Guy NathanHon NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki): This is a great occasion to salute Ian McKelvie for the fine work that he has done getting this bill in front of the Parliament this evening a bill that he got feedback from in his own electorate where 50 percent of the lambs that are processed in New Zealand come from within two hours of Feilding predominantly from his very large electorate of the Rangitīkei. He's heard the drums beating in rural heartland and he's done something about it. Indeed if I was fortunate enough to have been the Minister for Primary Industries under this Government—and now we sit in Opposition—I would have indeed been very keen to have taken this bill on as a Government bill. So I'm delighted that Ian McKelvie had some luck got it out of the ballot and tonight we are debating it.I'm sure that there will be widespread support across the Parliament for this bill because it has economic considerations for rural New Zealand. We've heard from various speakers tonight $120 million; I would say that really that is the tip of the iceberg because there will be a whole lot of farmers that don't bother to report a single loss or a couple of sheep where indeed the boundary gate might have come open near the road or the boundary fence may have been cut right next to the road and they could be very small-scale but we've had numerous evidence in the last few years where there has been large-scale stock rustling. I know there will be a debate in the select committee about what the appropriate penalties are and I'm sure we'll get evidence from the Ministry of Justice from the New Zealand Police and the like. But certainly this is a bill that is worthy of detailed scrutiny by the Primary Production Committee and I look forward to playing my constructive role on that committee when we hear from submitters.I heard a very humorous story recently when a school principal mate of mine recounted a story back to me about primary school—what we used to term—morning talks. I think it's now news on the mat" where the kids go round often on a Monday morning and talk about what happened on the weekend. This one particular story was quite appropriate for this bill that we are debating this evening. It went something like this: "Oh well dad was driving. He went off the road. We went through the fence. We went down the bank a bit. The car was close to rolling but it was OK because I was in the back seat and on either side of me I had these two sheep. So I sort of bounced from one ewe to another and they were in full fleece." We know that there are numerous examples of this up and down the country where people for whatever reason think that it's their right to cut the boundary fence next to the road or open the gate and take what is actually a personal property right where farmers work hard to produce top-quality livestock. It's not for other people to walk in there with their rifle or their knife and butcher the livestock in the corner of the paddock.Actually when you think about this issue when you look at it large-scale it's not all to do with rural policing. We know there are issues to do with that and the Government is addressing it and the National Party had a plan also to have more policing rural communities. But actually people need to put their own hand up. When you think about processing a large number of livestock that have been I guess taken illegally well often it takes a stock transporting company. Often it will involve a stock agent or a meat processing person or indeed a pet food processing outfit as well. So I guess in rural communities it's important to have good intel.The other part of this bill that will be discussed no doubt through the Primary Production Committee is the role that modern technology can play whether it's a camera where farmers can pool their resources and pay for a camera on a no-exit rural road to understand transport movements people movements in and out—also thinking about the use of drones and whether in future electronic ear tags can have a greater role. All of these things I'm sure will come up in the select committee. Once again I acknowledge Ian McKelvie for bringing this bill to the House—a job well done."