11. SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki-King Country) Link to this
to the Minister for Biosecurity
Can he assure New Zealand there will be no biosecurity risk as a result of a Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry proposal to allow honey and bee products into New Zealand?
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Minister for Biosecurity) Link to this
The proposal, as the member suggests, does not become a decision until around the middle of the year, after the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has considered the proposed import health standards for honey from Australia and the Pacific Islands. Those standards are based on sound science, in accordance with our domestic legislation and international obligations. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry expects to make final decisions in June, as I said, following analysis of the submissions.
If the Minister cannot assure New Zealand there will be no risk—and it appears he cannot—then will Biosecurity New Zealand tell the honey producers, and also the rest of the farming and pastoral sector, why they should take that risk?
Perhaps some of Mr Ardern’s senior and more knowledgable colleagues should advise him that the Act under which I am now acting and cannot intervene politically was passed in 1993 by the then National Government. If Mr Ardern is suggesting that National would politicise our biosecurity system and start to make decisions on biosecurity from a political standpoint, his knowledgable colleagues will tell him that National, if it ever does get into Government, would be before the World Trade Organization faster than it ever imagined would be possible.
Hon Dr Michael Cullen Link to this
Has the Minister received any indications of support from the Opposition spokesperson on trade, Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith, for the use of sanitary or phytosanitary barriers as trade barriers; if so, how has that member squared that with his opposition to the Australian use of such barriers in the case of apples?
It is very instructive for this House to consider the case of Australia versus New Zealand regarding the import of apples. We in New Zealand believe that for an overwhelming amount of time—close to 100 years, now—the Australians have not been taking notice of evidence-based information in terms of apple imports. If we now start to do exactly the same thing as that, we will be as bad as the Australians—and that is something I do not want to have any part in, as far as this Government is concerned.
R Doug WoolertonWhat will the importation of honey and bee products do for New Zealand’s balance of payments deficit?
Ha, ha! At the present time, New Zealand exports about $30 million worth of honey. If we were to take the actions that Mr Ardern is suggesting and intervene politically in these matters, it would not be very long before New Zealand, which is the most export-dependent developed country in the world, faced barriers all over the world—and we depend on 95 percent of our agricultural produce for 65 percent of our entire foreign exchange earnings. That is about the most self-defeating piece of advice I have ever heard from any member of any Opposition.
Sue KedgleyIs there any essential agricultural industry in New Zealand that the Government is not prepared to put at risk from imported diseases, in its craven attempt to satisfy the free-market ideology of the World Trade Organization; if so, which ones are they?
When I said that New Zealand has an evidence and science-based biosecurity system, that is exactly what I meant. If there was evidence of a risk put before the Director-General of Agriculture and Forestry, or before responsible Ministers, then of course New Zealand would stop any imports. But if the evidence suggests there is no feasible or viable risk whatever, then we would be acting against all of the international agreements we have as a trading nation in protecting ourselves from any such imports.
When the Minister met with the industry group and the pan-industry group concerned with all agricultural sector industries, including viticulture and horticulture as well as the bee industry, what basis or science did he use to allay their fears that by allowing the import of honey, we would not at the same time import European foulbrood—on what science basis did he make that decision?
Yes, on a scientist’s basis. The independent group of scientists, from both New Zealand and overseas, who peer-reviewed this decision are all reputable scientists. They have all vouched for the fact that we have the most minimal amount of risk involved in it. And if Mr Ardern is suggesting, on behalf of National members, that National would change the Biosecurity Act of 1993 and make biosecurity decisions on a political basis, let him get up and say that now, and let the National Party acknowledge that. Then we will go into the next election with the agricultural community knowing full well what a danger to New Zealand’s trade the National Party really is.
Has the Minister assessed the likely cost of the importation of European foulbrood to our bee industry, our viticultural industry, our horticultural industry, and our agricultural industry, or is this just another one of those examples of where, once it is in, Government members will say: “That’s too bad; treat it with antibiotics.”, without worrying about the science that says it will come in?
The scientific advice that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has in front of it, which I have seen as the responsible Minister, is that the heat-treating systems the honey is required to go through—that is, honey from Australia and the Pacific Islands only; those are the only sources being considered here, and not honey from elsewhere—reduces to millionths of a percentage point the chance of any kind of infestation of European foulbrood. Let me remind the member for one second: the varroa bee mite did not come here by any decision of the Director-General of Agriculture and Forestry; it was brought in by somebody. We have an absolute prohibition on live bee imports, yet we ended up with the varroa bee mite. The member should contemplate that before he continues digging in the big hole he has now got himself into.