Roy Heather: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — Second Reading 
Roy Heather: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:675;Page:20646] 
Hon HEATHER ROY (ACT) 
: 
 I rise to take a short call on the second reading of the Biosecurity Law Reform Bill which the ACT Party is supporting. It is pleasing to see this bill come before the House and we look forward to its speedy progress through Parliament. 
The bill as we have heard from other speakers before me is in two parts. Part 1 makes amendments to the Biosecurity Act 1993 to improve and modernise the biosecurity system. It is quite right and proper that we see this sort of process happening often. In fact ACT’s Regulatory Responsibility Bill—or Regulatory Standards Bill as it is now named—which is before the House talks about reviewing legislation on a 5-yearly basis which is very important so we have up-to-date techniques and information in place. Others have mentioned in more detail the changes that will be made in this particular part. 
Part 2 of the bill amends the Maritime Transport Act 1994 to implement the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments 2004. Again we are very pleased to see this review and modernisation of the biosecurity system in place. It is dependent on all of us not just those authorities that we take these measures very seriously. I reiterate many of the points that the previous speaker from the Maori Party Rahui Katene made about the importance of having engagement from all sectors of our community in upholding these biosecurity arrangements. The first role of Government—and we should always go back to first principles in law of this type I think—is to provide for the safety and security of New Zealand citizens. Biosecurity measures fall firmly under that wider umbrella. I often talk about the need for national security measures as opposed to individual silos that seek to look after our safety and security as citizens. 
It was very pleasing to see at the Primary Production Committee that changes were made relating to border risk management. I will mention two in particular: firstly the improving of the legislative framework for collaborating with other agencies. This is hugely important. We are a small country and our agencies and our departments often find it difficult to cover the huge breadth of areas individually. But when we look to all areas of security we find that with cooperation and collaboration firmly in place we can achieve so much more and actually get real protection for our borders. That legislative framework allowing collaboration with other agencies is hugely important. 
The other area that was dealt with at select committee was the amendments relating to readiness and response. If we are going to tackle some of the issues we have heard about from other speakers—in particular the Green speaker Sue Kedgley—we need to make sure these agencies are well equipped to respond very quickly to any threats that arise. New provisions authorise the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to enter into agreements with industry organisations to take joint decisions on readiness and response. Again we should not always rely upon just Government agencies to provide that protection at our borders and elsewhere within our country. It is very wise that we have agreements with industry organisations so that everybody takes seriously their role to provide the protection that should be there. 
I will leave it at that. The ACT Party supports this bill and we look forward to its speedy movement through the House.