Browning Steffan: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Browning Steffan: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 31 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:4081. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
STEFFAN BROWNING (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party is supporting Part 2 of the Biosecurity Law Reform Bill. We are opposed to the bill in general because of the provisions that are in there over a number of things including the Government-industry agreements but in this particular part to do with ballast water we think that this is a great improvement. We believe that the fines and penalties could be somewhat more severe and we take on our colleague Damien O’Connor’s point that the surveillance and the monitoring of this part of the bill on ballast water will be critical. 
I noted in Part 1 that there was a bit around ballast water and also bio-fouling. There are some issues sometimes where you cannot really tell the difference whether the new organism has come from bio-fouling or through the ballast water. In Tasman Bay we had a major scare when the South African brown mussel was found there; when the oil rig that was parked out there in 2008 I think had actually deposited on the bottom this South African brown mussel. It was so close to New Zealand’s primary aquaculture area that it posed a very very real threat. We are very very fortunate that that threat appears to have been bypassed with good controls following that. But that was very concerning. We have oil rigs come into the Marlborough Sounds and actually park in the Marlborough Sounds in transit sometimes as well and other ships passing through—smaller ones coming through French Pass even. That area in the top of the south which has such an important industry is at real real risk. So this bill is very important. 
An organisation I was involved with in the top of the south before coming into this role Friends of Nelson Haven and Tasman Bay has often advocated for improved controls and monitoring particularly in and around Nelson harbour and through the top of the south around ballast water. We think that there have been a number of organisms brought in in that way. It is very very hard to pinpoint which ship and when. I noticed  
Undaria 
 was mentioned earlier and that has obviously been a major issue in the Marlborough Sounds. It took the industry a lot of work and a lot of cost to get that into a particular management regime. Unfortunately it is never going to go away and the industry has seen that as an opportunity I suppose in making a crop out of it. 
It does remind me however—you know we get a new pest in and Pacific oyster was mentioned which is quite a luscious oyster to eat. However I will note that the then theoretically honourable Doug Kidd talked to some marine farmers in the Marlborough Sounds who said that maybe they could farm it in Kenepuru Sound. He said no because it was not a natural organism there but should it by chance happen to appear there then maybe they could apply to farm it. What happened the next week? It was in Kenepuru Sound brought over from Manaroa. So ballast water bio-fouling or just general bad biosecurity advocated by former Minister of Fisheries Doug Kidd—we have some major problems. But the Green Party sees the benefit of this part of the bill and we will support this part of the bill. Thank you.