Woods Megan: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Woods Megan: Biosecurity Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 31 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:4088. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram) 
: 
 I am happy to take a call on Part 3 of this bill the Biosecurity Law Reform Bill to talk about how it is that we are going to manage many of the pests that pose a significant threat to New Zealand’s biosecurity. This is quite a different threat to our biosecurity from that we have been discussing under the previous part of this bill when we were talking about micro-organisms that can affect our marine biosecurity. This is very much about safeguarding our terrestrial environments. This is very much about protecting our high country. This is very much about dealing with many of the legacy issues we have from 19th century colonisation and many of the non-indigenous species that we now have in our country and what the impact of the presence of these species are on our environment. That is why we are having to go through some very specific changes to the existing legislation in terms of managing wild animals. My colleagues Damien O’Connor and Moana Mackey have very ably articulated many of the issues that we have with this part of the bill so I think I will just be taking a very short call on this part of the bill. 
We have two very significant questions that we would like the Minister for Primary Industries to answer in the Committee stage of this legislation. How do we balance this view of the resource-versus-the-pest nature of some of these species that we now have in our high country and in other parts of New Zealand? I do not think there are many New Zealanders who have not observed some of the damage to our environment that has been caused by some of these species. I do not think there are many New Zealanders be they young or old who do not recognise the damage that a possum can do and what a significant threat to our native forests these creatures are. Some very important questions are there. 
We also need some assurances about how this piece of legislation fits with yet another piece of legislation that is currently going through this House. We have posed questions in terms of how it gels with the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill but also how it is going to fit with the Game Animal Council Bill which is currently before the Local Government and Environment Committee and on which submissions are being heard. Moana Mackey asked some very pertinent questions there. We have to grapple with some very interesting questions. 
Under the current systems under the current legislation we have pests are not always managed in the best way and the regulatory impact statement for this bill sets this out very clearly. We have some pest management that is not happening where it should be thus putting at risk more of our environment and many of our flora and fauna species which are put at risk by the fact that we are not managing significant pest incursions in these areas. Then we have some pest management that is happening when it is not needed. On the one hand we have whole gaps and then we do have other areas where we actually have pest management that is happening when it is not necessarily needed. This is all about finding this balance and my colleague Damien O’Connor touched very pertinently on an issue there about the need to get this balance right in relation to some of the commercial hunting enterprises that we have—how we protect these very precious environments but not completely kill off this industry and manage the tahr in these areas in the high country. 
Importantly what this bill is doing overall—and we are seeing it in every part of this legislation—is addressing the fact that some pest management is not as effective as it could be. This bill again is about making available to us the new technologies and the changes that have happened in the world since 1993. When we look at the age of some of the legislation that comes before this House legislation that was passed in 1993 does not seem particularly old but in this area of biosecurity this actually is a very aged piece of legislation because this is a very fast-moving area where we do have a lot of technological advance. We must have the ability for the Department of Conservation and for everyone who is involved in biosecurity in this country to be able to use the best technology that is available to them. 
What we are also seeing under this part is the very clear definition of these wild animals that are going to pose a threat to our environment. Thank you.