MPI defends cost of new biosecurity lab
The head of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) biosecurity operation, Stuart Anderson, has defended the cost and the need for a Plant Healht and Environment Laboratory (PHEL) being built in Auckland.
Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner Mike Inglis says the frontline has been strengthened to ensure that threats like foot-and-mouth disease and brown marmorated stink bug do not cross the border and harm the country’s $54 billion primary sector.
72 new frontline officers have been recruited this year, including 24 recent graduated who will be based at Auckland Airport over the summer.
Detector dog handlers on duty this summer will increase nationwide from 30 to 39.
“The additional detector dog team capacity means we can make greater use of airport express lanes to speed up passenger flows,” Inglis says.
He says that opening express lanes to more travellers, combined with changes to the assessment of passengers for biosecurity risk, will result in more efficient processing.
“Our biosecurity controls are necessary to protect New Zealand,” Inglis says. “At the same time, we want to build on processing improvements over the past year that have resulted in nearly a 50% reduction in the time it takes passengers to get through biosecurity at Auckland Airport.”
He says the quickest way to pass through biosecurity screening is to avoid bringing food or other items that could pose a biosecurity risk.
He adds that travellers who complete a digital declaration will increasingly experience faster border processing.
The New Zealand Traveller Declaration can be completed 24 hours before departing for New Zealand.
Summer 2024/25 will also see 44 part-time biosecurity hosts at New Zealand’s four main international airports.
“The move follows successful trials last summer, using 19 hosts to welcome air passengers on arrival, help with queue management, and provide friendly biosecurity assistance,” Inglis says.
An enhanced public awareness campaign aimed at travellers to New Zealand kicks off this month.
Like previous campaigns, it will encouraged travellers to declare or dispose of potentially harmful items upon arrival and prompt them to think about the things they are bringing before they arrive.
Inglis says the more informed travellers are about New Zealand’s biosecurity rules before they visit, the less likely they are to bring risk items in.
“Those who don’t declare face an infringement fee of $400 or even prosecution,” he says.
