Choudhary Ashraf: Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill — First Reading 
Choudhary Ashraf: Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:14097] 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) 
: 
 That was a very very short speech from Mr Allan Peachey; I will take a full 10 minutes. Anyway it looks as if he is going from the Chamber. I am delighted to speak on this Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Bill and at very short notice actually. I did not know I was supposed to be speaking. But as always— 
Hone Harawira 
: You’ve got 10 minutes—use them all. 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY 
: Mr Hone Harawira should not worry about it. He should keep up the good work he is doing out there in the Maori Party. 
But I will go back a step in terms of the biosecurity needs of this country. This country is an agricultural country and we are dependent on—our income comes from—agriculture. We are dependent on the export of our agricultural products; whether meat milk products fruit or vegetables we are dependent for our income on exports. So we have to make sure as have successive Governments over many many years that we increasingly safeguard our borders. Whether stuff is coming through an airport or by ship we have to ensure that these islands of ours are protected from all the nasties the pests and the insects that might come into this country. Once those pests and insects get established in New Zealand then we have a real problem. As we know pests have become established here in the past so we have to make sure that does not happen again. This bill is another effort in promoting biosecurity in some of the new airports particularly in relation to cost recovery. I agree with the Minister that we have to make sure that the cost is recovered and that there has to be a sharing of the cost between the Government and the new airports because that is important. 
Over the last 2 weeks the Primary Production Committee has been hearing submissions on the Food Bill which has taken many years to come to fruition and to Parliament. We have been hearing from a range of submitters: from importers exporters city councils and district councils to food manufacturers. One of the issues that I have been asking submitters about is imported foods. We have very high standards of food in this country but I have been really worried about some of the food that is being imported. As members can appreciate I buy food and spices that come in from overseas and a couple of weeks ago one of the sachets that I opened had some insects inside it. It was awful! That is what I have been talking about in the select committee too. We have to be very very careful with all this food coming in particularly from some of the developing countries unfortunately that do not have the high standards that we have in this country. We have to ensure that all the imports whether vehicles or food or people coming into this country do not have the nasties all the pests and insects coming in with them. 
This bill is another effort to ensure that we have good biosecurity controls at the airport. We have the trained dogs for this purpose and we have the trained staff. It was very sad that although the Government is promoting these bills as my colleague from the Green Party said earlier last year the Government pretty much let around 55 people go from MAF Biosecurity New Zealand. That is not really acceptable; that is very short-term thinking. If we cannot ensure our borders are secure from the potential invasion of insects and pests in this country then we will be very sad and sorry in the long term. This bill ensures that in new airports such as Rotorua or anywhere else appropriate measures are taken in terms of having trained security staff and dogs. 
In the meantime staff have to make sure that all the travellers and visitors to this country do not bring any unacceptable stuff here but it keeps happening unfortunately. I often watch the programme  
Border Patrol  
on television. It is fascinating to see some of these people bringing in stuff that is really unacceptable. These people say they did not know. They brought in some apples and some other foodstuffs and maybe sometimes they genuinely did not know the requirements of this country. But members can just imagine some of those foodstuffs that are coming here such as seeds or even spices. As I said I personally saw these insects in that sachet of food which had been brought here and I was horrified. I had to personally burn the damn thing to ensure that they did not breed here. At the same time some of these foods that come here are outdated and on the way—God knows how long they take to get here—the pests develop inside the food material and end up in the shops particularly some of the dairies and small ethnic shops unfortunately. Those businesses tend to bring in food that is often not really acceptable. To that extent the biosecurity people need to be more vigilant. They have to have more monitoring. 
I know that in the end it is an issue of resources. I understand that but at the same time some of the food that gets in here is not really acceptable from a biosecurity as well as a food safety point of view. This is a major issue of food safety for a lot of our people who consume food that comes from overseas. It is not so much about what we are sending out but what is coming into the country which really concerns me. Over the years my scientist colleagues at Massey University and I have done a lot of work ensuring that the biosecurity steps in terms of laws and policies are backed by proper science. Over the years I know that AgResearch has done a lot of good work in promoting the weed scientists and the pest and control people. It has done a lot of work ensuring that they have good border security and also ensuring that we do not get any diseases and pests coming into New Zealand. 
Some of these issues have been brought up— 
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: It’s a maiden speech and a valedictory in one. 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY 
: No. This speech is coming off the top of my head. All my work and research that I have done over the years is still up there. I have not forgotten. Even after 8 years I have not forgotten all the agriculture work that I have done. Members do not need to worry because all the information is there. I am personally aware of this work in agriculture pasture land crops and animals. Some of these chaps from towns have no idea—like my children frankly—what we are talking about. But I like you yourself Mr Assistant Speaker Barker come from a farm. We have worked all our lives on a farm; we know what is required in this country. 
Agriculture is the basis of this country. All our income all the living standards that we have today have come from the farmers of this country. I have said many times and I know some of the farmers from rural areas will appreciate the fact that this country is dependent on agriculture. We have to protect our people from the diseases and insects that come into this country. There are simply no two ways about it. We have to ensure that we do not get any insects and pests coming into this country. I know that Mr Assistant Speaker wants me to hurry up but this is a subject that I am delighted to talk about. I am pleased to support this bill. Although it came from the Government Labour started this bill. Members have to remember that we have done a lot of work in this area to promote this legislation.