Browning Steffan: Conservation (Natural Heritage Protection) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Browning Steffan: Conservation (Natural Heritage Protection) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6644. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
STEFFAN BROWNING (Green) 
: 
 I will take just a short call on the Conservation (Natural Heritage Protection) Bill in the name of Jacqui Dean. I think it is a fantastic bill to see this increase in penalties around the stealing and the smuggling of native wildlife and plants. It has got particular meaning for me because unlike Mr Goldsmith who spoke previously I am familiar with the jewelled gecko. I remember watching them—but not in my underpants—and seeing them in their natural habitat at that point in the Nelson Lakes. We are not sure that they even exist in any numbers in the Nelson Lakes now because the numbers have gone back so much. It is absolutely critical that we find measures to conserve them. 
I had a strong interest in lizards actually when I was a kid and they would still probably be my favourite animal. I remember going out to the Wairau Bar out from Blenheim and the coastline and other areas looking for lizards and looking for katipo spiders and the like. I am so aware of the drop in their numbers when I go to show in turn my children or my partner what is actually out there. Out there now you could not find a katipo spider. You may still find some lizards but they are not as prolific as they once were. It is absolutely critical that we use measures such as this bill and the services of the Department of Conservation to make sure that we preserve our natural heritage. 
I also lived in the outer Marlborough Sounds and looked out at Stephens Island which has probably the greatest population of tuatara in the world. The lighthouse would wink at our place 300 metres up the side of Aorere Mount Stokes where we also had kakariki—another target of those smugglers up there—a fantastic beautiful little parrot which not enough New Zealanders get to see. 
What is also very concerning—and other members of the House have mentioned it tonight—is the fact that earlier we had Nick Smith using the economic woes as an excuse in my words to whack the Department of Conservation around the ear. The real economic value of not losing species is not being valued here. It is not being valued by the Government as it depletes the department’s resources more and more year after year. 
What does it look like when we lose Maui’s dolphins? What does it look like when we have less and less of our natural fauna? The people internationally who are interested in the different conventions are measuring them and are seeing more and more species coming into different threatened and vulnerable categories. That is not good for our brand. It is not good for our selling of anything that comes out of New Zealand. It is not good for our tourism. The real value in the Department of Conservation is much higher than this Government seems to give it. We need a fresh and new green vision that actually values our natural heritage for not only its intrinsic values but also its economic value. 
I remember some of my previous activities at meetings of NGOs. Every quarter or thereabouts we would have a meeting at the Department of Conservation in Manners Street. Different NGOs and interest groups would meet with the department. I can remember the staff there presenting the latest change in management approach—this new commercial management approach. Man they were stoic. They were fantastic people but they were standing there presenting that as though it was the best thing since sliced bread and some of them were going to lose their jobs. Department of Conservation staff are dedicated people wanting to make a difference and to manage our natural heritage. We need to really support them. 
With the jobs gone and the drop in core work and funding the Government is expecting the community to pick up the slack. The community was already working pretty much to capacity as it was so it means only that we are going to have further losses to our natural heritage. Area offices are being totally done over effectively and staff are being forced into decisions around their close friends and colleagues—basically having to choose which ones of their friends are going. I am looking forward to when a Government actually values the Department of Conservation in a better way and supports things like this bill. This bill is a good move but the Government also needs to support the department to do its job. Thank you very much.