Reframing New Zealand’s Biosecurity Conversation Post-Covid-19: An Argument for Integrating Interspecies Concerns

Author: McDonald, D. A.
Published in National Security Journal, 24 August 2020

92 Professor Michael Baker, “Why New Zealand Decided to go for Full Elimination of the Coronavi­rus”, New Scientist, 23 June 2020, https://www.newscientist.com/article/2246858-why-new-zealand-de­cided-to-go-for-full-elimination-of-the-coronavirus/, date accessed 22 July 2020.

93 Barker, 2008. See also Phillip Hulme, “Covid-19 Proves Better New Zealand Biosecurity Possible”, Stuff, 11 May 2020, https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/121436476/covid19-proves-better-nz-biosecuri­ty-possible, date accessed 22 July 2020.

94 See S. Harris Ali and Roger Keil, 2008.

95 On COVID-19 website there is a drop-down menu listing government response actions, including testing (community surveillance), contact tracing and quarantine. Ministry of Health, last modified 3 July 2020, https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19/covid-19-all-of-government-response-group/. These types of bi­osecurity response practices can also be found on the MPI website relating to a range of plant and animal disease incursions. Ministry for Primary Industries, last reviewed 27 June 2019, https://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/protection-and-response/mycoplasma-bovis/what-is-mpi-doing/.

96 An outline of Foucauldian-type disease management epistemologies can be found in Philipp Sarasin. “Vapors, Viruses, Resistance(s): The Trace of Infection in the Work of Michel Foucault.” In Networked Disease: Emerging Infections in the Global City, edited by S. Harris Ali and Roger Keil. Oxford: Wi­ley-Blackwell, 2008, pp. 267-280.

97 Steven Phillips, M.D., “The Pandemic Winner: Will It be Sweden or New Zealand?”, The Hill, https://thehill.com/opinion/international/495823-the-pandemic-winner-will-it-be-sweden-or-new-zea­land, date accessed 22 July 2020.

98 New Zealand Herald, “Covid 19 Coronavirus: Swedish Expert says NZ Faces Years of Quaran­tine for Arrivals”, 9 May 2020, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objec­tid=12330725.

99 Tim Newman, “Government Announces Changes to Biosecurity and Animal Tracing”, Stuff, 19 July 2019, https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/114357084/government-announces-changes-to-biosecu­rity-and-animal-tracing, date accessed 13 May 2020.100 Statistics New Zealand, https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/livestock-numbers, last updated 18 April 2019.

101 See the Report of the Mycoplasma Bovis Technical Advisory Group (TAG) in Response to the Terms of Reference (June 2019). Wellington: Ministry for Primary Industries, October 2019. Retrieved from https://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/dmsdocument/37754-report-of-the-mycoplasma-bovis-technical-advisory-group-tag-in-response-to-the-terms-of-reference-june-2019-18-october-2019.

102 At present, the potential for humans to obtain immunity to COVID-19 through infection is likely but the extent and term of any immunity is unclear. See discussion of Professor Michael Baker, “Why New Zealand Decided to go for Full Elimination of the Coronavirus”, New Scientist, 23 June 2020, https://www.newscientist.com/article/2246858-why-new-zealand-decided-to-go-for-full-elimination-of-the-coronavirus, date accessed 22 July 2020.

103 The data for this comparative analysis came from information collected from Ministry for Primary Industries, DairyNZ Limited, World Health Organisation and reputable media websites, such as Radio New Zealand. The majority of the information used in this comparison is now common knowledge.

104 As a relevant aside, the term ‘unwanted organism’ is defined by s 2 of the Biosecurity Act 1993 as an organism having the potential to cause unwanted harm to natural/physical resources or human health.

105 Bonnie Flaws, “Going ‘Hard and Early’ on M. Bovis Paid Dividends: PM”, Stuff, 26 May 2020, https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/121627591/going-hard-and-early-on-m-bovis-paid-dividends-pm, date accessed 18 July 2020.

106 See Noel Castree, Louise Amoore, Alex Hughes, Nina Laurie, David Manley and Susan Parnell. “Boundless Contamination and Progress in Geography.” Progress in Human Geography, 44, no. 3 (2020): 411-414. The authors observe that COVID-19 “has compressed, in a confronting way, the sort of massive questions and challenges represented by humanity’s long-term transformation of the Earth” (p. 413).

107 A small indicator, but there is a post-COVID-19 increase in New Zealand’s exports for fruit (Minis­try for Primary Industries, 2020).

108 Better Border Biosecurity, “Facing Covid -19 and Future Pandemics. What Can We Learn From New Zealand’s Biosecurity System?”, 15 June 2020, https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2006/S00132/facing-covid-19-and-future-pandemics-what-can-we-learn-from-new-zealands-biosecurity-system.htm, date accessed 19 July 2020.

109 National Security System Handbook (Wellington: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2016), p. 8.

110 Noel Castree, Louise Amoore, Alex Hughes, Nina Laurie, David Manley, Susan Parnell. “Boundless Contamination and Progress in Geography.” Progress in Human Geography, 44, no. 3 (2020): 411-414.

111 Max Towle, “How the Climate is Benefiting from COVID-19”, Radio New Zealand, 24 March 2020, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/412526/how-the-climate-is-benefiting-from-covid-19.

112 One example of a biosecurity opportunity is evident from Hon. Grant Robertson’s Budget Speech 2020, 14 May 2020, in which money has been allocated to (among other things) employing people to remove wild conifers from conservation land. Retrieved from https://treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2020-05/b20-speech.pdf.

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