O'Connor DamienMINISTERIAL STATEMENTSFruit Fly Issue—AucklandHon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister for Biosecurity): Thank you Mr Speaker. I wish to make a ministerial statement on the fruit fly issue. I want to update the House on developments after the discovery of three fruit flies in suburban Auckland in the past week. The discovery of two Queensland fruit flies one in Devonport and the other nearby in Northcote alongside the discovery of a different species Bactrocera facialis in Ōtara have resulted in the rapid response from Biosecurity New Zealand and our stakeholder partners. The flies are different. The Queensland fruit fly is more adaptable than that found in Ōtara which needs a constant tropical climate to thrive. The discoveries show our system of 8000 traps for catching these fruit flies in New Zealand is working well. We are checking hundreds of extra traps daily in the priority areas close to where the fruit flies were found and we will expedite the checking of traps first on the North Shore and then in the Greater Auckland area. The fruit fly response is happening at pace and with the single goal of ensuring these flies don't establish themselves here in New Zealand. We have dozens of Biosecurity New Zealand staff working across the Auckland responses and we can call on the resources of other Government agencies if required. Field crews are working across the responses and working closely with the communities affected and I'd like to acknowledge the work of my colleagues in that area helping in the communities. Signs have been put up on key arterial routes in and out of Ōtara and in Devonport and will be placed in Northcote. Bins are being provided in the areas so local people can safely dispose of fruit and vegetable waste. Biosecurity New Zealand is busy having leaflets translated into a number of languages including Samoan Tongan Chinese Cook Island Māori Fijian and Hindi. I want to take this opportunity to thank the people involved in these responses for their hard work to acknowledge the cooperation of the communities involved and to make it crystal clear that the Government is committed to ensuring these fruit flies don't establish in New Zealand. I've always said that biosecurity is one of our biggest challenges because protecting our native flora and fauna alongside our vital primary sectors is an increasingly complex task in a world of growing trade greater movement of people and a warming climate. Our multilayered system includes the certified use of treatments overseas for imports surveillance X-ray technology detector dogs and the efforts of our great border staff. As anyone visiting New Zealand will tell you our border controls are considered tough compared to other countries. I've got many unhappy letters from people caught at the border and fined for undeclared material. As Minister I am committed to constantly testing the system and ensuring we are making the right adaptations to meet challenges. For that reason Biosecurity New Zealand started a review of our cargo pathway and brown marmorated stink bug measures in January and now an independent assessment of the air and passenger pathways will be done. That assessment will be carried out by an Australian expert Rob Delane and he'll be on board next week. Mr Delane is a former deputy secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Australia and is a former director-general of the Department of Agriculture and Food in Western Australia. I want to put these latest finds in perspective. New Zealand has found Queensland fruit flies several times in the past few years. In the last response $16 million was spent eradicating a breeding population of fruit fly in Grey Lynn. Recent history shows Biosecurity New Zealand is well geared to deal with the finds in the past week. Its staff understand the challenges and I've made it clear that they have my absolute backing in their work. I ask that all members of this House respect Biosecurity New Zealand's work and resist the urge to play politics with an important issue for our primary sector and trade relationships. To that end I've asked Biosecurity New Zealand to extend the offer of briefing to the local MPs whose residents are affected by the responses. We may find more fruit flies as they did in 2015 but I think that by checking traps more quickly pouring resource into the affected areas working with communities on the ground and reviewing our work we are taking prudent steps at a pace to meet the threat head-on. The Government has shown its commitment to biosecurity in many ways including our first ever attempt internationally to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis our improvements to the animal tracing system working to overhaul the Biosecurity Act and continuing to improve the import rules to stop the brown marmorated stink bug. I will continue to adapt and evolve to meet the biosecurity challenges facing us and I ask for the cooperation of all the communities MPs and Biosecurity New Zealand staff to eradicate these fruit flies. Kia ora.