McAnulty KieranKIERAN McANULTY (Labour): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I may as well start like everybody else that's so far spoken on this bill and acknowledge the contribution of the Hon Nathan Guy. There have been many many resignations or indications of resignations from the National Party but I don't think that any of the previous have spurred us on on this side of the House to acknowledge their contribution—and they are sincere. What I have noticed about Nathan Guy—even though some of the contributions today I feel have been somewhat overegged. What I have appreciated with him is that he's a good rural bloke that treats politics like a game of rugby. When you're on the field you play hard and when the game's over you treat people with respect and work collaboratively. I think that's a measure of the bloke so well done. I would also like to join the choruses from Hamilton and encourage David Bennett to take Nathan Guy's lead. This bill is very very important.Mark Patterson: Don't go Benno!KIERAN McANULTY: Don't go Benno!" is the sarcastic call from this side of the House from Mark Patterson. Actually I may as well now that Mark Patterson has mentioned David Bennett address some of the things that he said in his contribution. Scaremongering—they just can't help themselves can they the National Party? They've found themselves a bill in front of them which is desperately needed and they have acknowledged that but they can't just stand up and say "Good on this Government for doing what needs to be done."; they have to pick holes in it to some extent. Actually in fairness some of the things that have been said will be discussed at select committee and I think they've raised some valid points. But then David Bennett came along—David Bennett scaremongering about the ownership of data of the Government owning data in the true neo-liberal tradition of big Government is bad and small Government is good despite the fact that it is the Government this Government that's taken the lead on trying to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis along with Beef and Lamb and DairyNZ. It is this Government that is taking a commitment to biosecurity which is the essence of this particular bill. What I put to this House is: what is the alternative to the Government taking a lead on ensuring that the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) system works and taking a hold of that data to secure it for the benefit of those farmers that are trying to contribute to the economy like the rest of it trying to contribute through our primary industries to make this country and its economy grow? Their data has to be protected and what I heard from David Bennett—this call that the Government shouldn't be involved in protecting data—is that the organisation that looks after NAIT could in a future Government perhaps a National Government potentially be sold in true neo-liberal fashion and the data going along with it. What this bill does is protect the data from any actions that might come in the future. It is absolutely guaranteed to be secure and it is guaranteed to be there for the benefit of the farmers. If that is the best thing that the Opposition can come up with in critiquing this bill then I think the Minister of Agriculture the Hon Damien O'Connor has done a pretty good job of getting the balance right.The importance of biosecurity was drilled into me at a very early age. My father has been working in TB testing and dairy-shed inspection and has been on call essentially for 40 years in the group that if foot-and-mouth was ever to come to this country then he would be part of the response team. I remember him talking to me when I was a young boy about the importance of a strong biosecurity system in this country because of the importance of ensuring that something like that never comes to this shore. We cannot be complacent and the Mycoplasma bovis incursion in this country has taught us that. Thank God it was Mycoplasma bovis that hit this country and identified the issues of the NAIT system and the need to try and fix it the need to be compliant and the need for all of us to play our part because if it was foot-and-mouth we'd be having a completely different discussion. We wouldn't be talking about record commodity prices as Lawrence Yule did just previously; we'd be talking about how we can bring our primary industries up from the ashes.So thank God it wasn't foot-and-mouth and I am grateful for—if we are to search for positives in what is a terrible terrible thing in Mycoplasma bovis hitting this country at least it has given us the fire underneath ourselves that we needed actually as a country and as an industry to be compliant and not be complacent. What this bill does is it actually delivers the tools for NAIT to be able to ensure that everyone can have confidence—those within the industry and those that are producers and those of us here in Parliament and the rest around the country but also those that buy our products—that we can trace animal movement around this country so that if there is ever another incursion we are better placed to be able to deal with it.This Government has taken on a task that no other country has been able to do and that is to set a goal in eradicating Mycoplasma bovis. Every time that the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) reports to the Primary Production Committee they report that all is on track. This is in an instance that is unprecedented. There were always going to be teething problems. It is very difficult to establish a system when there is no other system to replicate or test against. But week by week MPI are improving the way in which they deal with things. There are still hiccups particularly around compensation but it is improving and I like others want to acknowledge the work that officials have put into the programme for eradication and also those that are dealing with farmers on a day-to-day basis—and I'd like to say in a very shameless plug that includes my mother. The point is that there are thousands of people around this country trying to deal with an issue that if this bill achieves what it intends to achieve we should never have to deal with again. Animal tracing is vitally important and I think as a nation we have received that message so good on the Minister for leading this. I fully endorse the move to have a slightly condensed select committee process because there is a balance here needed between ensuring that those that wish to submit and wish to be consulted as part of the select committee process can do so—but there is an element of urgency here. We have to be quick and get it in place because the efforts to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis are ongoing and we as I said earlier cannot be complacent. So I think the three months is fair. It hits that balance. I do acknowledge the other side of the House for getting in behind this despite their little grizzles. I think once again—and I hope the media do pick up on this because it's not reported enough—that when it comes to primary industries this House actually works more collaboratively than it works in opposition and I think that needs to be acknowledged. I fully commend this bill to the House.Bill read a first time. Bill referred to the Primary Production Committee."