van de Molen TimTIM VAN DE MOLEN (National—Waikato): Thank you Mr Speaker. Moving livestock around New Zealand is an everyday part of farming in our country. We need to get the rules right around this and certainly with this piece of legislation we can acknowledge that changes needed to be made. A review was actually kicked off in 2016 to look at ensuring that we were in the right space with that and I think we can all accept that we weren't. Changes have subsequently been made and some of the proposals in this particular amendment bill are necessary. Increasing the fines is a good aspect within that. One of the key elements that I'm absolutely glad we've seen change from what was originally proposed is around that transport operator liability. We've already heard it mentioned a few times but the impracticalities of expecting a transport operator to be able to identify animals as they're flying on to a truck at speed in the middle of the night—it is not entirely realistic. So it's good to see we have achieved a change in that space. The other big one that we heard about from Mr Bennett when he talked at the start was around the ownership of that data and that was actually one aspect that I suspect hadn't been wholly understood by the Government when they were looking to put forward these amendments in terms of understanding—Hon David Bennett: They knew what they were wanting—they wanted to nationalise it. Don't underestimate these commies. TIM VAN DE MOLEN: —the implications of what they were proposing. Of course the more sinister option is that perhaps they were looking to do something with that or indeed a theme that we've seen over the last two years around Government wanting to control much more than indeed they needed to and in this case I'm glad that we have seen that change has not actually occurred and the ownership of the core data does not sit with the Crown in terms of this piece of legislation. It's been omitted altogether so that's appropriate. Now M. bovis—the Mycoplasma bovis—obviously has been a devastating biosecurity incursion that we've been dealing with in the dairy and beef sector and that's ongoing. Now the National Animal Identification and Tracing Amendment Act is important to ensure that tracking those movements minimises that risk and I think it's fair enough to say that perhaps had there been some stronger elements maybe it would have been different and maybe it wouldn't. We can't spend too much time looking back on that but we actually need to focus on getting this in the right space and I think we are. But I'd just like to take a moment to acknowledge all of those farmers that have gone through the terrible challenges presented by Mycoplasma bovis and indeed those who are still in that phase where they are currently a confirmed infected property or under an ownership direction or whatever stage they may be in. It is tough and it's difficult and there is the help out there so I would encourage them to reach out and make sure they have support through that process. The Rural Support Trust in particular have been doing some fantastic work in that space so I commend them for that. With biosecurity in general—and this is a part of it—it's important to have controls when breaches happen but actually we need to make sure that we're getting the right investment up front to minimise the likelihood of incursions not just in the dairy and beef sector but actually in horticulture as well and there are some significant risks in that space. We have seen it over the last summer as well with the brown marmorated stink bug and the Queensland fruit flies. These are incursions that typically do come in at the borders and they have so far been contained but it's an ongoing and ever-present risk. So whilst we're supporting this bill—and I'd like to just reiterate that—biosecurity needs to remain a strong focus and we need to have continued strong investment in that. Thank you Mr Speaker.