Mooney JosephBIOSECURITY (INFORMATION FOR INCOMING PASSENGERS) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingDebate resumed.JOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf the National Party to speak on the Biosecurity (Information for Incoming Passengers) Amendment Bill. And let me just take a moment Mr Speaker just to congratulate you because I didn't previously this week for your elevation to the role of Assistant Speaker. I look forward to your wise adjudication from the Chair. It has been an interesting week for your elevation with the creation of the hybrid Parliament. So we have this evening been listening to other members of Parliament beaming in through a kind of Matrix-type moment with big screens in Parliament and it's been quite interesting to see. So it's been a mix of the new and the old and that has been quite something. I also should note very briefly just that it has been quite a unique day in the country's history. We've seen scenes that we haven't seen before and it has been a sad day for the country.But I'll turn to this bill. The purpose of the bill is to amend the Biosecurity Act 1993 to require that all craft coming to New Zealand are required to provide biosecurity information to the persons on board by means of an audiovisual recording and writing. The main provisions of the bill are to insert a new section into the Biosecurity Act that applies to craft that are en route to New Zealand and requires the person in charge of the craft to provide approved audiovisual and written information about New Zealand's biosecurity requirements. I would congratulate the member for Whanganui Stephanie Lewis in whose name this bill has come before the House. Biosecurity is an issue of critical importance to New Zealand due to our unique ecosystems and our economic reliance on primary sectors and that has never been truer than through this last couple of years in which other sectors like our tourism sector have been deeply impacted and we have been hugely reliant on the primary sector to carry our country's economy through and ensure that we have the money basically to keep the engine going.This bill creates a simple but effective mechanism to enhance our biosecurity system. New Zealand's unique island ecology is a massive selling point for our international tourism industry. It's also incredibly important for our primary sector as I said and I certainly hope that we do see more aircraft coming to New Zealand with tourists in the not too distant future once the Omicron peak has passed.Our distance to other land masses has resulted in an ecosystem where many organisms are found here and nowhere else. From wetlands to forests lakes and alpine meadows there are over 60 different native ecosystems in my electorate of Southland alone. Each ecosystem is a small part of a complex jigsaw and is an integral part of the Southland environment. In Southland we have areas with particularly high biodiversity values like those in Fiordland Te Ānau lake Waituna Lagoon and Stewart Island. There are smaller remnant patches of bush and wetlands rivers and lakes throughout Southland they provide havens for native species and native biodiversity can also be found in surprising areas like gardens around our woolsheds or in the schoolyard. This bill makes a practical contribution to protecting those natural environments which contributes to the wellbeing of our communities and also attracts many many thousands or millions previously of international visitors to partake in and enjoy our natural environment.At its core this bill helps to ensure that we take care of our environments biosecurity while supporting our ability to host others to enjoy those as well. And I'd note that in the 2020 financial year New Zealand earned $48 billion from our primary sector; $20 billion of that was from dairy which is equivalent to our total expenditure on health; $11 billion was from meat; $5.5 billion dollars from forestry; $6.5 billion was from horticulture; and $2 billion from seafood. So it just gives an indication of the value of our primary sector and it's something that we need to do our best to protect and this bill will enhance that protection. In terms of the other aspect of our economy that this bill will have an aspect in helping protect is that of international tourism. I'd like to note that in a few days' time I'm very pleased that we're taking a very good step forward in enabling vaccinated Kiwis from abroad to be able to freely come back to New Zealand without having to spend time in managed isolation and quarantine. This is a very welcome development which the National Party has been calling for and I'm glad to see the Government has made steps very much in the right direction in this respect.In terms of the Primary Production Committee there have been a number of largely practical changes that have been made to this bill through select committee as a result of feedback from stakeholders which we are supportive of. These changes include delaying the date from commencement of this bill by 12 months rather than the day after Royal assent. This will enable stakeholders and officials time to prepare and ensure that the implementation of changes is well-thought-through. Detail is being removed from the bill in regard to how biosecurity information is delivered; it is instead recommended that this be included in secondary legislation. Myself and Mr Penk are on the committee which will no doubt have time to consider that in the future—and a great committee it is if I may say so.Chris Bishop: Oh it's a great committee.JOSEPH MOONEY: It is. As Mr Bishop who has experience and has seen how well it works that he knows it's a very very good committee.Chris Bishop: It's very well chaired too.JOSEPH MOONEY: It is very well chaired and we're fortunate to have a fantastic chair for that committee. Now as biosecurity threats can change rapidly this will enable future changes to be made flexibly efficiently and responsibly. The select committee has recommended a practical change for the bill to require biosecurity information to be provided only to passengers rather than all people on board eliminating the need for crew members to hear the same message which they will no doubt be all too cognisant of. Amendments have changed the duty to provide biosecurity information which will apply only to commercial passenger crafts with 20 or more passengers excluding private planes fishing vessels and cargo ships. These crafts are already highly compliant and there would be limited value in additional regulations and compliance costs. That is a very sensible amendment which I am pleased to see. Another practical change in the bill is removing the requirement to provide biosecurity information to passengers within our exclusive economic zone. This level of operational detail is again best left to be dealt with through regulations rather than through primary legislation. That is again sensible.So in conclusion this bill is a common-sense way to make sure people entering New Zealand are aware of the biosecurity rules and enhance and increase compliance with them through that awareness. The amendments that are proposed in this bill will support sustainable tourism activity in the future—which tourism operators in my region will be very very pleased to see—as well as mitigating the devastating impact that biosecurity incursion could cause for our biodiversity and for our agricultural sector especially as other speakers have alluded to. Biosecurity outbreaks can result in New Zealand losing access to important markets and with our economic resilience reduced by COVID-19 now is the time we can least afford a biosecurity outbreak in our agricultural sector. In addition this bill will pull us into line with Australia which has a similar piece of law already. Finally the National Party believes this is a low-cost common-sense measure to enhance our biosecurity system and as I said reduce the risk of biosecurity incursion. For these reasons I commend this bill to the House.