O'Connor Damien: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
O'Connor Damien: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 31 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:4085. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman) 
: 
 I consider that an insult! I am very aware and I always keep my debates tight. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Of course you do! 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: Thank you. I would like to take the opportunity to talk on Part 3 clause 80 “Amendments to the Wild Animal Control Act 1977”. It relates to the definition of “wild animal”. It states that it is omitting “thar wallaby or possum” and substituting “tahr”. These are technical details here and I will be able to explain exactly what this means but there will be many hunters out there who are concerned that the Government through this bill the Biosecurity Law Reform Bill is making the right call here. 
One of the particular issues has been the management of tahr. This is a wild Himalayan animal that was brought into this country I think well over 100 years ago. They have been liberated and they live in a limited range in the Southern Alps. They are majestic animals to say the least. I have had the pleasure of going out and hunting them or trying to catch up with them—at great distance I have to say—and we have not shot one but we have done our best to chase them round the hills. That in itself requires an amount of fitness. The point is that they are an introduced animal. They have established themselves and live right at the highest parts of our alps. They do graze on some of our native species and I know there are a number of people—conservationists and the Department of Conservation—who are concerned that the numbers will get out of hand. 
The changes that we are making here in my view should enable firstly the control of the numbers of tahr. I think the Minister might take a call on this and explain it to the hunting fraternity because I know they are concerned. So we need control. But we have also fostered a very valuable commercial hunting as well as recreational hunting activity in the country. There are literally tens of thousands of dollars spent on helicopter time on guides on accommodation and on the very best I have to say of hospitality for people who fly around the world to come to New Zealand to go out and hunt Himalayan tahr. That is a valuable part of the tourism sector at an otherwise very quiet time for them. 
I just want to ensure that we are making the changes that allow the tahr management plan to be a sensible plan not to have extermination or elimination of the animals as some would desire but to have management of a population that does ensure their viability and does not allow them to get out of control and hammer some of the plants. The Mount Cook lily for example I know is a threatened species up in the high country. We appreciate the need to protect those species but anyone who has seen a tahr out in the wild and seen them run up vertical rock faces and down and around has to admire the nimbleness the tenacity and the sheer skill of these animals in surviving. So that is one of the amendments that are made under clause 80 of the bill. I just need to ask the Minister and I hope he will take a call to reassure us that changes to definitions in the Wild Animal Control Act 1977 are not going to put the skids under all those tahr hunters. 
We have got other changes here under Part 3 and they relate to possums and wallabies. Again they are species that have been introduced to this country. The possum of course is a serious pest both for the decimation of native flora and fauna and for the fact that they spread bovine tuberculosis and that without control would undermine our ability to export meat and animal products around the world. So both of these—wallabies and possums—need to be controlled. Wallabies have hopped over the Tasman. They are not much good for anything other than the odd hunting activity. They are down in South Canterbury and North Otago. I almost ran into one about midnight one night heading up the Waitaki Valley. They are a pest but they are not a nasty animal I suppose. But again they do need to be controlled under appropriate regulations and appropriate legislation under the Wild Animal Control Act which is going to be amended by the Biosecurity Law Reform Bill. 
The Director-General of Conservation generally does oversee these processes to make sure that they do not get out of control in the conservation estate. Other obligations that we have now placed on the Department of Conservation to be a good neighbour in the development of pest-management strategies should mean that it does its bit to keep numbers of wallabies and possums down at the lowest possible level. Those animals do not as I say benefit farmers. There are some people in the fur industry who would like to see possums managed in a more sustainable way so that they can get the fur. They have still got a long way to come down to get the figures where New Zealand is not under threat of tuberculosis or seeing its native species decimated out in the wild. 
I am not going to take too much longer but I will just say that we support the changes in the bill. The Minister might like to get up and take a call and explain exactly what will happen by redefining “wild animal” and making adjustments to the Wildlife Act so that “possum” and “wallaby” are indeed deemed something we do not really want. With that I will ask the Minister to maybe take up a call and answer my queries. Thank you.