Statutes Amendment Bill (No. 2)
First Reading
Hansards Direct Link: Click Here
NATHAN GUY (National) : For all those people now out there in their vehicles heading up the Kapiti coast, snarled up in congestion, I am taking a call on the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2). They will interested in the comments I want to make, as will the farmers listening out there in their cowsheds while they milk the cows. I am sure that they will be interested in the comments I am about to make because I wish to cover Part 6, which talks about the Fisheries Act; Part 10, which talks about the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Act; and quite an important issue in relation to Part 14, the Veterinarians Act 2005.
Dr Richard Worth: Quite a panoramic sweep.
NATHAN GUY: Mr Worth is right, it is very panoramic indeed. This legislation is very much a tidy-up bill. Mr Finlayson made a very good comment before in relation to the third reading last week of a Statutes Amendment Bill. We now have the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2). One would think that if the Government were on to it, it would have had this all tidied up in one bill. But, once again, the Government Administration Committee will have to sort that out.
The bill amends the Fisheries Act 1996 and provides that the Minister will be able to determine that stock or species subject to the permanent moratorium will not be subject to the quota management system. The important thing to realise here is that apart from tuna species there are only very small aspects that are not in the quota management system. It is really just a bit of a tidy-up around the Fisheries Act 1996, which National supports.
Part 10 relates to the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Act. In essence this provision encompasses the New Zealand Fruitgrowers Federation, New Zealand Vegetable and Potato Growers Federation, and New Zealand Berryfruit Growers Federation and brings them into one collective that will be called Horticulture New Zealand Incorporated. Also, a big part of this provision is that it will allow the New Zealand Nurserymens Association to be rolled into and encompass the Nursery and Garden Industry Association of New Zealand. I am sure that you, Mr Deputy Speaker, as a very passionate gardener on the weekends, will be interested in this part.
In essence I want to talk about the horticulture industry because it is an industry that is very important to our primary production. It exceeds about $4.7 billion, and it does a very, very good job in terms of industry-wide issues. It is an important lobbyist for the 7,000 commercial fruit and vegetable growers in New Zealand. The big issues they have at the moment are environmental and employment issues. The Government is very keen to attract employees from overseas into New Zealand to help pick our fruit and vegetables. I am interested to see that they will be paid more than our New Zealand workers because they will have their accommodation supplied and their transport costs supplemented. Also, half of the cost of their air travel will be paid for. Those are the issues that this industry has to come to terms with. It is a very, very important primary produce industry that nets about $4.7 billion into our economy.
The other provision I wish to touch on relates to the Veterinarians Act in Part 14 of the bill. In essence, this will do just a bit of a tidy-up in relation to the registration and disciplining of veterinarians. I dug out the annual report of the Veterinary Council of New Zealand, and I looked at just how many complaints the council has in a year. It says that there is a chance that a veterinarian will be involved in a formal complaint at some stage in his or her career. When I delved into this a bit, I thought it was interesting that New Zealand veterinarians—Massey University has the only veterinary school in New Zealand—are likely to be complained about more than veterinarians from overseas. I thought that probably deserves a bit of comment. In essence, that is because overseas veterinarians are here for a shorter time than New Zealand veterinarians.
We have a shortage of veterinarians in New Zealand. Interestingly, in the Primary Production Committee earlier in the year we heard from the Minister for Food Safety, Annette King, about how we were trying to attract veterinarians from around the world. One would have thought that we should have been able to attract more people to be trained as veterinarians at Massey University here in New Zealand. But what are the Government and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority doing? They are going on trips to London to try to attract veterinarians to New Zealand.
Those listeners who are hosing down their cowsheds at the moment or who are out there in the drive time snarl-up and congestion on the Kapiti Coast will be very interested to know that, from 14 to 20 October 2006, the Government spent $30,000 at an expo in London trying to attract 10 veterinarians, and it struggled to get those 10. Then, from 1 to 10 July, it spent $21,000 on a programme trying to attract 12 veterinarians and it got six. So there is a huge cost involved in our trying to attract veterinarians to come to New Zealand, even though I think, fundamentally, we have a very good qualification here in New Zealand at Massey University. We should be doing more to attract students to get involved in becoming veterinarians for New Zealand.
Just to sum up, this bill is really just a tidy-up. National will support it going to the Government Administration Committee, which will have to do some work and explore some of the things that Mr Finlayson and I have raised here today. National supports the bill, and we have some questions that need to be touched on, particularly on Part 14 with regard to the Veterinarians Act 2005.
Agricultural Compounds & Veterinary Medicines Ammendment Bill
In Committee
Hansards Direct Link: Click Here
NATHAN GUY (National) : I take a call on Part 2 of the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill. There will probably be a few cockies around New Zealand who are listening to Parliament and hosing out their cowsheds as we speak, and they will be interested to know that National is supporting this bill. In essence, the legislation is a bit of a tidy-up, as a result of reviews carried out in 2001 and 2004, and the bill pulls all of that work together. National is supporting that.
Fundamentally, the thing that is of particular note is that there is a 3-year review of the compliance costs around this bill. That will be very, very important as we look forward. Although the officials have told us—and the Minister Annette King has, as well, this evening—that there will not be too many issues around compliance costs, I think it is very important to have that 3-year review so that we can see how this rolls out.
As the Minister will know, this bill will have an impact on veterinarians around all of New Zealand. The Minister has been in front of our Primary Production Committee in the past. Of particular concern to rural New Zealand and a lot of farmers is the shortage in the number of veterinarians coming out of Massey University. The Minister’s department has been all over the world trying to attract veterinarians into New Zealand. This is really, really important, because at the moment we are unable to train enough. Farmers will be interested to know that it costs about $10,000 per vet—if my recollection serves me correctly—to attract overseas veterinarians into New Zealand. Surely we need to do more promotion in order to ensure that we attract students to take up veterinary science at Massey University.
We have also heard this evening about the data protection and how that was outside the scope of this bill. In the Primary Production Committee we heard from submitters who were able to tell us that around different parts of the world data protection is available for 8 and 10 years. I am pleased to know that a group is looking at this issue, because I think it is fundamentally a very important part of this bill. I think that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Ministry for the Environment are involved in looking at the issue.
The other issue that I touch on is this fourth drench family that will potentially—when it comes into New Zealand—come through this bill, as well. This is of great significance to farmers throughout New Zealand. Currently, we have three drench families. There is a thing called drench resistance—so the parasites are building up resistance over time to drench families—and the fourth drench family that will, hopefully, arrive in New Zealand at some time soon is forecast to return about $100 million to the farm gate.
In summary, National is supporting this bill. It is a bit of a tidy-up, to provide a one-stop shop. We look forward to seeing it roll out, and we will be watching with interest over the next few years to see what impacts the legislation has on any compliance costs.
Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill
Second Reading
Hansards Direct Link: Click Here
NATHAN GUY (National) : I rise to take a call on the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill, and I say thank goodness the bill went through the Primary Production Committee so that we could tidy it up. It came through in December of last year. On 6 December 2006 the bill had its first reading. It was reported back to Parliament at the end of May this year. It has languished on the Order Paper for about 3½ or 4 months now, and finally it is in front of us. We had six submissions on the bill, and we heard four of them.
In general, the bill is a one-stop shop intended to tidy up the legislation, and we support it. We actually had to do quite a bit of work on the bill in order to get it into a tidy state. I do not need to respond to Mr Roy’s good contribution and to the Hon David Carter’s speech this evening, because I think they have covered a good deal of what is in the bill. I guess we will get into the intricacies of that in the Committee stage.
I think it is worthwhile at the moment to just touch on rural affairs, which this bill is focused on. Damien O’Conner has been left in limbo by the Prime Minister, so right now people in the Beehive will be running around with bits of paper, doing the backslapping, saying: “I am in your camp. I am supporting you.”, and doing a trade-off here and a trade-off there. When we think about it, we realise that all the cockies who may be listening to this debate now—having a cup of coffee and a bit of cake before they head off to get a good night’s sleep before calving and lambing commences in the morning—will be wondering who in Labour will potentially fill the gap on rural affairs. If we think about it, we wonder whom Labour has. If Mr O’Conner loses all his portfolios—corrections, tourism, and rural affairs—then whom does Labour have? Labour members are not going to text Jim Sutton and ask him to come back, are they?
Hon David Carter: Well, they might.
NATHAN GUY: Does the member think they might?
Labour members will be busy sending out texts to rural New Zealanders, asking them to come on board and join the Labour Party, because it has a real shortage of rural people in its caucus. There would be a deathly silence in response to that, I am sure, because rural New Zealand is pretty sceptical about Labour. So we will watch with interest to see whom it can pull in for the 2008 election to support rural New Zealand, because we do not see that happening right now.
The National Party supports this bill. We had to do a bit of work in the select committee in order to get it tidy. In essence, we are really supportive of the 3-yearly review on cost
Horowhenua Chronicle: Ambulance Services Inquiry
Since becoming an MP, St Johns Ambulance has asked me to be an observer on one of their night crews. Horowhenua is considered a ‘hot spot’ with a lack of double crewing, especially after hours. So last Saturday night (September 1) I visited St Johns Levin depot in the old Horowhenua hospital grounds.
I revised my first-aid book just in case I was called on to lend a hand, but was more confident of my driving ability if called upon. It was a Saturday night that the phone didn’t ring. They told me this happens just a few times a year, and that the night previous had been extremely hectic. The quiet night, over a lengthy cup of tea with a paramedic and volunteer, enabled me to come to grips with the issues St Johns face in Levin. Knowing that you can’t get a doctor in Levin after 7pm on the weekends, St Johns provides a vital link for the sick or injured in our community.
My visit was also timely, as I was able to lobby the National MPs on Parliament’s Health Select Committee to support an inquiry into Ambulance Services. This inquiry was confirmed last week and will be fairly broad. Different ambulance organisations and District Health Boards will be invited to make submissions.
I hope the inquiry will expose the issue surrounding the lack of double crewing in Horowhenua and other provincial regions. It should also expose the contractual obligations between the Ministry of Health, ACC and St Johns and that the contract is currently more focused on response times rather than ensuring safety and quality of care (double crewing).
I gained a greater understanding of many of these issues when I met with the Chief Executive of New Zealand St Johns, Jaimes Wood, late last year after becoming very concerned about the lack of double crewing ambulances in our community.
The difficulty with only one person per ambulance (paramedic) is it’s hard to look after the patient on the way to Palmerston North Hospital and drive the ambulance at the same time. There are also safety concerns for a single ambulance officer, where a patient may be in shock or high on drugs. Paramedics are required to be trained to a very high standard and there is a shortage of suitably qualified paramedics around New Zealand, particularly in rural and provincial areas. One Paramedic I spoke with had shifted from Auckland’s North Shore and reckons Horowhenua is a great place to work, away from the madness of city life.
Volunteers have also always played a huge role in St Johns. I recall many rugby games that I played and if ever I was slightly injured I was so pleased to see a St Johns volunteer on the side line. The difficulty is to find, attract and retain volunteers in today’s busy times, no matter what organisation it is.
Many ambulance organisations are funded partially by public donations, selling their merchandise or providing a service (like hospital transfers or the weekend sports grounds).
The inquiry will hopefully also touch on air ambulance services and how important the Square Trust Rescue Helicopter is to our community. This wonderful service is critical to those injured to have a chance of survival in the golden hour.
Many will remember back in 2005 when the Labour Government wanted to give the Palmerston North rescue helicopter the chop and have our area serviced from Wellington. I launched a petition that gained the support of 13,000 people in our region, and helped to force a re-think.
Thanks to St Johns for hosting my visit. I’ll continue to do my bit to ensure we get better after hours’ health services in the Horowhenua. I’ll keep you informed through this column of progress with the ambulance inquiry.