Power Simon: New Organisms and Other Matters Bill — In Committee 
Power Simon: New Organisms and Other Matters Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:612;Page:9073] 
SIMON POWER (NZ National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 The schedule is the last part of this legislation. I thank the Minister for taking enough interest to make an initial call. I am delighted to see that Ms Kedgley will also seek a call on the schedule and that my colleague the Hon Ken Shirley is indicating that he would like a call on the schedule too. That will be a nice way to round things off. 
The Minister has outlined that schedule 2 of the Act lists prohibited new organisms. I have to say at this point that the Minister skirted her responsibility when I asked her during my contribution on Part 5 to run us through the scientific name for the American grey squirrel. Perhaps I could suggest that one of the speakers following me may like to have a crack at that because it is beyond me. 
What caught my eye about the schedule of prohibited new organisms were the references to venomous reptiles venomous amphibians and other things including the prairie dog. I thought that was interesting. The schedule also includes any gerbil which probably is not very interesting and any pocket gopher. I would be interested to know from the Minister what the difference is between a gopher and a pocket gopher. [ 
Interruption 
] “Smaller” says the Attorney-General from across the House. One assumes that the giant gopher is fine and that we are quite happy for that particular beast to roam our lands. But the pocket gopher a creature more difficult to track down is now prohibited and that is interesting. I would be interested to know whether there is another breed of gopher that is not a pocket gopher but that— 
Russell Fairbrother 
: “Gopher” home! 
SIMON POWER 
: Does Mr Fairbrother want to “gopher” home? 
I see that the mongoose is prohibited and any mole is prohibited which I thought was interesting. Also prohibited are any members of the—and I shall have a crack at this one— 
Phalangeridae 
 family. How have I done officials? I do not know what that family is but other than the Australian bushtail possum it is prohibited. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Marsupials. 
SIMON POWER 
: I thank the member. The list includes any stickleback and the giant African snail. We have an inconsistency there. On the one hand we are concerned only about pocket gophers—not big gophers—and on the other hand we are concerned only about the giant African snail. Smaller snails that are not from Africa are presumably off the hook. I did not see “Any predatory snail”; that must have snuck in there. One has to ask oneself how a snail can be predatory. 
The list goes on to include any cane toad Negro root skeleton weed hairy thorn apple leafy spurge Star of Bethlehem and poverty weed. I am no expert on those sorts of things or on witchweed snakeweed and butterbur. No doubt Ken Shirley and Sue Kedgley may be able to throw a bit more light on some of those things than I can. Again the list seems inconsistent. It includes the American grey squirrel and any red squirrel. A squirrel that does not fall into either of those categories—in other words one that is not an American grey squirrel or a red squirrel—and that is not easily mistaken for a pocket gopher is in. The odds are good as my colleague Mr Tisch points out. 
I shall finish here by saying that this debate has been a lengthy and an emotional one on an issue that has raised the interest of the New Zealand public in a way that I have not seen before in my time in this Parliament. This legislation has been contentious and it has not been an easy process for many members of this Parliament. I look forward to participating in the third reading of this bill.