Goudie Sandra: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Goudie Sandra: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:7063] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (NZ National—Coromandel) 
: I will talk about clause 5 but first I want to comment about the reaction when my honourable colleague Lindsay Tisch made a great speech in the Committee a short while ago with regard to clause 4. The Labour members opposite actually laughed and thought it was a bit of a joke yet it concerned a very serious matter. Their behaviour underscored their lack of understanding of the implications of a great many of the issues and matters arising out of biosecurity. 
I would like to draw the attention of the Committee to clause 5 which talks about biosecurity control areas. I would like to mention a further instance of a lack of understanding about biosecurity and biosecurity control areas. One of the things we have at Auckland airport is a significant furnace which offers one of the few opportunities we have to eradicate some bio-incursions into New Zealand. Some bio-organisms have to be incinerated to eradicate completely their existence. Some ignorant people in our communities people with a green bent people with a fundamentalist type of green view of the world are trying to have this furnace—the only one of its kind in New Zealand—removed. That is a very ignorant approach to dealing with some of the bio-incursions we might have. That furnace may be the only way in which we can completely eradicate them and stop them from spreading any further and here we have Greenpeace doing its best to prevent it from being used in this way. That is a fact. 
The other matter that I want to bring to the attention of the Committee is the contents of national pest management strategies which are a principal mechanism under the Biosecurity Act for the effective management or eradication of pests and unwanted organisms. That furnace could be a significant part of our getting rid of unwanted organisms that have become established in New Zealand. Pest management strategies provide a commitment as to how an organism is to be managed or eradicated and who is responsible for the various activities and for funding and compensation arrangements. It is to be hoped that some of the things that currently need fixing will be addressed as part of the national pest management strategies which are identified in clause 7. 
There is no clear accountability for the biosecurity programme as a whole and there is a lack of clear and agreed goals and outcomes for biosecurity activities. There is little systematic analysis of the relative benefits and costs of the different components of a biosecurity programme. All these sorts of matters should be addressed as part of the national pest management strategies and hopefully some of these problems will be fixed. 
Deciding the allocation of resources to deal with specific threats is highly complex. Of course we are experiencing some significant costs through the woeful lack of action by this Government. I did refer members to a number of news releases about the woeful inaction of the Government—the delay in responding to some of the incursions we have had and the delay of the bill which has sat on the shelf for 2 years. There has been a number of press releases in that regard on 11 16 18 and 27 March two in April and a number in May. The importance of the bill cannot be understated in any way whatsoever.