Laws frustrate gardeners

By Tom Clarke

Gardening enthusiasts are being increasingly hindered by a mass of legislation and regulations which are turning them into unintentional law-breakers, says Bill Brett.

Mr Brett has just become president of the Nursery and Garden Industry Association.

The increasing number of legislative and regulatory decrees and edicts are impacting very seriously on the industry, he says.

"As environmental awareness takes grip, bureaucrats seem to be leaping into making huge changes," he says.

"I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the desire to protect the environment, but some of the things that are happening have very serious repercussions for our members."

Mr Brett acknowledges the need to keep out undesirable weeds and plants, but he says the other side of the coin is that plants that might be better and safer than those already here are also being locked out.

Bureaucracy such as the Environmental Risk Management Agency and laws such as the Resource Management Act and the Biosecurity Act have "made it so difficult and so expensive to import plants that it is now almost impossible to bring them in to the country.

"We are going to have a situation where beneficial new plant material, such as new and better varieties of apples or ornamental plants developed overseas, won't be brought into this country because of the costs and all the rigmarole that's involved," he says.

The strict controls on the use of pesticides have created further major problems.

"These laws were intended to prevent the misuse of pesticides on food crops, but ornamental crops have also been caught up in the web and that's very serious for the industry."

Mr Brett has worked in the industry for more than 30 years. He spent some years with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries quarantine service, and later managed a landscaping business and a large tree nursery.

He spent eight years with Arthur Yates, the last three as manager of the home garden division, and then joined Mitre 10 where he set up and managed gardening stores throughout the country.

Five years ago he set up his own consultancy and now has clients in New Zealand, Australia and Ireland.