Stewart Barbara: Law Reform (Epidemic Preparedness) Bill — Second Reading 
Stewart Barbara: Law Reform (Epidemic Preparedness) Bill — Second Reading 
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BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
: 
 On behalf of New Zealand First I rise to support the second reading of the Law Reform (Epidemic Preparedness) Bill. This is a very important bill that hopefully never ever has to be implemented but it is one of those measures that New Zealand must have in place. In order to implement this legislation there must be a pandemic facing New Zealand whether it be bird flu another fatal influenza or some other serious disease outbreak. It is a serious situation and one that New Zealand is definitely not immune from. 
In the event of any pandemic all of the people in New Zealand will be looking to the Government for a speedy response and leadership through this crisis situation. It is absolutely essential that the Government has the law and the power to respond in a timely manner. The last thing that is needed is a disorganised response by the Government or health officials. We must be organised for any crisis of this magnitude. We also need to manage the health effects on New Zealanders and the impacts on essential services and businesses and various Acts did need to be amended to ensure that the response would be prompt. As previous speakers have said it is a balancing act between individual rights and the greater rights of all people here in New Zealand. 
This legislation is timely. It is far better to have a plan that can be implemented prior to any event such as this rather than have something hastily put together when an epidemic is upon us or right on our doorstep. As we have heard from previous speakers we know that any flu can speed rapidly throughout New Zealand with devastating consequences. 
We must commend the Government for planning ahead to help communities and the Government Administration Committee for the bill that has been returned following select committee consideration. We note that substantial changes have been made to the bill by the select committee and we understand that some of these changes were made with the assistance of Sir Geoffrey Palmer. We must applaud the select committee for the fact that this is one bill that has no minority views recorded in the commentary. I think that shows us that the pandemic threat such as bird flu is far too important for petty party politics to come into play and it needs measures such as all of these that are outlined in this legislation. 
We were interested to see that a problem situation regarding the sitting of Parliament had been identified—from memory I do not think it was in the first bill or discussed prior to this bill coming back from the select committee—and that action is now being taken to decide on the process and the procedure for dealing with such outstanding and essential matters. This is the time that this type of matter needs to be identified—not when an epidemic is upon us. 
I was very interested to see that there has been very little media interest in the bill since it has returned to the House for its second reading. Prior to the first reading there was a lot of media attention but this has now totally abated. Obviously everyone is quite happy with the outcome. 
Over the winter months New Zealand First was very pleased to see all of the information and the material issued by the Ministry of Health advising the public about the necessity for family preparedness. Over the winter months I know that very many people right throughout New Zealand did prepare themselves with food and any other items that would be necessary. I even heard of one family that had a whole range of seeds that it wanted to plant in the spring in case there was an epidemic over the winter months and seeds would have been in short supply. No doubt everyone will need reminding again next winter about the need to stockpile because I know for a fact that many people are now working their way through the cans of food and the items that they had stockpiled prior to the winter. We always must be aware too that some families on fixed incomes will be really challenged to stockpile food and other items so we must make sure that this aspect is covered in the legislation. 
New Zealand First looks forward to discussing the Committee stage of this bill. We believe that the bill appears to cover all of the situations that could arise if such a pandemic did occur. The bill covers many Acts and amendments to those Acts that would be affected. New Zealand First supports this bill. As a country we have no option but to be totally prepared. It is not something that we can just think about it. We must be prepared. As a member of the Health Committee I am looking forward to receiving further updates next year on what preparations have been made by the Ministry of Health. 
Recently I was interested to read that a mutation of bird flu identified overseas will not respond to the specific drug that has been stockpiled in many medical cabinets and by many district health boards. This means that a plan will need to be continually updated as developments occur. We believe that this is a very important bill and we are very pleased to support it.