Hayes John: National Animal Identification and Tracing Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hayes John: National Animal Identification and Tracing Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:392. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker Tisch for the opportunity to speak tonight on this bill the National Animal Identification and Tracing Bill and I do so in support of the bill unequivocally. Reflecting on the comments from colleagues across the House and the importance that Jim Sutton and Jim Anderton played in initiating this bill I would like to inform the House that 2004 when these people had these very original ideas was the year that this sort of system was introduced in the European Union. It has a system called TRACES the Trade Control and Expert System which tracks movements of livestock both within the EU and from third countries into the EU.  
It is also worth reflecting that around this time the Australians had their own system. It is called the National Animal Identification System. It traces animals from birth to slaughter. The Australians do this because—as some members have already mentioned tonight—having a system like this improves access for Australian produce to export markets and also contributes to food safety.  
The Americans also have a system and I reflect on Damien O’Connor’s list of countries that he mentioned and that have systems like Argentina Mexico and Korea. All of those countries export into America. So if you want to do that you have really got to abide by American rules which cover cattle poultry horses donkeys sheep goats pigs and all other animals. It is worth reflecting that we are talking about just beef and deer in this legislation at this point but other countries manage to include all of their productive animals except household pets. 
 Of course Jim Anderton was the Minister of Agriculture who in 2004 said “Don’t worry about the productive part of the economy. Let’s microchip dogs.” and that caused a furore at least in my electorate. The goal in the American system is to be able to trace within 48 hours of identifying an animal that is unwell where that animal has been and how it has been moved and therefore contribute to disease control. So I support this bill because it is critical for our export markets and being critical for our export markets it is going to give us higher export returns.  
I would say to my colleague in the New Zealand First Party who was standing to oppose this bill and said we should be responding to market forces that this system already operates among many farmers in the Wairarapa in my electorate and particularly for exporting into the American market. Those farmers who supply traceable meat right back from an individual farm to the American market get a high premium for doing so. So the returns are already there for the innovative and progressive farmers who have introduced this system without legislation.  
I think it is really important that we encourage farmers to engage with traceability because if you are going to get a higher price for your product you are going to get a better return at your farm gate. If you do that then you are going to contribute to growing the economy and that is a clear priority of this Government. We want to grow this economy we want the boat to go faster and we want that because we want a better standard of living for everybody in this country. We will all benefit from that outcome.  
It is worth keeping in mind that this scheme will become compulsory for all farmers—myself included—for their beef animals on 1 July of this year and next year I think on 1 March for deer. I think it is probably inevitable that within the next few years we will see this scheme being extended to other animals in this country particularly those that we need to push into export markets.  
It is interesting for a second too to just recall the comments of my colleague in the Labour Party Ruth Dyson talking about apple traceability. She is absolutely right in what she is talking about but I have begun to get complaints from apple growers in my electorate who are complaining about the high cost of meeting biosecurity requirements in exporting products into the Australian market. Basically I am told it costs you $200 to get an 18 kilogram carton of apples through into the Australian market. That is the cost of meeting the biosecurity system.  
We do not want to get into that situation with beef and sheep meat exports and I think that this bill and the system that is being implemented is really going to be very cost efficient for livestock animals. It is going to increase the returns for export markets. That will benefit all New Zealanders and I have no hesitation in supporting the bill. Thank you.