forward. So, Madam Speaker, thank you for the opportunity
this bill for the Firebird reading of the House and I'll listen to at
further discussion tonight.
The question is that the motion be
agreed to. I call
Kieran McAnulty. Excellent choice. Madam Speaker, I
am delighted to speak on this bill
and to stand and speak not only
on the bill, but in support of
the bill. This is an important
bill and I say to the member who
put it forward
I say to the member who put it
you for taking the initiative and putting this issue, which is
important to rural communities,
in front of this House. And I
reassure you, don't listen to those in your
caucus that may ridicule
you. The Labour Party has
We are right behind you on this issue.
We are right behind you on this issue. It is vitally important that
this House sends a message to
rural communities that the
issues that are important to them, are important to
us. And so this bill tweaks the
Sentencing Act 2002 to make
livestock rustling or the theft of
livestock an aggravating factor
at the point of sentencing for the
crime. The bill is, indeed,
a short one but as my old man
said to me once,
one but as my old man said to me
I'm
I'm proud
I'm proud to be part of a party that takes a big picture view of
the issues facing a
vital industry, which is our agriculture industry.
We support this amendment
to the Sentencing Act by would also note
that the Labour
Party's commitment to the big picture elements of
addressing the crime itself and
of giving a lot of attention
to the wellbeing of the industry
generally by focusing on it in a different
by focusing on it in a different
way. But the rural communities
in New Zealand are under strain. I
touched on this
in an earlier speech today but they are
deserving of focus and of our energy in the
House. It is aimed to deter people
from engaging in livestock
rustling by identifying it as
an aggravating factor in sentencing. I imagine that
it is that particular factor
that might garner and attract
particular attention in select committee.
I welcome that because it is,
indeed, an opportunity
welcome that because it is, indeed,
this House to gain further insight into why this should be considered
an aggravating factor.
into why this should be considered an aggravating factor. Section
9(1) of the Sentencing Act 2002
an aggravating factor. Section 9(1) an
an aggravating factor. Section 9(1) generally that in
sentencing or otherwise in dealing with
an offender the court must
take into account the
account the following aggravating factors to the extent
they are applicable
factors to the extent they are
on to list quite a few. There are a couple that would be applicable
to the theft of livestock. Mr
McKelvie touched on the impact of livestock
rustling. It might be easy to
ridicule this on first sight
but livestock are the lifeblood of a
farm. Indeed, if it were not for
livestock there would be no
livestock there would be no
industry. It is an
asset to that industry and it should be treated as
seriously as any other core asset to
any other business. Labour
supports the bill and strongly
supports the underlying goal of
deterring livestock rustling but it
is important that we also
take this opportunity to identify the
underlying causes of any increase
in this particular crime. The questions
we propose at select committee must
be asked, why has livestock
rustling increased over the
last few years. What are the
driving causes behind What are the driving causes behind
committed to asking these questions. For this is a Government that
is committed to rural communities.
Indeed, we are a Government that
reinstated the minister
of rural communities, be it rural health
or rural infrastructure. Any issue
that might be a national issue has a
particular and
particular and different lens when looking through it from a
rural perspective.
looking through it from a rural
You are a big fan. You talked about Amelia today. Read up! This
Government by supporting this bill
is demonstrating that it
does not matter from which corner an idea
comes from,
comes from, it shouldn't matter whose idea it is, if it's a Goodesy,
we should get
whose idea it is, if it's a Goodesy,
get behind it. The bloke who came up with this ideas is a top bloke. I
am proud to put forward
the Government's
Government's perspective in supporting you. You might not
be very quick around the cricket field
Mr McKelvie, but if the cricket ball
comes straight to you
I am confident you can stop it. When you dealt with
the diplomats when we played them a
couple of weeks ago is the only
example I have to go to. I want
to provide some examples
for members who might not be familiar with the
concept of livestock
rustling, further insight into this.
There is further insight into this. There
is a concern that this is becoming
more prevalent. It does affect both
commercial and small farms and so we
acknowledge the component in this
field that says it is not just
those commercial livestock but
also small holders as well. It is not just
rural electorates
rural electorates that suffer this. In fact, it is
the Minister of Finance, the MP for
Wellington Central, who is the
most recent Labour MP to deal with a situation
of livestock rustling. There was
once a cow stolen from Macra
beach once a cow stolen from Macra beach
and Grant Robertson went
out and sorted that out.
and Grant Robertson went out and
case is still open however and he has asked me to put forward to the
nation that if anybody has
any information they are
to contact his office directly. If this bill was in
place then, then whoever caused that
crime or committed that crime would
be liable, regardless of the number
of livestock on the farm. Just last
year there was an extreme example of
1,400 lambs taken from one property
in fang knewy, a survey of
1,000 farms
farms conducted recently demonstrated that
respondents had dealt with some issue of livestock rustling
at some
livestock rustling cases go under livestock rustling cases go under
reported. The question I pose here
is that given the nature and
importance of this,
how much emphasis our rural communities and
primary industries place on
this matter, why would
primary industries place on this
under reported. Is it because our police, up until recently, have been
under funded. That is a question I
think we should explore. Is it a
case that many rural communities
do no longer have a police presence
within 45 to an hour's drive. The
under estimated impact of this goes
beyond the particular farmer or the
particular livestock owner. It is
also about our economy and our brand
also about our economy and our brand
as a nation. Given that it is
estimated
as a nation. Given that it is
is the impact on our farming community, and given that just
is the impact on our farming
1 February last year the Guardian produced stories about backyard
butchers and
butchers and vigilante farmers, stock rustling on the rise
in New Zealand, talking about the illegal
meat industry, what impact is this
having on our brand as a clean,
green,
having on our brand as a clean,
take the risk that with these stories going oversea, how will this
affect consumer confidence in our
products. It is important that we do
take this issue seriously because if
consumers cannot have confidence
ha the New Zealand meat
that they are eating has gone through
the proper processes in a safe and legal
manner, the impact on our economy is
potentially significantly higher
than the 120 million quoted in the
Federated Farmers research that I
touched on earlier. I
think we should also consider
poverty as a driver. We all know that poverty
can be the driver of crime in
general but given the nature of this
crime and that livestock is obviously a
food source, we cannot dismiss the
impact that the situation
that many in our communities find
themselves in, the impoverished position
that they find themselves in
that breeds desperation. If we are going to
be looking at this issue we also
need to be touching on the drivers of
this issue.
to be touching on the drivers of this issue. In Conclusion, the
Labour Party is comfortable that
the importance of the
safety and wellbeing of this community of
farmers, the importance that their
livestock holds within the
primary industries warrants an amendment
to the Sentencing Act to
recognise that this type of offending is damaging
in many different
ways. We look forward to hearing more about
the issue of livestock
rustling as this bill progresses through the House. I
congratulate Ian McKelvie
for putting it forward. The Labour Party
supports you in this measure. The
Hon Nathan Guy. This is
a great occasion to salute Ian
McKelvie for the fine work that he has done
getting this bill in front of the
parliament this evening, a bill that
he got feedback from in his own
electorate where
he got feedback from in his own