O'Connor DamienNATIONAL ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION AND TRACING AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Agriculture): I move That the National Animal Identification and Tracing Amendment Bill be now read a first time.Today I introduce the National Animal Identification and Tracing Amendment Bill to the House. This bill is an important step in our effort to improve the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) system and support our joint effort with the industry to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis from the country's cattle herds. As we begin spring calving it is important that we ensure all the tools we have can properly be used to track test for and eradicate Mycoplasma bovis. This bill corrects anomalies in the original NAIT legislation so that we can ensure our eradication efforts have every chance of success. The amendments will improve the investigation and management of non-compliance with the NAIT Act which will help deliver the higher levels of compliance that are necessary to support the Mycoplasma bovis response.The amendments align search and inspection powers in the NAIT Act with those that the previous Government passed in the Search and Surveillance Act in 2012. It was always the intention at the time that these two Acts both passed in 2012 be aligned. The bill will ensure we can track all animal movements by holding to account those people in charge of NAIT animals who move them to locations not registered with NAIT without declaring these movements. The bill is not about increasing powers for officers but about ensuring that those already available to them can be used properly and that they align with other legislation. This will help our phased eradication efforts.The bill highlights the coalition Government's commitment to the strengthening of our biosecurity system. A well-functioning NAIT system is a key part of those efforts. A review released earlier this year highlighted many issues with the NAIT system. The outbreak of M. bovis further highlighted these problems—simply not enough farmers were recording animal movements. We are changing that and I think farmers now understand how important NAIT is for our farming systems.Alongside today's legislation we are already implementing nearly two dozen changes that don't require legislative change which flow from the well-overdue NAIT review. This legislation shows the coalition Government's ongoing commitment to eradicating M. bovis from the national herd alongside our industry partners to protect our economic base. We're about action that helps our farming sector not just ignoring the problems and hoping for the best. We will revisit the NAIT legislation again in coming months after consulting on more changes—in particular ways to make the system easier to use.The response to the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis highlighted problems in the use of NAIT that should have been fixed years ago. This is one branch of our work into making New Zealand's biosecurity system fit for purpose. Alongside our NAIT work the Government is committed to an overhaul of the Biosecurity Act to make it fit for purpose. Bit by bit branch by branch we are fixing our biosecurity system so that we can protect our vital primary industries that provide the economy with more than $40 billion in income each year.I want to thank our coalition partners for their support not just for today but for the Mycoplasma bovis response. That response I can report is progressing well. To date more than 20 previously infected farms have been repopulated as part of the Mycoplasma response and another seven are well on the way to returning to farming. We are working closely with farming groups to ensure those farmers caught in the response get the support they need. I want to thank Dairy New Zealand Beef and Lamb New Zealand Federated Farmers the rural support trusts and Rural Women New Zealand for their help.To those farmers caught in the response we know this is hard. Where we make mistakes—and we have made a few—we will improve the systems that we run and we're very very cognisant of the pressure that these farmers are under. We're investing $30 million over two years in science to develop our understanding of M. bovis and how to better test for the disease. We will start a new round of bulk milk testing—and indeed it has begun—over a 12-week period to help our understanding of M. bovis' spread in the hope that we won't identify any new sources of infection.Farmers know that the Government is here to help them in times of biosecurity threats and that we want to improve a system that was left without much change for some time. Wherever I travel in the country farmers tell me that they want NAIT to be improved. I'm listening to them and today's legislation reflects the need for change. Just like we listened to the nurses and we're listening to the teachers and to the business community this is a response and a change that farmers want to see.I would ask that the Opposition who have worked well on M. bovis with us can see the wisdom in these changes and support this through the House in a very efficient way. There are of course points that we can discuss in this but I hope that the Opposition can see their way to support this legislation. This is not about increasing in any unfair way anyone's powers but it is about correcting anomalies in legislation between the NAIT legislation and the Search and Surveillance Act to align those effectively.There's no reason to stand in the way or to prolong this legislation and I hope that as I say all parties in this House can come in behind this legislation and pass it for the good of farmers in the country for the good of the people—all people—who want us to run an efficient animal tracing system one where those who choose to flout it can be caught can be penalised and then can change their ways. So I welcome the introduction of the bill into this House.