Doocey Matt: Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDoocey Matt: Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 29 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9999. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): It is a pleasure to rise in support of the Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill. Can I just start by acknowledging what great vision I think this bill provides—great vision around the environment and conservation. When you look at the range of bills that we have introduced during this term—the Environmental Reporting Bill and of course recently with the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill and now with this Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill—it very much shows the vision this Government has around the Bluegreen agenda. I want to acknowledge the very hard-working Hon Maggie Barry for the all the work she does as the Minister of Conservation.I suppose when I reflect and think about the success of this Government what comes through time and time again and what underpins the bills we bring to the House is that we are listening. We are listening to the people and we care about people. So what we have done is we have listened to Department of Conservation staff who have identified gaps in the previous Wildlife Act of 1953—an Act of 63 years of age which now has some gaps in the modern age. So what we have done is we have listened because we care. Not only do we care about the people of New Zealand but we also care about its wildlife. We had Clayton Mitchell talk about a range of birds that he was interested in but it always surprises me that no one ever mentions the kea. I love the kea the curious kea but no one ever talks about it.When I look back at this bill I suppose that in a modern age with modern technology things have changed. We now know that we are seeing smuggling to order through the use of the internet. The smuggler can be connected with the purchaser a lot quicker. We need to ensure that this legislation is up with the modern times. We also know that with accessible international air travel smugglers can come into this country quite quickly. It is no surprise that some people will want to come into this country because we have such unique wildlife that you get only in New Zealand. We know that New Zealand First would just like to stop anyone coming into the country but over here we just probably want to stop the smugglers. So through this legislation we can get on top of this issue a lot better.What has been identified is that it is pretty much a very persistent problem over the years. When we look at 19 prosecutions being made for the illegal hunting and killing of endangered protected wildlife between 2004 and 2011 and seven foreign nationals being convicted of attempted smuggling since 2010 we see very much a persistent problem that we need to address. So I look forward to this bill going through to the Local Government and Environment Committee—a very hard-working select committee with Scott Simpson as its chair. I am sure it will get a range of submissions from people in New Zealand especially in my area of Waimakariri. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you very much.Bill read a first time.Bill referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee.