Uffindell SamSAM UFFINDELL (National—Tauranga): Thank you Mr Speaker. I stand here to speak as the representative from Tauranga the city that has the most expensive housing in the country—the fastest-growing city in New Zealand and one that is beset by planning issues. We have the largest port in the country and we need to expand that with a third berth. And as the Minister will well know we have been completely unable to get anywhere near doing that and very soon we will reach capacity. We have significant housing constraints and we don't have the incomes that support the enormous amounts that people in our city have to pay for housing.We know that the Resource Management Act is responsible for a great deal of this and so I came here hoping that this bill the Natural and Built Environment Bill would help to address it.Hon David Parker: It does.SAM UFFINDELL: Unfortunately Minister I'm not convinced that it does. I see this bill as adding more bureaucracy greater complexity and more uncertainty into our planning and resource consent process. It puts a significant amount more on the plate for people to consider without any hierarchy in relation to the competing values that they will need to look at. Part 1 of the bill came in—and it's there; the Hon Scott Simpson has it in front of him.Hon Member: Have you read it?SAM UFFINDELL: I have not yet waded through the enormous two-tonne monolith that's just been handed to me. This is part one of three. I'm not sure that it is going to get the job done. We are a small country and we have significant infrastructure deficits. If we're going to take those seriously we need to be a lot more dynamic in the way we do things. Unfortunately on this side of the House we do not believe that this bill achieves that.We note there is significant legal uncertainty and that's already been discussed here today with the effect of te Oranga o te Taiao—my apologies if I didn't pronounce that correctly—coming in. We have never used this in the New Zealand legal system before and we know that that is going to create significant work for lawyers. Good if you're a lawyer; I'm not. Hon Scott Simpson: The Minister used to be one.SAM UFFINDELL: The Minister did. And there is going to be a significant amount of work to determine exactly how that is to be implemented. You look at all of the outcomes that this bill must achieve—looking at protecting ecological integrity the mana of air reducing greenhouse gas emissions conservation of cultural heritage protection of customary rights—and then actually try to get things done like build houses. There's absolutely no hierarchy given to it. So we can all see where this is going to land up. It's going to end up in a legal quagmire [kwag-mahyuhr] with an extra level of bureaucracy in there—Hon Member: Quagmire. [kwog-mahyuhr]SAM UFFINDELL: —quagmire [kwog-mahyuhr]—I've been watching too much Family Guy quite clearly!—trying to determine what to prioritise and what not to prioritise. But what it's not going to prioritise is the development of New Zealand and it's certainly not going to prioritise the development of our city of Tauranga. We have four representatives here in the House today from our great area and I would be incredibly surprised if any of them can honestly put their hand on their heart and say that this bill is going to improve the lot of Tauranga. [Interruption] There you go! Well I know that that side of the House love it. It doesn't mean you have to follow along like a bunch of lemmings because you are clever enough to know that this is going to take New Zealand backwards.It will take 10 years to implement; that is what we've heard so far. The regional planning committees are going to take control of it. We don't know how that is going to look. We know that that will have to give effect to Te Tiriti. And that's a significant significant change from taking into account the principles of the Treaty. As the Supreme Court has noted effectively this means to give effect means to implement. I see this bill as something that will add another layer of bureaucracy increased complexity significantly increased uncertainty and it certainly won't help us address the huge housing and infrastructure deficits that we have in this country. I oppose this bill.