Labour Leader, Phil Goff -

New Zealand must have a first-class biosecurity system.

Keeping pests and diseases out of our island nation is essential for our primary producers, our livelihoods, and the protection of our unique native flora and fauna. And for our primary producers to compete in global markets, they need to be able to give biosecurity assurance to customers.

With trade and travel increasing in a globalising world, pressure on our borders is becoming more acute and pest incursions are increasing. Over the past five years over 400 pests a year have been caught at the border - and in the last quarter of 2010 alone, three new pests became established in New Zealand. We need biosecurity vigilance to protect our country from environmental and economic damage from pest invaders, and from severe health threats like avian influenza. We must plan for the future challenges that increased trade and travel, and climate change, will bring.

We may not be able to stop every biological threat from entering New Zealand. However, when they do, we must be prepared to manage them effectively. Labour believes that affected industries and local communities have a big part to play in responding to such threats. We need to maximise our total response, and ensure we get new threats under active management and control as soon as possible.

Prevention

Labour substantially boosted New Zealand's border security capacity. Scientific and operational systems were changed to more effectively investigate, eradicate or manage biological threats.

Labour set up Biosecurity New Zealand to co-ordinate the agencies that manage and protect our country against these threats. We developed a comprehensive biosecurity strategy applying to all of New Zealand's environments (land, freshwater and marine), and to both indigenous and introduced flora and fauna.

Primary industries are feeling increasingly vulnerable to pest incursions. The spread of tomato/potato psyllid since 2006, and the Psa outbreak in kiwifruit in late 2010, show the devastating impact such incursions can have. Unless primary industries can be assured that robust biosecurity protection is in place, they are unlikely to risk making large new investments.

National has relaxed the continuous vigilance needed against new disease or pest threats. In 2009 it cut 54 biosecurity officers working in ports and airports around the country. Many industry groups felt the cuts left the borders more vulnerable. Rising volumes of trade and international passenger arrivals now present serious challenges for our border protection services and a higher workload for frontline biosecurity staff.

Labour will restore the $2 million of cuts to frontline Biosecurity services made by National in 2009.

Labour will ensure that New Zealand's border protection capability, especially at the frontline, can deal with increasing biosecurity pressures and rising trade and travel volumes.

National has taken resources from the biosecurity frontline and placed them into a Joint Border Management System (JBMS) aimed at coordinating border agencies in their multiple objectives at the border. While better coordination and sharing of information and systems is desirable, this must not undermine the ability to provide frontline border protection. Nor must biosecurity standards be compromised to facilitate easier border passage for tourists and imported goods.

Labour will review the JBMS to ensure that biosecurity standards are not being compromised for convenience or cost-saving.

Planning

No border control system can ever be 100 percent effective. A 'zero risk' border is not possible even if all travel and trade stopped, because organisms can still be introduced by migratory wild species. The biosecurity task is made even more challenging by the potential of climate change and associated ecological changes to expose us to new pests and diseases.

Risks include human pandemics from disease, severe animal risks such as foot and mouth disease, and horticultural pests. We must plan for the future so we can readily identify and prevent threats or, if they arrive, get them under active management and control (or eradication) as soon as possible.

This will require analysis of trade patterns, the way products are transported into New Zealand, and items brought in with travellers. Predictive research into ecological change as a result of climate change will also be required.

Labour will ensure analysis of the economic, biological and physical environment focuses on predicting and identifying new and emerging biosecurity threats.

Labour will continue to improve systems for dealing with severe biological threats such as an avian influenza pandemic.

Labour will develop additional expertise in marine traffic and identification of water-borne pests and organisms.

Government-Industry Agreements

Government-Industry agreements (GIAs) on incursion responses were proposed under Labour. The concept is widely supported by industries who want some say in how pest incursions are responded to. Legislation is currently before Parliament.

However, the sharing of costs has become controversial because National is shifting the burden onto exporting industries, rather than onto the taxpayer or those responsible for importing pest-

carrying products. More debate is needed on this, including the extent to which incursion responses are a public good that should be funded by the Government as a core function.

Particular consideration needs to be the potential cost burden on smaller or more vulnerable industries.

Labour will retain the GIA concept but will revisit cost-sharing arrangements to ensure that smaller industries are not being burdened with unrealistic biosecurity costs. Labour will review the share of biosecurity costs paid by importers to ensure that they are carrying a fair and reasonable share of the burden of incursion response costs.

In the legislation currently before Parliament, government compensation is not stipulated for stock or plant destruction as part of an incursion response. It is possible that farmers and other primary producers will refrain from reporting pest and disease incursions for fear of financial loss. Further discussion is needed on this.

Partnership with the Community

The Government and the community need to work in partnership to respond to serious biosecurity threats. For instance, a 2006 red ant invasion in Napier was successfully eradicated by Biosecurity New Zealand working closely with the local community.

Large-scale biosecurity management - particularly aerial spraying - requires public co-operation and support. Affected local communities must be well-informed and consulted about the need for action. Any health concerns must be addressed.

Balancing the demands of swift and effective response times with local community consultation is challenging, but community buy-in is critical if biosecurity responses are to be maximised and have the greatest chance of success.

Labour will respond swiftly to biosecurity threats while ensuring that local communities are well-informed and consulted.

Labour will develop systems for representative community advisory groups to ensure clear communications with the public and provide a means for getting feedback from public sector agencies on issues of concern.

Bees

Bee pollination is integral to our horticultural industries - without it they would be crippled. MAF has estimated the value of bees to our economy to be about $4 billion annually. Bee populations are collapsing elsewhere in the world, and declines are becoming evident in New Zealand. The exact cause is not clear - but disease, pesticides and climate change stress are among the suspected factors.

Diseases deadly to bees have entered New Zealand in recent years, despite biosecurity measures. Varroa mite was detected in 2000 and only well-managed bees can survive it. The parasite nosema ceranae was discovered in 2010.

These diseases, in combination with worldwide bee colony collapse disorder and any further disease incursions, will put New Zealand's bee populations at risk. They are clearly vulnerable but no strategy for their protection exists.

Labour will hold a Beehive summit to bring together all the stakeholders and knowledge in the New Zealand beekeeping industry to develop a plan to protect this vital component of our biological systems.

The Beehive summit would include international expertise from those countries already dealing with bee population issues.

Bovine TB

The control and possible eradication of bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a vital objective if New Zealand is to continue exporting meat to countries where consumers demand the highest standards of food safety.

Labour will continue to support the Animal Health Board's TB Strategy and will work with all stakeholders to fund and implement agreed targets including eradication if considered possible.

New Zealand is highly reliant on the use of 1080 to keep possum numbers under control but public opinion is divided on its suitability. Labour agrees with the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment that the use of aerial 1080 is necessary - at least until new and alternative tools are developed. The Animal Health Board, the Department of Conservation and other pest control agencies need to better explain to the public why this is currently our best alternative.

Labour will support the use of aerial 1080 as an effective tool for landscape-scale pest control (especially of possums, rats and stoats), while new and improved alternative tools are developed.

Regional strategies

Unwanted organisms already in New Zealand often come under regional pest management strategies. These deal with pests and weeds like rabbits and wilding pines.

Labour will support regional (and unitary) councils to ensure that their strategies and programmes to control pests and weeds are up-to-date and effective.