O'Connor Damien: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Connor Damien: Animal Welfare Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 27 August 2013. Volume:693;Page:13054. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour—West Coast - Tasman): Indeed it is a pleasure to stand and speak to the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill. The Minister for Primary Industries has quite rightly made reference to a regime in this country that does uphold and certainly promote and demand the highest levels of animal welfare of any country in the world. Indeed we rely on it because our economy is dependent upon our reputation. The Minister has not been so good in some areas in upholding that reputation but I applaud the fact that today he and the Government are bringing the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill to the House. As the Minister has said there are a number of changes—technical for the most part—to the 1999 Animal Welfare Act that will improve the regime of animal welfare management right through from farms through to saleyards and slaughter and indeed it deals with the issue of export of animals from this country.We do have a good reputation. I think the images of New Zealand of sheep or cows in pastures with a spectacular backdrop anywhere around New Zealand are the images that sell our country to the world. The assumption of course in that that we have a clean environment is one; the next one is of course that we have good welfare practices that look after the beautiful animals; and the third of course is that whatever we produce from that system is safe for consumption. It is a huge reputation one hard-earned by farmers and processes and workers and everyone through 150 years of innovation and is something that we must work hard to maintain and uphold.The dairy industry alone has seen a rapid growth in the number of dairy cows—heifers and calves—across this country and with that there has been a greater level of public awareness of the way they are managed. It is rather timely I guess given the focus on the dairy industry and what is produced from it that as the public drive up anddown our roads or go out into the country and see dairy animals it is important that they understand that those animals are being well managed. It is a commercial operation. It might not meet the needs or the expectations of a pet owner but it is a commercial operation and the legislation that we pass must balance the economic needs of this country with I think the underlying assumption and demand from each and every New Zealander and indeed people across the world in most Western countries that we respect the right of animals to not be treated unfairly tortured or in any way I guess demeaned and treated without any respect at all. I am not one who thinks that animals deserve the same rights as humans—not at all; I am a farmer—but I also believe that the abuse of animals should not be tolerated in any way.Shane Ardern: You must be the only one Damien.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: There have been—it might have been on that member’s farm; I would hope not though—a number of cases recently where farm workers have abused animals. I have to say the industry needs to take a look at that. I know that those kinds of situations arise out of frustration and those workers should not be there—they may be for whatever personal reasons—and the industry needs to take a good look at how it better offers pastoral care for workers on farms. That is just a note for the couple of dairy farmers on that side of the House.The bill as I say creates regulations and creates a better regime for implementing standards that we are demanding. Labour in Government looked at the issue of sow crates and of course hens for egg production. We made progress in that area. We moved to phase out sow crates. We gave the industry time. The reality that the industry has half the pigs produced out of the sow crate environment and half in means that it is possible to do but there is a cost involved so we in Government gave a clear indication to the pork industry that it should phase those out. It was the same for egg production. There have been some changes I think to the size of crates for hens—Hon Trevor Mallard: Cages.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: —cages yes; my colleague corrects me—that have moved in the right direction. “Free range” is wonderful marketing terminology. There are issues around animal welfare if all chooks were to be free range believe me. So it is about balance.We in Labour are happy to support the Government but what we do need to get from the Government is an assurance that it will provide the resources to implement the new provisions of this bill. I go to the regulatory impact statement here and although an enthusiastic supporter of the bill and of the improvements it will make I have to say that the regulatory impact statement is rather alarming because it says here: “In terms of costs to Government all proposed changes to the Act would be implemented by the Ministry on a fiscally neutral basis.” What that says is that it is not going to spend any more money on this. So although there will be an expectation of higher levels of animal welfare and of implementing and policing those standards this National Government true to form is not going to put any more money in.Colin King: Can the member give us a figure? How much should be spent on it?Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: Well an example of what has happened is that the National Government has got this proposal to double export earnings from this country—a laudable and worthy objective. It wants to rapidly increase exports from particularly our primary sectors. Right? But it cut the funding to the agencies that oversee protect and monitor that export sector. You cannot have it both ways. We are now currently dealing with a major problem of reputation for our dairy sector because the National Government cut funding for the Ministry for Primary Industry’s responsibility while expecting that the growth in the industry the growth in exports was to continue—in fact to ramp it up even further. It does not collate that you canhave both. In the end you do not get something for nothing and those so-called smart business people over there should understand that.Hon Ruth Dyson: Ha! Which one?Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: Well I have not been able to identify one but I am sure there must be one. You do not get something for nothing as most of my constituents understand. The problem is that when you have a regulatory impact statement saying effectively that the Government is not going to spend any more money in this area then we have to ask the question of whether the increased standards the better standards the better regulations that we are going to pass through the bill will be implemented because what is at risk here is our reputation. We have millions—in fact about 6 million—dairy cows I think at the moment and rapidly growing—Colin King: 6.5.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: —and rapidly growing. One situation on the front page of a newspaper the abuse of one of those cows or calves is enough to start to undermine our reputation. So it is no good passing the best legislation here in the House and then not having the resources to ensure that indeed we carry that out and that every farmer and every individual carries that out across the board in this country.We have a good reputation. It has been hard won and we must uphold that just as we do in food safety. But the Government again because it has cut resources to core Government responsibilities has allowed that reputation to be dragged through the mud for too long internationally. Hopefully we can restore that. We do not want the same thing to happen here in animal welfare and although there have been a few more inspectors appointed by the Government the overall pressure—Hon Nathan Guy: That’s right.Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: —I acknowledge that—on the whole of the Ministry for Primary Industries which covers a raft of things from biosecurity through to forest management and fishing is that the budget has been cut. The pressure is on and we need to know—and we will be investigating in the Primary Production Committee—that the Government is going to commit more resources to implement the higher standards that will effectively be put in place when this bill becomes law.