SpeechDr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei) (remote): I'm delighted to be here. This is my second time speaking this year in the House; so may I just say I am very grateful that we are all able to join digitally even though it is clearly not desirable that we be doing so as a result of a pandemic—another pesky biosecurity risk that hopped aboard the plane of humanity although not one unfortunately that could have been stopped by this excellent bill.I am deeply and familially involved in some aspects of this bill. I've not had the pleasure and privilege of being part of the Primary Production Committee but many years ago it was my grandpa Ian Watt who wrote some of the original biosecurity rules for New Zealand. He was a Government vet. As a result we were brought up in fear and trembling at the thought of bringing anything into New Zealand that might risk our precious flora and fauna because we are so vulnerable we are so unique. I was reminded today when I was doing some research that the original source of biosecurity contamination in our beautiful country could be called Captain Cook's Endeavour. Had they only had the benefit of Steph Lewis' bill we might now be enjoying the beautiful birds that were heard off Queen Charlotte Sound and were said to be deafening of a morning. We all know what we have lost; we are determined to preserve what we have. The bill is of particular interest to me at this moment because Whangārei—the beautiful beautiful city which I'm quite sure Taranaki must be cheating in some way to claim the sunshine crown—finally has opened the most beautiful museum Hundertwasser on our waterfront. This has been the product of 30 years of hard effort and passion from my local community and one of our great hopes is that this will be a source of tourism and tourists when our borders reopen. Now I would just like to add that every single member of this House and your friends and family would be most welcome to come and experience this extraordinary jewel on our waterfront but we are hoping that maybe cruise ships might enter our upper harbour and be brought down to the Hundertwasser building. There is no way I want to see those tourists bringing biosecurity contaminates or risks into our country. So I have a certain personal interest in seeing Ms Lewis' wonderful bill passed tonight.I was really interested in looking at this bill and the background to just explore a few of the biosecurity risks that we're actually facing at the moment. I suggest that it is worth a wee trip to the Ministry for Primary Industries' Government website to have a look at some of the biosecurity threats we have whether it's kauri dieback disease or myrtle rust. Now I'm not saying we could have stopped the spores of myrtle rust coming over our border but again it does underline just the fragility of our biosecurity as opposed to the rest of the world. And I would echo my friend and colleague Glen Bennett's comment that overseas people who do not enjoy the protection that we on this island nation enjoy often do struggle to understand why they can't bring an apple or a mandarin or a baby bottle full of formula into the country and there have been a number of times when I've had to say to visiting friends No no please it may seem a bit overkill but this is absolutely vital to us. This is our livelihoods and this is where we live. This is our life. These are our taonga. Keep your apples out thank you very much."There are other issues we have. We have everything from something terrifying called Johnson grass though to velvetleaf. Now I'm not sure how they hopped aboard but I do have a few suggestions because I've also had a look at the Customs site as to the sort of things that we really need to be warning people not to bring in. Now I've already mentioned the fruit and veges problem. You can have your fruit and veges tourists but we really need them to be our fruit and veges not the imported version. Meat fish and poultry—we've all seen the border control programme and watched the way in which people just thoughtlessly or sometimes out of a misguided sense that these are gifts they needed to bring their whānau in New Zealand have tried to bring in egg products obviously hunting trophies sports gear bamboo cane coconut and straw. I remember when Thomas and I brought our two-year-old back home from the UK to live finally when we'd done our big OE—I remember getting home unpacking our containers and discovering that the movers had packed the entire rubbish bin. So I have sometimes wondered and had a reflexive moment of deep and abiding guilt and I can only think that my grandfather must have been watching over us and made sure that he zapped any nasties in that particular rubbish bin that was brought over. Further things: we have saddles and bridles gardening equipment outdoor furniture—all things unfortunately that I in my current state am unable to share in. But there you go. They're biosecurity risks and if I can't enjoy them—because currently I am sitting here with a broken leg—then no one else should either! I have to say it has been slightly difficult to have to engage with the biosecurity bill in my current slightly busted state. When one is unable to scooter across the house without great difficulty when one cannot drive one is suddenly somewhat jealous of those who might decide to talk about taking a lovely ocean voyage or possibly coming in from overseas on the plane. It does I have to say cause me a certain amount of sadness but I will overcome that. I will overcome my personal sense of jealousy at my current limitations which are thankfully going to be of short duration I hope and I will look toward the future of our people who are going to be crossing the border happily. And I will try to count my blessings and see the wonderfulness that is other people enjoying the travel that they will shortly be able to enjoy because we are of course opening our borders because we have done so incredibly well in stamping out that virus that we could not keep out using Ms Lewis' wonderful bill. So as I continue my goodness you're having an interesting evening there Mr Speaker clearly. It's an interesting experience it has to be said. It's an interesting experience doing this digitally hearing the feedback seeing the faces. I have a few tips for those who are Zooming now. I've realised the trick is don't put it on the view where you can see the speaker because it's very distracting to have to look at yourself all the time. It's much more fun to be able to look at the wonderful faces of your colleagues and of course to be able to ignore the slight background noises much more than one was usually able to do. To conclude my speech tonight I just think that this is a small and perfectly formed bill and one that we deeply needed. I am grateful to the committee who worked so hard; I am grateful to the submitters who helped make it better; I am grateful to Ms Lewis who brought this in to us so that we can just have that added layer of protection. As I sit here in the beautiful Whangārei inviting you all to come to Hundertwasser and any overseas people who might be riveted to New Zealand and Parliament TV please consider booking yourself upon a wonderful cruise ship so that you too can venture into Whangārei and meet Hundertwasser. But you will do so—you will do so my future international visitors—knowing full well what you can and what you can't bring in. From the bottom of my heart Ms Lewis on behalf of my family and my grandfather thank you for updating our laws to take better care of all of us. On that happy note I very much commend this wonderful bill to this wonderful House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ian McKelvie): Order! Order! Before I call the next speaker I'll just remind those people on my left that members' day has traditionally been the day of great initiative and imagination and it should remain so."