Government to beef up biosecurity
The Government is aiming to beef up New Zealand’s biosecurity system, with a raft of changes being made in response to the experience of the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak.
The immediate effect will be changes to the National Animal Identification and Tracing Act (NAIT), including improved tracing, tightened rules for handling untagged animals, and aligning the level of penalties with other acts to reflect the seriousness of non-compliance.
There will also be an overhaul of the Biosecurity Act over the next two years, with a view to initial public consultation at the end of 2019.
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor made the announcement at an Eightyeight Valley farm yesterday. He said the M. bovis outbreak had highlighted flaws in the NAIT scheme, which the Government was acting to put right.
‘‘The Mycoplasma bovis outbreak is the single biggest biosecurity event New Zealand has faced . . . We need to learn from the bovis experience and have better pieces of legislation as a result of it.’’
O’Connor said the way the system had worked so far had been ‘‘clunky’’, with many criticisms from the farming sector.
Proposed changes to the system included enabling sellers to make animal location history available to a purchaser on request; making it an offence to transport untagged animals without an exemption (with a defence for drivers); and amending the act’s purposes of holding core data to include stock theft and wandering stock.
There would also be an increase in penalty limits and infringement fees, to match those in the Biosecurity and Animal Products act, with penalties being lifted from a current maximum of $10,000 to a new maximum of $100,000.
O’Connor said he hoped no penalties would have to be implemented in practice.
‘‘There will always have to be some discretion, given the variability of farms and their locations around the country. As long as people are genuinely doing their best [to comply], we’re not going to come down hard on them.’’
He said that for many farmers, the new rules would not require major changes.
‘‘Many good farmers are already doing the right thing. It’s about them getting alongside their neighbours and showing them how to get things up to speed.’’
The amendment bill to improve NAIT will be presented to Parliament next week.
O’Connor said the overhaul of the Biosecurity Act was well overdue, with the current act now 26 years old. Compared to 1993, there was an increased level of biosecurity threat with the rise in tourism, imports and online shopping, he said.
‘‘Over the last few years, there has been an increase in large biosecurity responses, including Mycoplasma bovis, bonamia, myrtle rust and Queensland fruit fly. As the climate warms, we face a greater threat from exotic insects and pests to our primary industries.’’
Work on the Biosecurity Act will progress in two stages. The first stage will involve economic outcomes, focusing primarily on issues around compensation, with public consultation planned to be concluded by the end of the year.
The second stage will look at environmental, social and cultural outcomes over a longer time frame, with a view to public consultation in the second half of 2020.
O’Connor said this longer time frame would give the Government time to ensure the issues had been canvassed with those most directly affected, before working with the wider public.