In the 'really old days', the beekeeping industry had a significant government involvement in the form of Dept of Agriculture (later, Ministry of Agriculture and Fish - MAF) inspectors and advisors. Their role was pretty much to ensure that the Apiaries Act was adhered to.
Then came the 1990s, user pays, the Biosecurity Bill, and whe beekeeping industry was somewhat compelled to develop a Pest Management Strategy (now Plan). Sometimes it seemed like that whole process from Apiaries Act to PMS/P was an overnight process. From the NBA/industry point of view, it certainly seemed that way.
But there was a transition, as government's role changed, and attitudes to involvement changed.
I was recently reading a review of the 1969 Apiaries Act that was done in 1989. As near as I can tell, I think it may have been Murray Reid (MAF) who wrote most of it. It provides a fascinating view of what MAF, at that time, thought the future of apicultural 'regulation' might look like. It seems much more gentle than the next decade would prove to be, with government making quick moves away from any sense of direct involvement in many support services to beekeeping.
The document (effectively, an attempt to predict what the Biosecurity Act would do...) has a lot of now quite outdated attitudes to 'the public good' aspects of biosecurity.
