King Colin: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Colin: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 27 August 2013. Volume:693;Page:13065. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]COLIN KING (National—Kaikōura): It is a pleasure to make a contribution during the first reading of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill and I must commend the level of debate that has preceded me. There is no doubt that there is a lot of emotion a lot of passion for the welfare of all animals and when one reflects on the progress that has actually been made over the last 30 years in managing this topic one can say that there has been a marked improvement. However that having been said it is also very clear that society’s expectations have moved along considerably.Fundamentally this bill will establish a framework under which enforceability clarity and transparency can occur. And when we look at that enforceability there were some very passionate arguments put forward from various contributors to this debate but unless we have a framework whereby those people with the responsibility can actually make people accountable for poor practice or for cruelty then it is of no avail. That is where the difficulty really lies because there quite often is not a silver bullet to addressing these issues and they need to be well-thought-through. As they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. So effectively this is what the bill endeavours to do and we acknowledge the fact that as a nation 50 percent of our export receipts come from the sale of animal proteins. On that basis we have got to be very very resilient and very accountable and transparent in the way that we deal with things.Just looking at the two sides of the debate we have the agricultural basis which is enormous but on the other hand we have a large population of domestic pets. It is interesting when I think about it: the saying is that the dog admires its owner the cat despises its owner and the pig treats the human as equal. It is quite humorous but however we are surrounded by animals. We have one and a half million cats in New Zealand we have close to half a million domestic dogs 31 million sheep 3.75 million beef cattle six and a half million dairy cattle and a million deer. So when you look at the proportionality of four and a half million New Zealanders dealing with a population of that size—and yet we are feeding probably 20 million to 30 million worldwide and that is what maintains our standard of living—it is crucial that we do maintain locally nationally and internationally a leading standard around animal welfare.I certainly welcome the opportunity for debate around the psychoactive substances. It will be very important that we actually take away the heartstring tugs that we feel and the difficulty around the morals of that situation. But again when we boil it all down and we think of the national effect one only has to cast one’s mind back to the 6 o’clock news and what can appear on that. We have to be really resourceful so that we have a framework around animal welfare that can in time develop. I see in the bill that it is going to take up to 5 years to get some of these regulations really developed and set in so that they do work appropriately. It is going to be 5 years. It gives us a lot of time toget it right and I believe that the select committee has the resources and also the clarity of thought on balance in respect of how to make this work.I certainly welcome the arrival of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill and in doing so we look forward to dealing with it in the select committee with great diligence and professionalism. I commend this bill to the House.