Hutchison Paul: Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Approvals and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Hutchison Paul: Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Approvals and Enforcement) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:730] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Port Waikato) 
: 
 Thank you very much Mr Deputy Speaker for the opportunity to speak on this Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Approvals and Enforcement) Amendment Bill—a very technical bill but a very necessary one. I would like to congratulate the Hon David Benson-Pope on the very animated and lively way he spoke about this bill. Essentially the bill is absolutely needed for the transference of 70000 notified toxic substances on to the register under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act to take place. If that did not happen they would be out there unregistered and of considerable worry. The registration must occur before June 2006. 
I notice that the explanatory note of the first reading copy of the bill states that it offers to reduce costs to businesses and the Government and to reduce barriers to innovation whilst not compromising appropriate management of risks. It is very interesting to hear that come from the Labour Government which is absolutely infamous for increasing the compliance costs of small business and New Zealanders generally. After all have there not been 42 tax increases in the last 6 years? I am sure Mr Cosgrove could confirm that for us. There have been 42 increases in tax in the last 6 years by this Labour Government. It is absolutely phenomenal. If we think of the Resource Management Act we know that the added compliance costs and obstructions that this Labour Government has imposed on New Zealanders trying to get on with business is also absolutely phenomenal. 
When we come to the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act Federated Farmers were certainly very careful to present a well-formulated paper on the huge costs imposed on New Zealand farmers by this Act. They brought out a considerably well-researched paper called  
Compliance Costs of the HSNO Act 
 in September last year. They say that the total set-up cost for compliance with the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act is calculated to be nearly $105 million. That averages $2230 per farm in set-up costs but it does not include any ongoing costs from 2007 onwards. Heaven knows what the costs will be from then on! They go on to say that the average set-up costs imposed on the arable sector are over $3000 per farm. That is a huge amount of money given that our farmers are competing with farmers in Europe who are so heavily subsidised. 
Some of the regulatory impositions that this Labour Government has imposed in relation to the new organisms part of this bill are sheer larceny in terms of the very important primary sector in New Zealand. I think particularly of the transgenic cow experiment that AgResearch tried to carry out at Ruakura. AgResearch had to spend $500000 just to put in the consent application and it was then challenged in the High Court. It is not only that; I think more recently of the Auckland medical school’s experiment with transgenic sheep to produce a potential cure for Huntington’s chorea. The medical school said it could not carry it out as it would cost too much and take too long because of Labour’s regulations. 
Debate interrupted.