The Green Party is calling for an urgent overhaul of biosecurity laws in the wake of a groundbreaking report of the People’s Inquiry today.

Under the Biosecurity Act, MAF officials are not required to acknowledge or compensate people for any impacts on their health or their livelihood, Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

“This must change, and the Ministry of Health must be given explicit responsibility for assessing and overseeing the public health impacts of any future biosecurity programme,” Ms Kedgley said.

“I congratulate the community for taking the initiative and undertaking the first ever People’s Inquiry in New Zealand into the impacts and effects of the two-and-a-half years of aerial spraying over urban areas of Auckland.

“It is the first comprehensive assessment of the impact of a major eradication campaign, and I hope the Government will act on its recommendations.”

“If a further aerial spraying of urban areas is ever proposed, the community must be fully involved in all aspects of decision making, not just subject to token consultation which in reality was a vehicle for MAF to persuade the community of its own view,” Ms Kedgley says.

Ms Kedgley says the report made it plain that, contrary to MAF denials, there were substantial adverse health and community effects on the sprayed community. The Government must now acknowledge these impacts and address compensation issues.

“There must also be full disclosure of the contents of any spray that is aerially sprayed over a human population. These communities were sprayed with an unknown substance, then when some suffered impacts on their health, had their concerns ridiculed. This must not be allowed to happen again,” Ms Kedgley says.