8. Question No. 8—BiosecurityHon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki) to the Minister for BiosecurityQuestion No. 8—Biosecurity8. Hon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki) to the Minister for Biosecurity: How many inbound passengers arrived at Auckland international airport yesterday between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. and how many dog detector teams worked on the green lane at this time?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister for Biosecurity): Five international flights arrived between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. yesterday. Three of these flights were cargo and two were inbound passenger planes. All of those flights were appropriately checked. The two small passenger flights were risk assessed and screened. One flight was from Doha with 215 passengers and there was a Melbourne flight with 220 passengers plus pilots plus crew.Hon Nathan Guy: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: No. No I don't think we need a point of order. I think the Minister will answer the second part of the question: how many drug detection dogs?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: None.Hon Nathan Guy: For how long has the green lane at Auckland international airport had no detector dogs working between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: I'm aware that was the situation last night. I'm not aware of that being a regular situation. Can I say that—look that member's idea of a high-tech biosecurity system may be a detector dog. We on this side of the House have a multilayered sophisticated biosecurity system. We have $10 million of additional funding into biosecurity to buy X-ray technology. We're not totally reliant on detector dogs like the previous Government.Hon Nathan Guy: When did he find out that detector dogs aren't working on the green lane between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. and what has he done about it?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: Can I say I'm very grateful that I'm not rung at 2 a.m. in the morning to be told that there's not a dog in the green lane at Auckland Airport. These are operational matters. I am confident that the multilayered system that we have in place for biosecurity is far more robust more sophisticated and more effective than the system that he ran.SPEAKER: Order! The member's now going to answer the supplementary question. When did he become aware?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: I was made aware this morning.Hon Nathan Guy: Is there a bullying and toxic culture within management running the dog detector teams at Auckland's international airport?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: I have not been made aware or received a complaint of bullying at all. I'm aware that—a journalist raised that with me on my way into the House. I have to say that we are making some changes to the biosecurity system. I have to say we were left with what was called a dog of a system run by that previous member. Can I say that we don't believe our biosecurity system relies on 38 dog detector teams; it is far more sophisticated. There will be change and I expect change in the biosecurity system. If that results in some personnel issues I expect the director-general to deal with it.Hon Nathan Guy: Apart from cutting the ribbon on the new dog-handling facility earlier this year what else has he done to enhance border security at Auckland's international airport?Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: Firstly in our first Budget we added $10 million to the biosecurity system in this. Much of that money will go into better offshore intelligence better risk-assessment systems and if I could say and quote from Horticultural New Zealand an industry that is entirely dependent upon the security of our biosecurity systems The Agriculture and Biosecurity Minister and MPI are doing an excellent job holding the line at the border. All of us in the primary industries need to support them to keep doing their job and become even more vigilant. The loss to New Zealand—SPEAKER: Order! Order! That's enough. It might be a good answer for a Government patsy but it's too long."