Ardern Shane: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Ardern Shane: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6258] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is always a pleasure to follow the Hon Damien O’Connor—the former member for West Coast - Tasman—particularly on an issue that he clearly knows very little about. He will learn more during the select committee process and at the end of that process—which will of course be thorough and relevant to the bill before the committee—he will know a lot more about biosecurity. That will be useful. 
During the last 5 years of the previous Labour Government New Zealand had 333 new incursions that are now permanent residents in New Zealand. That issue is what this Government is trying to address. Most of that material came through in people’s baggage and on their person after they had falsely declared they were not carrying some kind of foreign body or good that was likely to be harmful to the New Zealand environment. We need to spend a couple of moments thinking about that situation. 
The New Zealand environment is unique. No other environment in the world is the same and there is a very good reason for that. We are and always have been an island nation isolated from the original Western World and from many old Eastern societies as well—the Old World I guess we could say. We are a relatively young country with regard to things travelling to and from the rest of the world. We have a unique environment that encourages certain types of plants insects and animal species to flourish—species that did not flourish to the same extent in their own nation. We are vulnerable. Therefore our biosecurity has to be more vigilant better and world-leading which is what the bill is trying to address. 
When I had the privilege of having the biosecurity portfolio I received reports that as many as 8 tonnes of meat were entering our borders in a year on people’s person. Members should think about that for a moment. Eight tonnes of meat on people’s person is a big truckload. We might ask why anyone would want to bring in unprocessed uncooked or unpackaged meat but people do. The meat was intercepted at our borders. We know that because we intercepted it. One could argue: “Well what’s the risk?”. The risk is in the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s own audit at the time suggested that as much as 10 percent gets through. So we can see that the signal sent by the $200 instant fine was not being taken seriously. 
Let us compare that fine of $200 with the fines for dropping litter in the jurisdiction of a district council. I understand that South Auckland has instant fines for those types of activities and for graffiti. If we look at a schedule of what those instant fines are not only here in New Zealand but also around the world we see that they can be as high as $500 and we then realise that the $200 instant fine is clearly not sufficient for the potential seriousness of the crime that is being committed. 
I commend and thank the Minister for Biosecurity for the work that is being done. It is great to see. It is good policy and a good step forward. Many people will be pleased that the bill is being promulgated through Parliament and the Primary Production Committee at the moment. I know that in a survey I carried out during the last Parliament the highest area of concern for rural New Zealand was biosecurity. So I say “Well done!” to the Minister. This bill is a great step forward. I look forward to the select committee process. I can assure the House that the select committee process will be thorough and relevant to the bill. Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker.