Ardern Shane: Budget Debate 
Ardern Shane: Budget Debate 
[Volume:631;Page:3389] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki-King Country) 
: 
 Last Thursday in this Parliament Dr Don Brash moved in his Budget speech a motion of no confidence in this Government. I have to say tonight that that was the only sensible thing he could have done. The reason is that the Government has lost direction has no vision and has put nothing in this Budget that will benefit anybody in this country. In fact this Budget is the biggest step backwards we have seen in years. 
Nowhere has that been epitomised more than with the Minister for Biosecurity the Hon Jim Anderton. I want to share with members tonight what the Minister for Biosecurity said before the Budget. Before the Budget he announced that there would be a $33.2 million increase in biosecurity spending. I thought that sounded great. Numerous reports had identified the problems with biosecurity and suddenly the Minister was announcing extra money. Then came the appropriation for 2006 and if we look at the details we find that funding for biosecurity has actually been cut by $5.9 million—not increased but cut. It has been cut! 
 Let us look at the details and at what they state: funding for biosecurity enforcement will decrease; funding for biosecurity policy will decrease; funding for biosecurity standards will decrease; funding for biosecurity surveillance and incursions response will decrease; funding for policy advice—this is an area that the Minister clearly should have spent a bit of money on based on the mistakes he has made so far—will decrease; funding for specific pest and disease response will decrease; and funding for the control of TB vector will decrease. 
What funding has been granted in this Budget for the control of didymo? None nothing not a cent. So what do we do about that? Treasury estimates that it will cost New Zealand $285 million if didymo reaches the North Island—and believe this under this Minister it will there is no doubt about that. Papers I have received under the Official Information Act show that the lack of funding was a big problem. In desperation Biosecurity New Zealand was borrowing money from the moth fund. It was letting Cabinet make long convoluted decisions and it was left waiting with nothing happening to control the procedures or the issues. All this information was finally made available—some time after the incursion—so what would one expect in the Budget? Would one not expect that this Budget would now come up with something to control that? What did we get in the Budget? Not a cent. 
The Minister talks about team effort particularly when he is talking about marine farmers and the recent sea squirt invasion. What he means is: “You are on your own mate.” This is not a team Government. The Minister means that if people want to control or protect their industry they should come up with the dough and do it themselves. They should not wait for this Government. 
Over the past 5 years there have been 229 incursions into New Zealand. In 2004-05 the following were found on aircraft passengers: 15.8 tonnes of fruit fly material—that is a big truckload to be found on persons in 1 year—and 8.243 tonnes of meat products. The list goes on: seeds grains dairy products and cut flowers. So what do we do about it? We have an instant fine mechanism. In 2004 8810 people were issued with an instant fine. Now a $200 fine sounds pretty good. But when we look at the fact that 6237 of those people were non - New Zealand visitors we see clearly that the fine system is not working. What evidence do we need if that is not enough? What should the Labour Government do? What should this tired visionless Minister do? He should adopt National’s policy which is to stick those people on the same plane out of New Zealand that they came here on. People who come into this country and flout our biosecurity laws should be sent straight out and the instant fine should be increased. 
Most incursions however enter our borders through sea containers. The Auditor-General has just released a report tabled in this Parliament today. The report is called  
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry: Managing Biosecurity Risks Associated with High-risk Sea Containers 
. It follows on from the Auditor-General’s report of 2002. It clearly demonstrates that no lessons have been learnt by this Labour-led Government—none at all. This Government lacks substance to deal with the problems. Half a million sea containers enter New Zealand each year. All of them have the potential to bring in a biosecurity risk that could devastate our economy. The report states that high-risk containers receive special attention—but do they? They should but do they? The Auditor-General sought but could not find reassurance on that matter. The paperwork is there and the rules are there but the action is missing. More important there is no accountability. Here is another interesting comment from the report: “In our view it would help if the Quarantine Service and Biosecurity NZ worked together when they involved industry groups in strategic policy matters.” The Auditor-General actually had to say that. It is not happening. How dumb is that? It does not get worse. 
This report has 15 recommendations all of them vital for protecting our borders but none more so than the recommendation that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry needs to: “enforce the requirement of the  
Import Health Standard for Sea Containers from All Countries 
 …”. That is particularly interesting given that the Minister and his department are about to announce the importation of honey. In other words the Minister is opening up our borders to the possibility of European foul brood. Do we know what officials say regarding the concerns of the pastoral industry and other industries that have raised concerns? They say it is OK and not to worry because there will be an import health standard. Importers will clearly have to come under the import health standard but the Auditor-General says that the import health standard is not working. I ask the House tonight how raw pork meat came into New Zealand if it did not come through the import health standard. The list goes on and it makes appalling reading. 
The Government assures us that we have the best biosecurity in the world. I knew it was a false declaration when I heard it. It is just like a lot of the declarations made by people coming in from overseas—they are as false obviously as the sea container documentation that we have to believe in. But even I did not think that the Minister had allowed biosecurity to sink so low. Our biggest incursion threat is from sea containers and basically we are just window dressing. The Auditor-General said in his report that systems are not being used the training of staff is inadequate containers are not being checked or fumigated properly import health standards are not being upheld and there is no incentive for importers to follow our rules—the worst punishment they ever get is a letter saying they got it wrong. Ironically all this seems to be on top of the Minister’s being pleased about the trade values we have gained by New Zealand being declared bovine spongiform encephalopathy - free by the World Organization for Animal Health. I agree that that is good news but it is just good luck certainly not good management. What Biosecurity New Zealand needs is team work. It needs a new Minister. It needs a new Government. Clearly it will not get that leadership from this Government. 
This leads on to the forestry industry. The Minister of Forestry is the same Minister the Hon Jim Anderton. How can we have faith in a Minister who attacks and threatens the very industry he is supposed to represent? If an industry dares to suggest that the Minister’s policies are wrong he says that the industry could expect obstinate treatment from the Government. This is a group that used to be on good terms with the Government—it was set up to work with the Government. The Minister further threatened the industry by saying that it could not expect assistance from this Government. Well we know that and certainly the forestry industry knows that. The industry needs a new Government. It needs a new Minister. We can not let this Minister do to the forestry industry what he did to the small business and regional development portfolio. 
It is time for a new Government. I endorse the motion of Dr Don Brash. Let us have a vote of no confidence in this Government have an election and get somebody who can do something for this country in biosecurity and forestry.