Ministerial Statements — Kiwifruit—Confirmation of Pseudomonas Syringae pv. Actinidiae Vine Bacteria

Last Friday at 4 p.m. the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was informed of the suspected discovery of Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae (Psa) on a single orchard in Te Puke. The ministry and the kiwifruit industry quickly initiated a response to determine the extent of spread and options for dealing with the disease. Last night test results confirmed Psa.

The immediate focus is on determining what strain of Psa it is and how widely spread the disease is, and containing it if possible. The ministry is working closely with the kiwifruit industry on an operating strategy, and considerable resources are being made available to the response. Technical experts from the ministry, Zespri, and Plant and Food Research are on the orchard today. Industry meetings are under way, and growers are being briefed and provided with material to enable them to screen their own properties for the disease. Provisions are being made to enable Labtests to rapidly process samples to test for Psa. I am closely in touch with developments and will be in the Bay of Plenty this evening, and will be meeting with industry representatives and growers tomorrow.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has informed our relevant trading partners, including Australia, the United States, and China. We will work to minimise the risk of any trade restrictions by providing regular information and updates.

At this stage we do not know how the disease arrived in New Zealand. It is possible that it has been here for some time. Psa is spread by pollen, heavy rainfall, strong winds, animals, and humans. The disease appears to attack only under certain environmental conditions. It carries no human or animal health risk and does not affect plants other than kiwifruit vines. Kiwifruit remain safe to eat.

This is a time for a considered and responsible approach, and I am encouraged that all primary sector stakeholders are supporting the kiwifruit industry and the Government as we work out exactly what we are dealing with. I reiterate that biosecurity is paramount to a healthy and successful primary sector. Three-quarters of a billion dollars are spent annually on biosecurity in New Zealand and, contrary to some claims, the Government has not cut funding for biosecurity—in fact, spending on biosecurity increased in Budget 2010. Our commitment to providing the most robust biosecurity system possible is unfailing. The Government and officials are treating this matter very seriously.

I reassure members that the best possible people are working night and day to manage this threat to a crucial primary industry. The best response to this emergency will be achieved by a collaborative approach from all New Zealanders with a genuine interest in protecting New Zealand’s biosecurity.

I rise on behalf of Labour to, firstly, offer full support for the kiwifruit industry. It is a very worrying time with the discovery of Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae (Psa), this kiwifruit vine disease. The disease was discovered by an orchardist, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was notified, and, as the Minister of Agriculture said, we have had confirmation of it today. This is a $1.4 billion industry and provides 20 percent of the GDP for the Bay of Plenty. It is a worrying time for all of those people involved and I rise on behalf of Labour to support all of the people involved in working through this very, very cautiously.

It is a time not to raise alarm. As the Minister said, we have already had contact from our trading partners, and we want to reassure them that we are doing everything possible to get on top of—and, hopefully, eliminate—this disease.

We can be comforted, if it is possible, in the knowledge that Psa has existed in Japan for 25 years and production has continued there. We have in New Zealand a very coordinated kiwifruit industry and we have a good biosecurity organisation in MAF Biosecurity New Zealand, if somewhat hamstrung by recent cuts. But we are not sure, and we will have to wait a week or so until we know, whether this is the virulent strain, the one that has caused so much havoc in Italy. The potential for loss, as I said, is huge, but at this stage there is no effect on the fruit produced from the vines and we hope that there will be no impact on our trading ability.

The Opposition would be remiss if it did not identify some of the potential pressures that biosecurity has been under. Although the Minister and the Prime Minister have reassured the House that no cuts occurred, the facts are somewhat different. In 2009, 54 front-line staff were cut from biosecurity services by that Minister, and last year although there was money for biosecurity, it went into the joint border management system, which is effectively a new computer system. What we saw “reprioritised”, to use the Government’s words, were cuts to biosecurity policy, border security systems development and maintenance, border security monitoring and clearance, domestic biosecurity surveillance, and biosecurity incursion response and long-term pest management. We hope, as the Opposition, that none of those cuts hinders in any way the ability of MAF Biosecurity New Zealand to get on top of this potentially alarming and drastic disease for the kiwifruit industry. We hope that the Government sees the value in increasing the money for biosecurity to prevent such a horrific disease spreading throughout New Zealand.

The kiwifruit industry is a significant part of our economy, and any threat to it must be dealt with, with the utmost seriousness. We support the Government’s action to date in responding to this incursion, and we also support the Minister’s call for calm. Inevitably, there will be questions to be addressed in the wake of this incident about the adequacy of our biosecurity preparedness. MAF Biosecurity New Zealand says it is world leading, and as we are the nation in the world with the most biodiversity and, arguably, the greatest reliance on natural capital in our economy, it needs to be.

The Green Party, earlier in the House, has questioned whether a biosecurity approach based on risk profiling and selective practices was adequate. We have questioned the appropriateness of cutting funding and front-line staff positions in biosecurity, as this Government has done. We have pointed out the gaping hole in our biosecurity defences against micro-organisms. All of these matters will need to be addressed.

Finally, although other parties have tended to ridicule the Green Party’s attitude to free-trade agreements, this latest incursion must surely cause everyone to pause for thought. We need to have a smart economy that delivers real benefits for everyone and for the environment. Biosecurity incursions such as this one highlight the extraordinarily high price that can be associated with a policy that has seen hugely increased imports, often of goods or products of very limited usefulness.

In conclusion, I wish to offer the Green Party’s support to the Government in the attempts to identify, isolate, and, if possible, eliminate the threat posed by Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae. Thank you.

I rise on behalf of the ACT Party to support the statement of the Minister for Biosecurity regarding the discovery of Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae in the Bay of Plenty. As others members have said, kiwifruit are a vital part of New Zealand’s horticultural industry and, despite their ancestry, have become a New Zealand icon. Internationally, kiwifruit is still an emerging product, with exciting innovation and new varietals. In addition to the established Hayward, there are the sweet green, the Zespri, the ENZAGold, and the new ENZARed.

It is ACT’s hope that new kiwifruit varieties, regardless of who produces or markets them, will soon be able to be freely exported to international markets, and that the current situation in the Bay of Plenty will not hinder that export in any way. We join with the rest of the House in expressing our hope that the extent of the outbreak can quickly be established, and that the measures taken by MAF Biosecurity New Zealand and those in the kiwifruit industry themselves will be enough to see the contamination contained.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. The Māori Party stands in support of the Government in responding to the urgent need to address the issues affecting the kiwifruit industry.

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: On a string.

It is called a coalition, bro. This situation has come upon the House with some urgency, with the identification last night of the bacteria known as Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae (Psa) as having infected New Zealand kiwifruit vines. This is a major issue that threatens the stability of a key industry, and we are certainly keen to provide the support necessary to contain the vine-killing bacteria. As we understand it, the identification of Psa has already struck fear in the hearts of this very significant industry not only for New Zealand but also for Māori. At the end of last year kiwifruit packaging company Te Awanui Huka Pak won the rights to a $24.2 million deal with New Zealand’s largest kiwifruit grower. It was a major step forward for Māori businesses, so we have been thinking particularly of Tauranga Māori, who are now the biggest shareholders of Seeka. In the context of Māori business, this is extremely significant. They are a collection of Māori trusts that have invested in primary production and, in fact, in the whole value chain. We support the Government’s actions—

💬 Hon Shane Jones: What about the yellow one? Brown on the outside, yellow in the inside?

Has the member finished his video? Goodness me! We support the Government’s actions. We want to ensure a healthy kiwifruit export market, and we do so by supporting the hard work of all growers who participate in the kiwifruit industry. Boy, that was hard work! Tautoko ana i te Pāti Māori i te mahi o te kāwanatanga. Kia ora rā.

As a former Minister for Biosecurity who was constantly under attack by the then Opposition National Party when new incursions occurred in New Zealand, I will give the present Government the dignity of my silence on this matter.

I want to join with other members who have spoken and said that this is a time for calm heads, but those calm heads cannot become a cover for complacency. We have a situation where a major threat to one of our very large primary industries has emerged. Some 20,000 people are employed in the industry and it is worth $1.5 billion in exports to New Zealand. The situation clearly has to be managed extremely carefully. But we cannot afford for the problem to get out of control. We have seen other countries where the situation has arisen and terrific damage has been done, both to the kiwifruit vines, particularly the gold kiwifruit vines, and to the long-term viability of the industry.

The steps to which the Minister has alluded to date give some comfort that we are approaching the matter in a considered and proper way, but I guess that until the results from the tests over the next week or so become apparent there will be a considerable degree of apprehension and anxiety in the industry. I think the best thing we can do, to paraphrase the previous speaker, Jim Anderton, is for this House to give the industry the charity of our concern and, perhaps, our non-political silence at this time.

I take this opportunity to thank the various speakers for their contributions today, including the silence from the previous Minister for Biosecurity, Jim Anderton.

No one should underestimate the challenge of biosecurity for this country, with 175,000 items a day crossing our borders. This is a time for a rational approach armed with the best possible information, but we should not underestimate the seriousness of what we are dealing with. We now need to quickly establish what strain of Pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae is in New Zealand, because that will tell us the seriousness of the situation.

I take this opportunity to assure all members of Parliament who have a biosecurity spokespersonship role that I will work closely with them, updating them with information as it comes to hand. As I said earlier, the best response to this emergency will come if we work collaboratively for all New Zealanders, working to make sure we protect the interests of New Zealand’s biosecurity. That is what is at stake today.