Smith Nick: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Smith Nick: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:607;Page:4411] 
6.  
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (NZ National—Nelson) 
 to the  
Minister for Biosecurity 
: What confidence does he have in the Government’s biosecurity systems when in the last 6 months there have been at least nine breaches notably the gum leaf skeletoniser and the plum pox potyvirus and in the last week the fall webworm in Mount Wellington and the crazy ants at the Port of Tauranga? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS (Acting Minister for Biosecurity) 
: 
 The people of New Zealand can have confidence in the biosecurity systems of the Government because we are finding these incursions before they establish. Our surveillance is working. For example we picked up the one suspect fruit that had symptoms not dissimilar to plum pox which was what triggered the full investigation. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Is the Minister telling the House that because we found these nine incursions and breaches of our biosecurity systems in the last 6 months that says the systems are working and can the Minister also explain why the Government has not followed out its explicit commitment in its 1999 policy in respect of container inspections? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: Given that there is the potential of over 100 new pests a day for every day of the year I think that finding only six in the last fortnight shows that we really are very good at surveillance. 
David Cunliffe 
: What have the Labour-Alliance and Labour-Progressive Governments done about biosecurity? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: This Government introduced instant fines for biosecurity breaches which I notice a recent editorial in a newspaper said that the Government was unable to do. It bought soft-tissue X-ray machines for every international airport to find illicit food and plant imports. We hired extra quarantine staff and detector dogs. We lifted the surveillance level of aircrew and passengers from 80 percent in the previous Government to 100 percent. We have spent more than $50 million extra per year on biosecurity than the previous Government. 
Gerrard Eckhoff 
: Does the Minister have any new and immediate proposals to ensure that the totally unacceptable but increasing incursion of unwanted organisms which directly threatens this nation’s agriculture and natural environment does not occur at that accelerated rate? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: Other than asking Mr Jim Sutton not to leave the country because those incursions seem to happen when he is away there is extremely good work asked for by the Greens that has been done on research into containers coming into the country as a risk area. The discussion paper has gone out to the people so that it can be part of the biosecurity strategy policy. 
Larry Baldock 
: Will the Minister consider directing the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to examine all high-risk containers coming into the country rather than the 24 percent it currently inspects; although expensive is that not a better use of resources than incurring the far greater cost involved in eradication or in foreign pests becoming permanently established? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: If every container were inspected there would be not only an extra cost of maybe up to $90 million but also the cost of delays and food going rotten in those containers as they sit in the ports. Those sorts of issues are being examined and are out there in the discussion on the container risk paper. The member should read the policy. 
Ian Ewen-Street 
: Given that sea containers are a major pathway for pest incursions into New Zealand does she consider appropriate the proposal in the draft Import Health Standard that biosecurity inspection of containers be carried out by the very same people whose business is dependent on the rapid release and distribution of the goods contained therein; if so why? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: Because that particular policy paper is out for discussion and the policy has not been approved by my colleagues I can have no comment to make. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Noting that during her watch nothing was done for 2 years—with the exception of the painted apple moth—why should this Parliament have any confidence that the Government will now take action against those most recent incursions? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: I shall correct those facts. A considerable amount of work was done on the painted apple moth in those 2 years— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Nothing! 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: I know that it was done because we paid for it and we increased the money that was paid from the amount paid by the member’s Government which was responsible for the painted apple moth arriving in the country. I come back to the question to make a correction. The Labour Government was not responsible for the painted apple moth arriving in the country. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: You did nothing for 2 years. 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: The Labour Government did a considerable amount of work on the painted apple moth. We know the mistakes that were made we have rectified them and we have learnt a lot from that. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I seek leave of the House to table two documents. The first of those is Labour’s biosecurity policy which explicitly promises 100 percent inspection of containers and the second is the Auditor-General’s report which shows that no action was taken against the painted apple moth for 2 years after the moth was reported. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House and Auditor-General’s report not tabled. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table the 1999 Labour Party policy promising decontamination of every used vehicle at the port of export something that the Prime Minister has failed to do. 
Document not tabled.