Sharples Pita: Biosecurity (Status of Specified Ports) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Procedure Third Reading 
Sharples Pita: Biosecurity (Status of Specified Ports) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:857] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the Maori Party to address this bill in the context of its first reading. In the interests of bringing new ideas to this debate our priority today is to focus particularly on the Biosecurity (Gypsy Moth Levy) Order. The Biosecurity (Gypsy Moth Levy) Order 2004 was made in the context of the Biosecurity Act 1993. The order provides for the levy to be imposed on all shipping containers and used vehicles imported into New Zealand and is the liability primarily of importers although an importer or a shipping agent must pay the levy. The levy is calculated on the basis of dividing the estimated annual cost of a surveillance programme by the estimated number of shipping containers and used vehicles to be imported annually into New Zealand and is to be spent on the surveillance programme for the gypsy moth. 
Although we are pleased to see the introduction of the levy it is the bigger issue around the eradication of the gypsy moth that still remains unresolved. That is an area of particular interest to me given its implications for the people of Tamaki-makau-rau and in particular west Auckland. Just last month it was announced that a report into the health effects of the aerial insecticide spraying in west Auckland found that child asthma rates rose during that spray programme. The report from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research pointed to a plausible link to the spray programme. The report found that for boys aged up to 4 years hospital discharge rates for asthma conditions doubled over that period 2002 to mid-2004 in the exposed population. One parent described his daughter as being hospitalised 28 times in a year with serious asthma. That is a hospital episode every fortnight for a 5-year-old girl. 
Our particular concern with the linking of the moth spray to the incidence of respiratory diseases is the greater Maori asthma morbidity. The Maori asthma review concluded that asthma was more severe in Maori and that hospitalisation and mortality rates for Maori exceeded those of non-Maori. The review states that Maori are no more likely than non-Maori to develop asthma but that once they get it it is more severe and tends to last longer. 
The economic burden of asthma to New Zealand has been conservatively estimated as $800 million per year. For the sake of our society our economy and our community well-being we must be vigilant in stamping out any factors that may serve to threaten our future progress as a nation. Eradication of the gypsy moth may not be as critical as the insecticide introduced to kill it. It must always be considered that in doing whatever we do to get rid of a particular problem we must not increase the likelihood of other illnesses. In a way it is like using a wet towel to hit a moth on a light bulb. Sure we might get rid of the moth but in the process we might end up in the dark.