12. SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki-King Country) Link to this
to the Minister for Biosecurity
Does Biosecurity New Zealand have a plan in place to combat the recently discovered invasive fungus threatening the Northland horticultural industry?
Hon JIM ANDERTON (Minister for Biosecurity) Link to this
A new species of fungus called Phytophthora kernoviae has been identified in Northland. Biosecurity New Zealand is currently assessing its options for dealing with this fungus. In keeping with our international obligations, Biosecurity New Zealand has notified our trading partners of this find. However, it is not clear how long the fungus may have been in New Zealand. There are several other species of the fungus that cause leaf loss and wilting in trees. Standard crop protection techniques such as applying fungicide can be used to manage these varieties. It has not yet been determined whether that will also work on this variety of fungus.
Does the Minister agree with Biosecurity New Zealand’s proposal for a generic incursion response system, as outlined as being one of the Minister’s priorities in the briefing paper to the incoming Minister?
That is one proposal from the Biosecurity Ministerial Advisory Committee. I point out to the member that if New Zealand were to try to fund biosecurity systems that would prevent not only hundreds of thousands but millions of possible incursions in New Zealand, there would not be enough wealth generated in the whole GDP to guarantee that. I am advised, just as one example, that there are 30 varieties of this particular kind of fungus, and tens of thousands of varieties of fungus in New Zealand. So which hundreds or thousands of those particular varieties does the member have in mind that we deal with? That is only fungus.
Does this mean that the Minister was wrong when in his press statement dated 2 November 2005 he stated: “legally (and logically), you cannot have a pest management strategy before incursions happen—”?
We have to know what particular incursions we are trying to deal with—or is it the millions that the member evidently knows more about than the scientists who advise us? I can say to the member that I do not think I was wrong about that, but I do know that the member was wrong when he said recently that didymo can be killed but that unfortunately one has to kill a river for a few years to do it, and that surely it would be better to sacrifice one or two rivers than to let it spread through the South Island. This Government is not prepared to sacrifice any rivers. It is not prepared to try to kill something that no one in the world knows anything about. New Zealand is now the leading country on scientific investigation into didymo. I wish that the member would wake up and smell the coffee about biosecurity and get a decent briefing from Biosecurity New Zealand, which I will offer him so he can get up to speed.
How does the Minister expect the New Zealand public to have any confidence in him at all, when clearly his own Cabinet colleagues do not, as was evidenced yesterday when he was rolled over the dog-chipping fiasco; and when will he actually take some notice of his own ministry when it advises him to have a generic response capability—as his Act requires him? He is required under the Act to have it, so when will he do that?
In terms of resources for biosecurity, this Government has more than doubled the financial resource for the baselines of biosecurity and it has had extraordinary success in dealing with incursions. The painted apple moth, the Asian gypsy moth, and the fall web worm moth were all dealt with under this Government’s watch, and that is because we have resourced this department properly, unlike the previous National Government.
I seek the leave of the House to table Part 5 of the Biosecurity Act, which clearly states that a Minister has the power, and is required, to set up a—
Madam SPEAKERI seek the leave of the House to table the advisory papers to the incoming Minister, which clearly state that a No. 1 objective of Biosecurity New Zealand in 2005-06 was to put in place a strategic management strategy.
I seek the leave of the House to table a press release from the Minister, dated 2 November 2005, where the Minister says that it would not be sensible and he cannot manage a strategy before an incursion happens.