SpeechINCREASED PENALTIES FOR BREACH OF BIOSECURITY BILLFirst ReadingHon JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): I move That the Increased Penalties for Breach of Biosecurity Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Primary Production Committee to consider the bill. It is indeed quite a pleasure really to stand up and speak in this House. I do it very rarely these days and so this is quite exciting even more so exciting because I'm speaking to my—I think it's my fourth—member's bill. I've only had one winning strike and two fails so I'm going to have a crack at this one.This is a bill that's very dear to my heart. It's quite a simple bill but I do hope that this member's bill will go some way to providing further deterrents to any person or individual who is determined to bring a biosecurity threat across our border into New Zealand and why is that important? Well I think we all know but since I've got a member's bill in front of me it behoves me to explain why it is important to protect our borders and increase the fines and disincentives to try and smuggle items into the country across our border.The first threat that I want to outline very briefly is the sheer number of biodiversity threats that can and occasionally do unfortunately come to New Zealand. I think probably if I talk about threats such as myrtle rust that is a significant threat which has reached New Zealand and it is now occupying an awful lot of Government time and resources to try and stay across that threat. Now not all of these biosecurity threats come across our borders. Some of them blow in on the wind and that is just a feature of having an island nation surrounded by water. But we are rich in biodiversity. We are rich in nature and in native habitat and we can and we must—and we have a collective will to keep it that way as much as we can by strengthening I would suggest disincentives to smuggle across the border.So it's interesting in this world of politics that every now and again a member of the media pops up and takes a genuine interest in what we're doing. A rare thing I understand. But it just so happens that Mike Houlahan of the Otago Daily Times (ODT)—known to many of us in the South—writes a weekly column on a Saturday. We all wake up on a Saturday morning and before we do anything else we all grasp our phones and we go clickety clickety click click click Southern Say"—which is the name of Mike Houlahan's column in the ODT—and he writes something salient about what is happening with the southern MPs around the south of the South Island. Not always complimentary but just occasionally—I don't know; maybe once a decade or something—Mike Houlahan might find something complimentary to say; thank you Mike Houlahan.But seriously folks this is one journalist who takes a serious interest in parliamentary process parliamentary practice and has taken which is wonderful an interest in my biosecurity bill. So I'm going to quote from him because I want him to get extra bang for his buck having sat down late on Friday night to write this column. He says—and I quote—"It does not take a great deal of brain power to work out what the Bill would do if it became law … the fines for those auditioning for a role on Border Patrol by attempting to bring unwanted flora or fauna into New Zealand [the penalties] will be upped substantially." Thank you Mike Houlahan—you're right on the button. "If you lie about having something on the specified list of exempted goods in your possession—behaviour which will almost certainly guarantee your consideration for a TV appearance—the fine for doing so will we upped from $400 to $1000."—just as it says in the bill. I carry on: "Double down and erroneously declare that the stuff still isn't yours after having been asked by officials about those things and the fine will hike from $1000 to $2000 and you can start asking the director to please film you from your best side." Anyway it goes on. So Mike Houlahan thank you so much for doing the work and having a look into the bill and describing it so neatly for me.So I will go through the main provisions of the bill. I do want to recognise the interest across the House in what is a serious piece of legislation. It's not perfect. It's not going to solve by any means the problem of people wishing to bring in contraband across the border but I think it makes another step in the right direction and I welcome support across the House if and when it is forthcoming. So it is a simple bill as I say. There are some provisions in the bill which will amend two pieces of legislation and one secondary piece of legislation. So it amends the Biosecurity Act 1993. It amends the Biosecurity (Infringement Offences) Regulations 2010 and also it amends the Immigration Act 2009. The Immigration Act amendment really provides for a strengthening of officials to deport persons. It really codifies in legislation in the Immigration Act the ability for immigration officials to deport persons who try to smuggle items across the border.So as I say the bill is simple. It recognises I hope and makes a contribution to dealing with the biosecurity threats that come across our border. It also recognises that New Zealand has a very high economic reliance on our primary industries which is why I am nominating the bill to go to the Primary Production Committee. All I need to say—there's only two further words I need to say in that regard and that is foot-and-mouth disease. If we thought that M. bovis was a disease that threatened New Zealand farming—that sends a shiver down everybody's spine in this House because it's touched all of us in most parts of New Zealand—when I say foot-and-mouth then that's an entirely different thing and that is a biosecurity threat which is knocking at our back door. I see Jo Luxton over the other side of the House. Jo Luxton chairs the Primary Production Committee and I do know that that Ms Luxton is going to address the House and she's going to be fulsome in her support of this bill. So members thank you for your time and I do hope that you commend this bill to the House."