Eckhoff Gerrard: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Eckhoff Gerrard: Biosecurity Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:7054] 
GERRARD ECKHOFF (ACT NZ) 
: One of the great things about being in a debating chamber—well it is one of the things I would have thought was great about being here—is that we enter into a debate. Surprise surprise! What do we hear from the Government on these issues? We hear the immortal words uttered by Mr David Parker: “Madam Speaker I move that the motion be now put.” That is not debating this bill. It is not debating the commencement clause. Mr Mark Peck—that well-known cold-climate sex symbol from Invercargill—sits there doing absolutely nothing not being prepared to debate this bill and not being prepared to debate the commencement date. 
We have heard very good speeches from Mr Brent Catchpole and Sandra Goudie telling the Committee and New Zealand that this Government is now saying under urgency that this bill is important. Yet the bill sat there for 2 years. What are we supposed to consider when we talk about the commencement date of this bill? Every one of us on this side of the Chamber I am sure would have said that the commencement date should have been 2 years ago when the public of this country demanded it. 
I find it quite extraordinary—and I think it is important to recognise it—that not that long ago we sat in the House until 5 in the morning under extraordinary urgency debating a hugely important issue! Here we are discussing biosecurity which is obviously hugely important but what issue did we debate until 5 o’clock in the morning a month or so ago—Mississippi moonshine! 
Brent Catchpole 
: And the sherries and the ports. 
GERRARD ECKHOFF 
: That is the stuff! Those are the sorts of priorities we are getting from this Government. It has failed totally to understand that the commencement date of the Biosecurity Amendment Bill should have been 2 years ago. What is it going to be into the future once this bill is passed? 
Despite criticism of the Government’s handling of the bill there is a consensus that we need to proceed with real haste on its commencement. However if the Government is true to form the commencement will be what—2 years’ time 3 years’ time? Members on the Government side shrug their shoulders so we have no idea when the bill might commence. The people of this country are calling constantly for action from the Government on this issue yet Government members sit on their hands passing bills like the “Mississippi Moonshine (Let’s Tax ’Em) Bill” which increased the tax on 23 percent-proof alcohol. 
Of course that sort of legislation is of some importance but I would have thought that any Government worth its salt would have recognised the importance of the commencement date of the Biosecurity Amendment Bill instead of allowing it to languish as it did for 2 years on the Order Paper. The commencement date of the bill should have been at least 2 years ago when the opportunities were there. However the Government pushed in other bits of legislation that it considered more important. 
I have some advice for the Government: do a poll. This is a poll-driven Government so it should go out and poll the people of this country on when the Biosecurity Amendment Bill should have been enacted. The Government would be berated for its inaction and procrastination on this bill—that is the only way to describe it—and for its inability to recognise that a Government must set priorities and recognise what is important to the people of the country. 
The Government must recognise that the incursion rate under its stewardship has been appalling. Marian Hobbs can stand up in the House and say: “Well we’ve had a good week haven’t we? We’ve only had three incursions.” If the issues were not so terribly serious that statement would be laughable.