Kuriger Barbara: Radiation Safety Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKuriger Barbara: Radiation Safety Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 03 November 2015. Volume:709;Page:7641. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): It is a pleasure to be taking a call and speaking on this second reading of the Radiation Safety Bill. I can remember when I stood up to speak on the first reading. I came into work that day and my executive assistant said to me “You’ve got to speak on the Radiation Safety Bill for 10 minutes.” and I was there thinking: “Oh my goodness how on earth? I know nothing about radiation.” As others have said it is a very complex issue. I do remember going to Wikipedia and ending up more confused than I was when I started.I do want to endorse the advice—and others have spoken of it—that we did have at our select committee explaining the differences between the types of radiation and giving us very clear charts and graphs about how it works. It is about modernising an outdated piece of legislation. I am one of the people on the Health Committee who can remember 1965 so I will make that admission. When you go back to 1965—it was actually when The Sound of Music was released and I can remember trotting down from my school to the picture theatre. When we think about technology now and the things that we are streaming in in terms of movies and then go back to 1965 and think about the way we did things then we just know that the radiation protection that we had back in those days is not going to cover what we have got today.There are about 4300 licensed users of radiation sources in New Zealand and although the majority of them are in the medical industry we have actually also got veterinary medicine we have got research and there are a number of others who are also using it. As other speakers have alluded to it is about the benefits outweighing the risks going forward and making sure that the level of exposure not only to those who are being treated but for family members and all those people around them is absolutely limited to the minimum needed. It is also stating in this piece of legislation that no one is allowed to use a radiation source other than for its intended purpose. You have to have an authorisation before you can manufacture possess or control a radiation source. You have to have authorisation to use a radiation source to import or to export or to perform a radiation ancillary service. It is really really tightening up those rules. It is tightening up the technology as we know it today.We all know that radiation services are really important for our medicinal purposes. It is about delivering better cancer services—one main use that we use it for. It is a top-priority service. We have come a long way in terms of the treatment that people are getting if it is caught early and it is treated early by safe solid services with radiation. So it is a pleasure to support this bill today.It has been a pleasure again to work with the Health Committee. We have had some great discussions. We have learnt a lot. While I am not now an expert on radiation I have a much wider and broader understanding of it than I did when we began. Thank you.