Cosgrove Clayton: Border (Customs Excise and Tariff) Processing Bill — First Reading 
Cosgrove Clayton: Border (Customs Excise and Tariff) Processing Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:658;Page:7117] 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 That was an invaluable contribution from the Leader of the House. I recall that he is the only man whose best friend is David Henderson. In the  
Press 
 Gerry Brownlee was described by somebody not by Dave Henderson as the third most powerful man in New Zealand and then his best mate Dave Henderson in the same article said that he was “a nice guy but a complete waste of time.” No no I am wrong. “Completely useless” was the quote. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take great offence at that and particularly at the claim that that particular gentleman is my close best friend. Everyone knows that one of my best friends is “Leonard the Refrigerator”. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I will not accept that. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: I take no offence. His other best friend is Ronald McDonald. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I ask the Hon Clayton Cosgrove to continue. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: That is Gerry Brownlee who will probably be the only person who will never be admitted through the SmartGate given the wonderful management he exhibits in this House. I cannot recall which colleague it was who said at the start of this parliamentary term that Gerry Brownlee will go down in history as the person who lost the confidence of his own side as Leader of the House the fastest due to his great management. We are debating the Border (Customs Excise and Tariff) Processing Bill under urgency because Gerry Brownlee could not get the accident compensation papers sorted in time. He is one gentleman who I do not think will ever be admitted through the SmartGate. There may be a different gate for him—one where three four five or six customs officers may be employed to frisk him because it probably would take half a dozen of them to do so. 
Let us get back to the substance of the bill. Labour supports the bill. I have used SmartGate a couple of times. I asked Maurice Williamson whether they are in every state in Australia. I have been through the SmartGate in Victoria a number of times recently. It is a very very good system. I do not think anybody would argue with the use of technology in this area. This is a solid bill that does a number of very very good things. 
I want to reiterate some of the very substantial concerns that were raised by Mr Chris Carter regarding biosecurity. In the same week that we are debating this bill the Government has announced its huge crusade against P which Labour supports apart from a number of penetrating questions we have about the resources to back up the rhetoric and the commitment. Everybody believes we should get that scourge off the street and Labour supports the Government in that move. But in the same week as we are debating this bill about customs the Government has launched its crusade against P. When we drill into the detail we ask how the measures contained in this bill will be resourced and therefore how will those measures contained on the war against P involving customs be resourced? We know that as the Customs Service is being asked to step up to the plate and commit to the war on P by further securing our border and as it is being asked to step up to the plate with the new provisions in this bill in respect of the functions of customs officers and at the same time as we are asking more of our Customs Service as my colleague said 50 front-line staff in the biosecurity area have gone. They have been axed; they are out. 
David Shearer 
: 56. 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: My colleague says it is 56 and I thank him. It is over $3 million in cuts that the Government calls savings. Judith Collins calls $21 million of cuts savings except the Canterbury district commander disagrees with her. There has been over $3 million worth of cuts to the Customs Service. It will be under-resourced. We now know that it will be flicked around to set up some sort of flying squad in respect of P and there will not be extra resources for customs. 
Paul Holmes did a very good thing on  
Q+A 
 when he questioned Mr Key about the $3 million cuts to the service. Mr Key slipped right past it and said he did not want to get that confused with the money being put into rehabilitation. I say that it is good to put money into rehabilitation but he never addressed the inherent cuts financially and in terms of personnel. I invite members opposite to have a look at a tape of  
Q+A 
. Mr Key never addressed that issue. Although Labour supports this bill we think there are some real worries in respect of the implementation of what will be an Act of Parliament. Over $3 million has been cut out of the Customs Service budget and over 50 biosecurity officers are gone. 
We have heard a lot from Government members over the last 9 or so months. We have heard this great line about moving resources from the back office to the front office. In this case the Government has removed resources from the front office to the exit lounge. The Government has taken resources off the front line of the Customs Service and taken them out the door. I am sure the Minister of Customs might get up and say “Hang on” as Judith Collins always does about the police when we front her like we do other Ministers and ask “Will Ministers take responsibility if there is a degradation in service or a delay in service because of the Government’s demand to cut money out of budgets?”. Maybe the Minister will break the mould and get up and say that he will take responsibility if there is a degradation of service an incursion of a pest an incursion of foot-and-mouth disease or an incursion of something terminal to our economy. 
In biosecurity terms we know that the way to crash our economy given our reliance on primary production would be tragically the introduction of some sort of terminal disease like foot-and-mouth disease or some other disease. Maybe Maurice Williamson will get up put up his hand take the pledge and say that he will take responsibility for the 50 biosecurity officers who have gone and the $3 million cut out of the budget. At the same time he is asking the Customs Service to step up to the plate in respect of this legislation. At the same time the Prime Minister is asking the Customs Service to do more with less. 
Mr Williamson would be the first Minister to say that it is not an operational matter if this turns to custard or if there is an incursion because he will stand up as Minister and say “I will take responsibility.”—unlike his colleague Judith Collins who was asked the same question at the police estimates hearing. Did she take responsibility for the $21 million cut for the degradation in service and for the risks associated with that? What was her reply? She said “Oh that’s an operational matter.” as every other Minister does. But I say that that loyal member of the executive Maurice Williamson may well break the mould of this Government and say he will take responsibility if the cuts that he and his Government have imposed in terms of front-line front office staff and dollars out of the budget create an incursion or worse in this country. 
Although Labour supports the bill it is a bit like the P debate which Labour also supports. Who would not support the war on P? Despite some silly comments from Judith Collins and others that we do not support it we do. But we were the first political party as we are today with this bill to raise questions about the gap between the rhetoric in terms of how these measures will be implemented given they are asking departments to do more with fewer resources. 
Colin King is a member who represents a farming electorate. I am told that he is not a bad MP from time to time when he is there. He is a farmer and he will know the devastating effect on his farm and his constituents’ farms in rural areas if we had a biosecurity incursion. Colin King may want to take a call and tell us whether he will take responsibility for his Kaikoura constituents and go to his farming folk and explain to them why it is that there has been an incursion—God forbid. It is because he and his Government cut the Customs Service budget and got rid of 56 biosecurity officers. There is a gap. [ 
Interruption 
] I heard a deflation of air from Mr Hayes. It was a bit like somebody had popped a large balloon a hot air balloon. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE 
: It is all right. I do not need protection from the “Michelin Man” over there. But maybe that member who comes from a rural constituency the Wairarapa as he deflates—there might be an oxygen bottle out the back somewhere—will go and talk to his constituents and take responsibility. Those members do not treat this as a serious issue. Well we will see. Will he go and tell his constituents why he and his Government cut the front-line biosecurity staff down by 50? I do not think he will. Those staff go to the border and guard the border—that is what they do. They secure the border from a number of pests and diseases some of which Mr Hayes may be personally interested in and have great knowledge of. Perhaps there are some sitting behind him. 
I support the bill. I think the SmartGate technology is fantastic. I think it will be more efficient between the borders but I invite Government members to stand up and take responsibility for the cuts in the Customs Service.