Anderton Jim: Biosecurity and Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Legislation Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Anderton Jim: Biosecurity and Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Legislation Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15195] 
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Minister for Biosecurity) 
: 
 I speak quickly on the amendment to insert a sunset clause in the bill as set out on the Maori Party’s Supplementary Order Paper. Firstly with all respect there is no need for this sunset clause. The amendments in the Biosecurity and Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Legislation Amendment Bill do no more than ensure that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s longstanding role in managing the risks associated with new passenger organisms is maintained. It does not change anything over what the House originally believed was the practical situation in law. The bill will not lower the level of biosecurity protection for New Zealand as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will continue to carefully manage the risks in the same way it always has. There is no change required because there is no change intended. 
I turn to the Green Party member Metiria Turei’s comments. Firstly when we are addressing ministries and we are suggesting that there is some kind of collusion of officials in Government departments to do something after the election it would be a good idea to get its name right. There has not been a Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries since 1995 but I have a statement here dated today from the Green Party suggesting the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is doing something. There is no such ministry and there has not been for 13 years. That is No. 1. It is not all that credible when one cannot even get the name of the ministry right. 
The second thing is that there is no conspiracy possible here. The Green Party is suggesting that the officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Biosecurity New Zealand are somehow going to do something after the election as though they are elected members who have some authority to change things after the election. They do not stand for election. That is why there are officials in a Government department. They operate under the mandate of the Government of the day. These officials serve this Government. They will equally loyally serve the next Government. If it is the same Government returned then they will honour the policies of that Government. If it is a new Government then they will honour those policies. I have been here long enough to know that that is a fact. Sometimes I wish it was not but it clearly is. To suggest that the officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Biosecurity New Zealand are running around planning some kind of coup against the Government—whatever that Government might be—is simply ridiculous. That is some kind of mad conspiracy theory. 
I suggest the Green Party gets a grip on reality. I ask its members to acknowledge the fact that this is a necessary pragmatic change. The Green Party itself acknowledged the Court of Appeal decision. The Green Party said that the court’s decision may well make the administration of Biosecurity New Zealand virtually impossible. They said that and they said: “Well that’s what our interpretation of the law is. If you want to change it so that you can actually have an effective biosecurity system you will have to change it by parliamentary legislation.” That is exactly what we are doing. If there is a conspiracy here it is a conspiracy between the Court of Appeal the present Government elected members the National elected members and the officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Biosecurity New Zealand. Now how likely is that? It is not very likely I would suggest.