of foot-and-mouth disease because this Government’s approach to biosecurity its irresponsible “Look mum no hands.” approach to biosecurity means that the prospect of this country succumbing to foot-and-mouth disease from which we have until now remained free is a matter not of if but of when.Some time in the dim distant past the continent of Zealandia broke off from Gondwanaland drifted off and sank. Then about 23 million years ago or thereabouts according to those learned types who profess to know about such things it began to rise again. The New Zealand of today these islands that we call home is the bits of that continent that now protrude above the waves. Those waves have served us well as a biosecurity moat.Until the advent of man the only creatures that were able to inhabit these islands were those that could fly or swim or had the good fortune to be blown here on thewind—birds and bats and insects—but no mammals other than marine mammals and perhaps the elusive and possibly mythical waitōreke the native otter. In the absence of predators birds lost the ability to fly as we know.This was a genuine paradise free of pests and diseases and in fact anything nasty. The wheels began to fall off that of course with the arrival of the first waka and the rats that came ashore as part of the uninvited cargo that our first-nation people brought with them. Shortly thereafter in geological terms more waka began to arrive—different waka; the big ones with the tall masts and the square white things on top and the pale-faced occupants. They brought other creatures with them—the four-legged cloven-hoofed ones which today are the basis of our agricultural sector in our economy. They too in the early days lived and evolved in splendid isolation free from many of the diseases that subsequently ravaged the stock from which they had come back in the old countries of Britain and Europe.The pigs and the goats that were released on our outlying islands by Captain Cook almost 250 years ago are even today a source of clean genetic material for our breeding and medicinal industries despite the best efforts of the Department of Conservation to have them wiped out for the crime of being non-indigenous. Well maybe they were not always indigenous but I would contend that they are now just like the pine trees the grapevines the wheat the kiwifruit the spuds and all the other things that form the basis for our way of life and our way of earning a living and I might add just like people.Humans are no more indigenous to these islands than any other johnny-come-lately organism that has flown or drifted or blown in on the wind during the past 23 million years. We are all interlopers and until recently we have been protected by the moat which is the ocean that surrounds us—no longer however. In this day and age there are other ways for people and things to reach these shores. There are great steel waka and mighty aluminium birds and they carry people and goods and creatures and organisms from the far reaches of the Earth.One of the things that they have not carried yet but which one day one of them will is foot-and-mouth disease. When that horrible virus arrives—and it is a case of when not if—the results will be terrible for this country for the entire agricultural sector and for the entire economy. The Ministry for Primary Industries’ own website carries the following blunt warning: “If FMD reached New Zealand virtually all exports of meat animal by-products and dairy products would stop. They would not resume until at least three months after the slaughter of the last infected animal. The country’s trade reputation would be damaged unemployment would rise (up about 20000 jobs) and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would lose $10 billion over a two year period.”The website also says: “Foot and Mouth (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease which affects cloven-hoofed animals such as sheep cattle pigs goats llamas and deer. It can be spread by saliva mucous milk and faeces and can be carried on wool hair grass footwear clothing livestock equipment and vehicle tyres. It can also spread quickly over long distances by wind. The virus likes damp cool conditions and is easily spread when animals are penned up. It does not like warmth and humidity but in the right conditions it has been shown capable of surviving several weeks in the soil or on grass sheep wool or cattle hair. Clinical signs of the disease vary between species but blisters on the nose mouth and feet are consistent. Animals stop eating become depressed and lame and salivate a lot. There is no cure.”The only protection we have as a nation against the arrival of foot-and-mouth is the ability to be vigilant at the border to be prepared for the arrival of the virus to detect it before it makes landfall and to stop it before it gets in. In the face of this reality this Government is cutting the biosecurity budget. The report of the Primary ProductionCommittee on the 2012-13 estimates for Vote Primary Industries states: “The Minister stated that biosecurity is one of his top priorities. We note that close to 60 biosecurity jobs in the ministry were disestablished and the number of dogs working at the border has been reduced; at the time of the hearing there were no dogs at Wellington Airport.The Minister was asked the reason for the decision to cut the biosecurity budget and front-line services while many risk items continue to cross New Zealand’s border. The ministry has indicated an intention to hire 40 new staff and the Minister explained that the budget was restructured to reflect demand more accurately. The dog shortage resulted from dog handlers resigning and the ministry is looking for replacements. The Minister acknowledged that New Zealand is always at risk of incursion and he believes that the ministry’s biosecurity system is very effective.We asked whether disestablishing Biosecurity New Zealand would adversely affect the ministry’s ability to respond effectively to biosecurity incursions. “The ministry believes on the contrary that the disestablishment of Biosecurity New Zealand has been beneficial; it has allowed the ministry to group teams by expertise within the ministry’s structure.” And yet the Government has cut $6 million from Vote Biosecurity.The report continues: “Furthermore we heard that the size of the ministry allows it to respond to situations comprehensively. Some of us are concerned nevertheless that reduced border security will increase New Zealand’s risk of biosecurity incursion.” Members are indeed concerned. There are some exceptionally fine people on that select committee by whose leave I sit on a regular basis as an observer.Fine members from all parties are well aware of the danger inherent in dropping the nation’s guard in this incomprehensively irresponsible manner. Yet I quote again: “The ministry believes on the contrary that the disestablishment of Biosecurity New Zealand has been beneficial; it has allowed the ministry to group teams by expertise within the ministry’s structure.” Incredible.All we have to do is make the smoke thicker and the mirror shinier and the foot-and-mouth virus will not notice the fact that we have cut $6 million from the budget or that there are no sniffer dogs or that anyone with the right passport can waltz across the border with their person and their luggage completely uninspected and it will not be able to get in. That is truly incredible or perhaps it is completely insane.Just last week we heard about a shipment of palm kernel from somewhere in Asia which was found to have a goat’s leg in it—a goat’s leg. How disgusting. That is like finding a finger in your mince pie only a whole lot worse and a whole lot more serious. At any rate we think it was a goat’s leg. We are not sure whether it was from a goat and we are not sure which country it came from and we would not have known it was here at all if the farmer had not reported it. All we know for sure is that it was from a cloven-hoofed animal and it came from a country in Asia where foot-and-mouth is endemic.We import rubbish like palm kernel from countries that do not care about health or hygiene or quality control and at the same time we cut the biosecurity budget and leave the door wide open and we will get foot-and-mouth because of it—not if but when. Six million bucks is all we are saving in the name of demonstrating that foolish ideas like SmartGate are the wrong way to go and in the process we are throwing away our entire livestock in dairy industries and costing the country $10 billion and 20000 jobs. It is a disgrace and it is probably criminally negligent.This Government has failed to adequately resource biosecurity. It has failed the agricultural sector it has failed the entire economy and it will deliver us foot-and-mouth. The Government has failed completely. It is a disgrace and it should resign. Thank you.