Speech: NZPork Conference 2012

Damien O'Connor  |  Monday, July 16, 2012 - 16:45

Kia ora.

It is a pleasure to be able to say a few words to you before the close of this conference. I understand the Minister David Carter chose not to open your conference given the legal challenge to the High Court ruling.

Unfortunately being Shadow Minister does not give me the same mandate and everything I say in relation to policy depends upon a democratic process called an election. But you can be assured we are working on a cunning plan.

I can confess to having a real life, before politics got the better of me. I am off a dairy farm just out of Westport. In the 1960s we milked the cows, took the cream to the factory and fed the skim milk to the pigs. I so well remember the curdling tanks of milk, the barley meal and the rats. And the weekly challenge of taking five or six reluctant pigs on our trailer to the local abattoir. Then came tanker collection and the pigs disappeared as happened on many farms in New Zealand.

So when I visited a pig farm in Denmark some 20 years later the contrast was amazing. The cleanliness, the precautions and the controlled environment that was a pig palace, not the pig sty I had known. This is thankfully the world of pork production for many of you now.

I have to also admit to you with pride that I have been responsible for production of about 15000 plus pigs per year into the New Zealand market.  Not as an importer but as a local producer. While the boys at Paparoa might not have admitted it, I was definitely responsible as Minister of Corrections if anything left that prison alive, without a release notice!!

I have been around for a few years now on and off as a member of the Primary Production Select Committee since 1994, so I’ve heard a few explanations from MAF on biosecurity.  However, the real attraction remains in a Ministerial role where you can indeed make a difference, that is, if you want to.

Your industry has recently been in the spotlight. Like some politicians, you have been unfairly maligned. You have done a reasonable job of pushing back and balancing the story and image of pig farming, but as in politics, sometimes you just have to harden up and get on with it.

The profile has put you in a good spot to fight the battles ahead over your animal welfare and biosecurity issues. You have wisely agreed to the phase out of sow stalls in spite of the management challenges involved, and you have bravely taken on the Government over the importation of risky pork. You have collectively put your future on the line and backed it up with action.

That future and security is important to us all. Personal security followed by financial security drives us all to work hard and invest to protect our families and our future. Governments spend billions of dollars on security. We commit to Military and to Customs to protect us from the threats of military invasion and illegal drug importation. Social security is the hallmark of our nation.

Biosecurity, however, is even more important for a country that depends on its biodiversity more than any other economy on the planet. We are the youngest country on earth and our natural flora and fauna is unique and still relatively unspoiled. On top of that we rely on biological systems to drive all our primary industries, where the largest part of our wealth creation still occurs.  Any comparative risk analysis would deem the daily threat to our economy from unwanted pests, diseases or organisms warrants the highest level of protection. Unlike the crossing of our borders by drugs or armies, a biosecurity incursion is more often than not irreversible.

As long as we trade and import goods and tourists there will be the risk that something will be brought into this country unintentionally. People and goods from some countries are more risky than others. The more we import, the greater the risk.

That is why Labour in Government almost doubled the funding for Biosecurity from 2000 ($97M) to 2008 ($180M). We set up BiosecurityNZ to better coordinate border agencies and design a Joint Border Management System (JBMS). We initiated the Government Industry Agreements (GIA) following the uncoordinated response to the varroa mite that is crippling the bee industry.

National, in its first 2009 Budget, cut $2 million and close to 60 frontline jobs in Biosecurity, and more cuts have occurred since then. The recently released report into the kiwifruit killing disease Psa highlighted the fact that risks to New Zealand were increasing at the same time these budget cuts were occurring. The report highlights insufficient resources and the resulting failure of the system to identify and prevent this devastating disease entering New Zealand.

Now Psa is here to stay, with an estimated cost of at least $400 million over the next five years. This is one sad example of Government responsibility where prevention is always better than the cure.

National is continuing with the JBMS and GIAs, but shifting the limited resources from other areas within Biosecurity to cover the costs. Frontline staff have started to openly express alarm at the cutbacks and gaps in the Biosecurity system they work hard to defend.

John Key personally championed the so called SmartGate system, where visitors from Australia, and soon the US, are fast-tracked through our borders with little or no physical checks before entering New Zealand. Dogs that provide the backup checks are now often absent from airports and ports.  One small mistake could repeat the introduction of the Queensland fruit fly, which could destroy our horticulture in the same way Foot and Mouth disease would destroy our agriculture.  The stakes are simply too high and the hurdles to entry too low.

Recent figures show that the level of biosecurity checking for shipping containers entering New Zealand is now at an all-time low.  Over the last three years the number of furniture removal containers inspected by Biosecurity staff has halved to less than a quarter.  These cuts are occurring at a time when the world has a greater focus on safe trade, safe food, and protection of the environment.

While many imports will always contain a large element of the unknown, it is almost unbelievable that the National Government would continue to push ahead with the relaxed importation of a known risk item; that is, fresh pork. With over 800 tonnes of pork coming into New Zealand every week, primarily from countries where a highly contagious disease PRRS is endemic, many would consider we are taking too great a risk now.

To consider a lowering of the Import Health Standard when the science, the risks and the potential costs are debatable seems ludicrous. I commend your challenge to the High Court ruling. Anyone who has read the report on the Psa nightmare has confirmed their worst fears that resources, science and communication are failing in the current Biosecurity system.

These two statements from MAF’s response to the independent review of the Pork import Health Standards were alarming:

“Depending on projected cost and time it may be possible to consider collecting additional data.”

“Rewriting the original Import Risk Analysis does not appear to be an effective use of resources.”

There is always tension between free trade, which has long been the objective of our exporting nation, and the necessary barriers to prevent the importation of unwanted pests, diseases and organisms. The level of resources required is determined by Government’s priorities and their Accepted Level of Protection (ALOP).

Canada has just joined the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) process.  The level of subsidy given to the pig producers in Canada must be part of these trade negotiations and New Zealand officials should not in any way bow down to pressure to lower our Import Health Standards for pork to satisfy the trade-offs required to reach a final agreement.

I say the game has changed and your legal and costly challenge to the High Court decision should be settled by the Minister rejecting his own new proposed Import Health Standard.

The National Government has its priorities wrong.  Biosecurity is the last place we should cut resources.  The trade-off of essential biosecurity requirements and funding to satisfy the time and interests of travellers and importers is putting our whole country at risk.

Biosecurity protection needs to be a government department independent of the diplomatic trade compromise within the new super Ministry for Primary Industries.  The next Labour Government is committed to a comprehensive review of our Biosecurity systems so the position we enjoy through disease-free status across many sectors can be maintained and protected.  National is putting our Biosecurity systems at risk.  The costs of failure are unacceptable and unaffordable for New Zealand.

The barriers to entry are too low and the costs too high, particularly for your pork industry. I offer you my support and that of the Labour Party to keep New Zealand PRRS free.

I declare this conference closed and look forward to speaking to you as Minister. And the sooner the better!