Many biosecurity threats are being taken seriously and the Ministry of Primary Industries is up to the job despite past failures, Prime Minister John Key says.
Mr Key was asked by Hawke's Bay Today to give an assurance that the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) would make no more poor biosecurity decisions, as it did when it allowed kiwifruit pollen to be imported from countries known to be infected with the Psa-V bacteria.
"The first thing is we take it very seriously.
"The Government acted very quickly with the industry to try [to] resolve the issues around Psa as fast as we can. It ... spreads very rapidly," he said.
MPI was a conservative ministry and MrKey said he was sure the advice it was given "was that it wasn't risky".