Hutchison Paul: Animal Products (Dairy Products and Other Matters) Bill — First Reading 
Hutchison Paul: Animal Products (Dairy Products and Other Matters) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:14230] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Port Waikato) 
: 
 I am very happy to support this Animal Products (Dairy Products and Other Matters) Bill on behalf of the National Party. We hear that this bill is going to the Primary Production Committee but I am supporting it in the context of its huge importance to the food industry and in the context of the huge importance of the dairy industry to New Zealand’s primary products. 
Undoubtedly according to the explanatory note: “The policy objectives of the bill are: management of the risks to human and animal health from the consumption and use of dairy products; and the facilitation of entry of dairy products to overseas markets by providing the controls and mechanisms needed for market access and the giving of official assurances.” There is no doubt that dairy products are of immense importance to New Zealand and the safety and quality of those products are absolutely vital to our export industry. 
I remember my old microbiology professor in Dunedin pointing out that he regarded milk as “bacterial soup”. Clearly it has the propensity to deteriorate if not kept in ideal conditions. That is the whole reason this bill imposes a series of risk-management processes that have flexibility—from the cow’s teat right to the export market. I note the agricultural department’s emphasis on the reasons behind the vital need for product quality and safety. It points out just how highly nutritious milk is as a food but how it is also an excellent growth medium for bacteria. Raw milk indeed has the potential to transfer a whole variety of diseases: bacterial viral and zoonotic. As the primary producers of the Waikato are always keen to point out to me it is hugely important that milk is collected in ideal conditions and transported within 24 hours before it deteriorates. 
That chain of action through to large dairy factories and then on to exporters shows that at every stage it is vital to have in place safety and quality assurance programmes that are consistent with international best practice. The emphasis on quality assurance and risk management has shifted from end-product testing to certification of processes in approaches such as the hazard analysis critical control point system and appropriate guidelines and training programmes have been developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other agencies to address product standards and specifications for milk and milk products emerging issues like sanitary and phytosanitary standards and the technical barriers to trade in the area of international trade. It is vital that New Zealand is at the forefront of that area. 
I note that in the development of this bill its genesis actually goes back to July 1999 when the previous National Government released a discussion paper. It was distributed to a wide number of stakeholders including dairy producers exporters manufacturers farming groups consumer groups Maori and Government departments. Time was given for consultation and six submissions came back—all in favour of a risk-based management approach. I have spoken to both Federated Farmers and Fonterra and they are supportive of that approach. Further discussion papers were produced in 2000 but we note that the commencement clause in the bill suggests enactment on 1 July 2004. The genesis of this very important bill dates back to 1999 so one wonders why this lumbering Labour Government—or maybe slumbering Labour Government—has taken so many years to finally bring it to the House. It does make one concerned as to where the Government’s priorities are. Nevertheless the bill is finally here and that is a good thing. 
I do note according to  
Rural News 
 on 17 September 2002 that:  
“ 
Bringing the dairy industry under the Animal Products Act is a top priority says the New Zealand Food Safety Authority in its post-election ministerial briefing.” Even in the worst or the best-case scenario the Labour Government has delayed this very important bill for 2 to 3 years. The Government was expecting it to be law at least a year ago. What has happened? All this is consistent with the way this Labour Government has put priorities into social engineering and not into the highly important area of our primary produce—our exports—to ensure that the standards surrounding them are in the best interests of our country. 
So here we have an important bill fundamental to one of our key industries—the dairy industry—yet the Government has been sitting on it for several years. The bill is about putting in place international best-practice risk management programmes from the teat of the cow to the export market. National supports it going to the select committee.