O'Connor Damien: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
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Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour) 
: 
 The Labour Party supports the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill in its progress through the House. How could we not support a bill that is aimed at offering better protection to animals around this country? There had been a number of cases of terrible cruelty to animals and the Government stepped in and took action. It has brought in a bill that effectively doubles the penalties for any ill-treatment of animals: wilful ill-treatment of animals neglect of animals or as the Minister said failure to meet the physical and health needs of an animal. Labour supports the protection that is needed for animals. There is no question—no ifs no buts no maybes—that we have to offer that protection to animals. 
The bill as introduced doubled the penalties for those offences but the Government had not put in place any additional resources for the policing of that law around the country. I acknowledge that the latest Budget has shifted money within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to provide some more for animal welfare policing; I might come back to that issue later on. Clearly an additional effort has been made within the ministry to carry out that work. 
I acknowledge the need for this bill: there were more than 14000 complaints about animal welfare in 2008 but only 58 convictions. There was a big gap and there was a need for resources and for a tidy-up in the law. We have moved in that direction. To quote the Minister it is absolutely unacceptable that we should have offending against animals. The Minister said that offending or failure to meet the physical and health needs of animals “will simply not be tolerated in our society.” That is why Labour supports the bill. 
The question I have for the National Government is: what about the people that it has forgotten? In coming into this House today and celebrating the passage of this legislation—and I see that the Minister has already gone—which will rightfully protect animals in this country what is National doing to also protect the physical and health needs of people in this country? I tell members what it is doing: it is neglecting them. 
Dr Cam Calder 
: What about the protection orders just recently? 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: Mr Calder should listen carefully because he might not meet these people. Yesterday on the streets of Westport I met a woman who could not walk without the aid of two walking sticks. She is currently embroiled in a battle with the Accident Compensation Corporation and has been told that her application in relation to an accident—medical misadventure—that was accepted at the time is now under review. She was in tears when she was talking to me and is fearful for her future. Nick Smith and the National Government are determined to discredit the accident compensation scheme and then to say that we have to cut back in certain areas. They are issuing policy instructions saying that the corporation should go back and review these cases. At the moment in this country people are fearful for their future. The protection of their physical and health needs is not being met by current legislation. 
As we pass this good animal welfare legislation I ask what the National Government is doing about people. National members are silent. There is not a murmur from them because they know that in celebrating this protection for animals they are neglecting the health and physical needs of thousands and thousands of people in this country today. 
Sue Kedgley 
: And thousands and thousands of animals. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: And animals too but they are making progress on animals. We acknowledge that and it is why the Labour Party supports this legislation. But the Government should bring to the House legislation that guarantees the health and welfare of individual New Zealanders. That is what we want to see in this House but the National members ignore that. 
In fact it is worse. In reviewing thousands of accident compensation cases the Government is putting fear into the hearts and minds of thousands of New Zealanders for their future. Those people do not know whether they will get an income. Many of them are unable to work but their accident compensation case managers are saying that they have to look at their cases again as they may not be entitled to any cover for accidents that were acknowledged as occurring at work. Those accidents that were work-related should be covered by the scheme. 
I say to the people affected that they should not blame the accident compensation scheme; they should blame National. It is that Government’s policy to discredit accident compensation firstly by saying that it is broke and failing. We now know that that is not the case. The scheme took a hit like every other investment fund around the world and it lost money because of the international recession. It is now on the way back up. The scheme is not broke but in an attempt to discredit it the Minister for ACC is issuing policy instructions to review cases and wherever possible throw people off the support system that they rely on. It is their only support system. 
I ask the Minister of Agriculture who referred to the failure to meet the physical and health needs of animals: what about humans? Abuse of animals will not be tolerated in our society and that has rightfully been tidied up in this legislation. If people are caught doing it they will be penalised. We have put in more resources to identify where abuse is taking place. Any Minister can come and ask me and I will identify where abuse is taking place against individual New Zealanders. They can come and ask me about it. I write to the Minister for ACC on a frequent basis to seek support and intervention to stop the physical abuse and the failure to meet the health and well-being needs of individual New Zealanders. 
I cannot help but make that point when animal welfare legislation comes to the House because it is absolute hypocrisy to cheer the passage of animal welfare legislation to protect animals at the same time as we are heading backwards in the care and protection of New Zealanders: of children of people receiving accident compensation and of the elderly. That is why in conjunction with the Green Party we have an inquiry to investigate the growing abuse lack of care and neglect of elderly people that is occurring up and down this country. If the Hon David Carter is to be believed—if he seriously believes his own words that failure to meet the physical and health needs of an animal will not be tolerated in our society—then I ask him about people. What about individual New Zealanders? Government members are absolutely silent. 
If I have said this a hundred times in this House I make no apology because that is why I have come to this Parliament. I have come to this Parliament to protect New Zealanders when they need it. I stand in this House as the first speaker for the Labour Party on the third reading of the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill because I have come to this House to support any Government that brings in legislation to protect animals in this country—and we are doing that. Every one of us in the Labour Party supports this legislation because we have rightly said that it improves the protection of animals in New Zealand. 
Jo Goodhew 
: How about not just talking about it? 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: Ms Goodhew cannot even look after the ethical behaviour of one of her finest citizens. I suggest that she goes back to Timaru and defends Mr Hubbard because we know what is going on down there. He is just one—thankfully well resourced—individual who is being abused in this country. What about all of the other silent individuals—the children the people on the accident compensation scheme the people on benefits and the elderly—who do not have enough people standing up in this House to defend their rights to fair protection to prevention of cruelty and to prevention of wilful ill treatment and neglect? The definitions in this bill about wilful neglect apply to humans just as much as they apply to animals. 
The Primary Production Committee improved the bill. We did a lot of good work. There was goodwill to try to get good legislation and I think we have. But maybe Ms Goudie should go to the Social Services Committee and do the same for individual New Zealanders. That is what I say.