Kedgley Sue: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Kedgley Sue: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:637;Page:7446] 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 I thank Jill Pettis for her words of support for our colleague’s very courageous legislation which we sincerely hope this House will pass shortly. 
The Greens welcome the commitment to sustainability and to reducing our carbon footprint that was made in the Prime Minister’s statement. We eagerly look forward to seeing those fine words and commitments being put into reality. We look forward to the Government abandoning literally dozens of policies that are manifestly unsustainable—for example allowing millions of chickens to be fed antibiotics continuously when they are not sick and allowing millions of hens and pigs to be kept in cages and sow crates in transgression of the Animal Welfare Act—and finally making a commitment to truly sustainable agriculture and organics for example so that we have more than a pitiful 0.24 percent of our agriculture in organic production. 
We welcome too the Prime Minister’s remarks about reinforcing and celebrating our national identity. But we want to ask why a Prime Minister committed to enhancing our national identity is trying to ram through legislation in this Parliament—the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill—that will undermine our sovereignty and national identity. If this highly controversial and indeed sinister legislation goes through the House New Zealanders will wake up in a number of years’ time and discover—I am sure to their horror—that we have transferred control of entire industries from this Parliament to an offshore Australian-dominated organisation set up under Australian legislation headquartered in Australia and staffed primarily by Australians. They will wake up and discover to their horror that an unaccountable and unelected managing director—who I am sure will be Australian—has unprecedented and sweeping powers to make regulations that have the force of law in New Zealand but without ever having come to this House. 
They will wake up and find to their horror that herbs and therapeutic products that have been used safely for centuries have become illegal. For example 250 herbs that a local Chinese herbalist uses and that the Food and Drug Administration has approved are not permitted in Australia and will become illegal in a number of years if this bill goes through. New Zealanders will wake up and find a heavy-handed pharmaceutical regime being used on low-risk traditional herbal remedies. They will be horrified and will ask how this happened. 
We have John Howard coming over here tomorrow to exert intense pressure on our colleagues in the National Party including John Key and to try to twist their arms— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: It’s the Labour Party. Use your power. 
SUE KEDGLEY 
: They have got the Labour Party sewn up; they are now putting pressure on members of the National Party. The Australians will issue veiled threats to National Party members and say that if they do not pass the legislation they will throw their toys away and not allow any more trans-Tasman integration. I appeal to John Key to withstand the manipulations and pressure from the Australian Prime Minister and to listen to business and consumers who are united in their opposition to this sinister legislation. 
 This legislation is a case study on how to undermine democracy on how to remove decisions away from this Parliament on how to make decision making ever more remote and on how to make this Parliament ever more unaccountable to New Zealanders. If this legislation goes through there will be nothing really that any MP in this House will be able to do if he or she objects to decisions that this offshore entity will make because we will be told: “Sorry we have signed a treaty. You’ll have to go off and appeal to someone in Australia or to the unelected and unaccountable managing director.” I plead with the National Party the Maori Party and the New Zealand First Party to come to their senses to support New Zealand sovereignty and to oppose this bill.