Biosecurity Minister Damien O'Connor has todayannounced a crackdown on transitional facilities following the Tauranga discovery of a brown marmorated stink bug late last year.
The minister made the announcement in Tauranga this morning among a meeting of horticultural, port and agricultural representatives.
O'Connor said there were 4518 facilities around New Zealand where containers of imported goods were checked for biosecurity risks, but these were expected to be whittled down to fewer numbers as the standards of each were to be increased.
O'Connor told the Bay of Plenty Times transitional facilities would now have to "up their game" and ensure each staff member at each place was qualified with extra training, at their own cost.
There were 29 transitional facility handling imports within 2km of where a brown marmorated stink bug was found in Tauranga in December. The discovery was caught early because a member of the public recognised the stink bug and alerted authorities.