McKelvie Ian: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McKelvie Ian: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 12 September 2012. Volume:683;Page:5185. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
IAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 It occurs to me that we have lost our way with this debate somewhat. I think that the debate here relates to a piece of legislation the Biosecurity Law Reform Bill that in my view is a very good piece of legislation. The amount of money you put behind a piece of legislation is quite a different issue and clearly the Greens particularly have lost sight of that fact. I think this piece of legislation is a very good piece of legislation. It has been very well-thought-out over a long long time and so I do not think we should ever lose sight of the fact that we have such a piece of legislation. How we fund it is another matter. I certainly support the way this Government is funding it because at the end of the day $750 million is a fairly significant slice of cash to put behind a biosecurity system. 
We also should realise that we live in an isolated place probably one of the most isolated agricultural producing countries in the world so we are halfway to protecting ourselves naturally by the tyranny of distance. The other thing however that I guess to some extent circumvents that is the fact that we have one of the largest coastlines in the world. It is clearly impossible for us to guarantee we are going to protect our coastline however much money we put into it and however much resource we put into it. 
This piece of legislation is probably one of the most important pieces of legislation this House will put through in this term of Parliament. There is some groundbreaking change in this. It is the modernisation of a system. It allows those of us who wish to travel to travel—provided we do not take extra stuff in our bags—much more efficiently effectively and quickly than we used to. It also allows through much better systems the identification of risks to our economy and the biosecurity system can pick that up. 
This Biosecurity Law Reform Bill is intended to provide a more efficient and effective biosecurity system. It provides for partnerships where applicable and allows for the fleet-footedness of our border control. Not every industry in New Zealand is going to be able to participate in this partnership. There are some that clearly do not have the structure to join partnerships with the Government and I guess the equine industry is one of those where it is spread right throughout New Zealand and does not have a body that could coordinate it. So that is a challenge for the future for pieces of legislation such as this. 
During the course of our history we have had some spectacular success really at dealing with incursions in the past with one of those being the scrapie disease. It came to New Zealand about 20 or 30 years ago. We managed to remove that from the country. It did no further damage to our livestock industry at all. More recently we had the equine flu in Australia which was kept from New Zealand by a very effective and efficient border control system. So we do have a border control system that works. A biosecurity— 
Brendan Horan 
: Oh come on. What about the Psa virus? 
IAN McKELVIE 
: Well if you bring it in in your suitcase you will always get it in will you not? We have a border control system and a biosecurity system that I think works extremely effectively and if people wish to try to shyster the system they will always be able to get through a system because no system is bulletproof. But I think this bill puts in place a very strong system—a system that certainly complements the way we want to operate in New Zealand in the future. The trick for any business—in fact for the Government—is to get the balance between risk and reward correct in the pursuit of a healthy economy and a better outcome for our country. I was not on the select— 
Brendan Horan 
: If you start employing people and employ more biosecurity staff that would be a better outcome. 
IAN McKELVIE 
: We also banned parrots quite some time ago from this country—I am not sure how he got here. I was not on the select committee that dealt with this business when it first came before the House but I certainly have no problem in supporting the third reading of this bill and I am sure it will be a great success for the future of New Zealand. Thank you.