Carter DavidRt Hon DAVID CARTER (National): For the worried farmers who have now tuned in and are listening to the debate in the House tonight that was Mark Patterson the New Zealand First member who previously spent 15 years as a branch chair of the National Party in Lawrence and is now supporting the New Zealand First - Labour - Greens Government to pass legislation that should worry every farmer in New Zealand. Not only every farmer: there are 25000-odd farmers but no one's yet mentioned all the lifestyle blocks around the city that run one or two cattle and that now will have these powers usurped on them giving a National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) officer the right to come in with more powers than the police. That's what's happening with this legislation.I've been in this House a while and I've seen history tonight. I have never before seen a Minister responsible for legislation stand in the second reading and say these words: I move that the National Animal Identification and Tracing Amendment Bill be now read a second time." and then sit down. He added nothing else. He could have at least taken the opportunity to correct the clear mistake he made when he introduced the bill in the first reading when he spoke in the first reading and said this legislation is not about increasing the powers of NAIT officers. That's what the Hon Damien O'Connor said and if he doesn't know it's wrong by now he should because I've seen him ducking in and out and talking to his officials.The very reason National's expressing concern about this legislation is not around the issue to reform NAIT and get it working right and it's not about getting cooperation to tackle Mycoplasma bovis; it's about the extraordinary powers being given to NAIT officers that I'm told are greater than the powers of a New Zealand Police officer. Damien O'Connor could have at least given a proper speech.Hon Damien O'Connor: Get another lawyer.Rt Hon DAVID CARTER: He says he's not a lawyer—that's the excuse. The Minister of Agriculture sits there and says he's not a lawyer and that's the reason he didn't take the call.I've listened to most of this debate and there's a very clear solution here. It doesn't have to be done in urgency. The Primary Production Committee chair and the National members of the select committee are willing to meet over the recess. What the Minister's achieving is passing this legislation through this House effectively on 15 August. Why can't we agree to pass it on 4 September? What difference does the fortnight make? The answer is very very little. Mycoplasma bovis has been here for 12 months. The Minister's been in charge of the challenge of Mycoplasma bovis—and I acknowledge it's a challenge—for 10 months. What difference would two weeks make so we can check out these huge powers that have been given to NAIT officers?I'm not arguing for one minute that the NAIT legislation that was passed in 2012 is perfect. I am not arguing that NAIT has been well complied with by farmers who have the first responsibility but I'm saying to this House that not only should we improve the compliance and ask farmers to accept their responsibility but then this House should have a look at the layers of responsibility that need checking.What about Operational Solutions for Primary Industries (OSPRI) the organisation now effectively led by industry that's in charge of two strategies that are important—NAIT being one and TBfree New Zealand being the other. We've got every chance of ridding this country of bovine tuberculosis but the responsibility doesn't rest initially with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and it doesn't rest with the Minister of Agriculture or the Minister of primary industries; it rests with an organisation called OPSRI. Not only is that organisation in charge of the TB strategy but it's actually the organisation that's charged with the responsibility of compliance for NAIT. No one in the House tonight has mentioned that. Probably some of the members on the other side of the House don't know it but that's where I challenge this House to look at for compliance.I want to refer to the fascinating speech from the Hon Eugenie Sage who when she spoke in the first reading said "We're only here to correct a drafting era with the NAIT legislation." Well the officials actually tried that on us in the two meetings we had with MPI officials yesterday and today. That was their initial comment to us: "You're only passing this legislation to correct a drafting error." We teased it out and this legislation's not about fixing a drafting era in the original NAIT legislation. We interjected that to the Hon Eugenie Sage and she left her seat after she'd spoken and went immediately to the Hon Damien O'Connor—not happy I think that she now realises she's been misled. She has been misled. There's no response from the Minister because this legislation is not about fixing drafting errors. This legislation is about an attempt to give extraordinary powers to NAIT officers—and extraordinary powers that we're not having the opportunity to examine because the Hon Damien O'Connor and the Labour Government supported by New Zealand First and supported by the Greens won't give it the opportunity of a select committee examination for two weeks.Talking of the Greens' support for this a National member earlier mentioned a former Green member Steffan Browning who claimed that the search and surveillance legislation which this Government's attempting to now align with the NAIT legislation was—and I quote—an "invasion of human rights" and he looked forward to the day when it was repealed. Well we're not repealing it. What we're seeing tonight is that every party who voted against this legislation is now supporting the extension of that legislation into the NAIT legislation.I just want to comment on a couple of contributions we've had from our members on this side of the House who are prepared to take their full calls. The first was from Hamish Walker. He's been down there in the Clutha-Southland electorate. He knows the heartache that Mycoplasma bovis has caused to people. He spoke about the difficulty farmers have in addressing their own family and explaining why apparently healthy animals are being culled. That's where we should be working cooperatively with the Government and we've offered our cooperation. Lawrence Yule spoke with absolute heart about Jeremy and Sharon White who have had their farm in the Hawke's Bay completely destocked—absolutely devastated their lives devastated their income and devastated their farming operation—in an attempt to work cooperatively to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis. The Government has taken a gutsy call: $880 million to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis. I support it. We've offered as a National Opposition complete support to the Government as it embarks on this programme bearing in mind a significant part of the money is actually not Government money but industry money through Dairy New Zealand and Beef and Lamb. But where that support breaks down Hon Damien O'Connor is when you introduce Draconian legislation like this and you're not even prepared to take a second reading speech to justify it. I think that's appalling and as we move to the committee stage shortly I assure the Minister I've got a large number of questions to ask him which the officials couldn't answer earlier today. I expect and hope that he'll stand and take the calls and answer those questions to satisfy me."