Smith Nick: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
Smith Nick: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:645;Page:14873] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 Firstly I respond to the contribution from Mr Phillip Field about protecting the soils in the Waitakere Ranges. 
Taito Phillip Field 
: I raise a point of order Madam Chair. I ask the member to address me correctly by my name as registered in this Chamber. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: Thank you. I wonder whether Dr Smith could do that. It is Taito Phillip Field. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I apologise. Mr Taito Phillip Field. He raised the issue of the soils in the lower Waitakere Ranges. He is under the misconception that somehow this bill is going to protect those soils. Well if we actually look at those soils we see that over a hundred areas of New Zealand have similar soil types. Are we to have a special bill of Parliament for every one of those areas? Is not the very purpose of the Resource Management Act to protect them? If the member genuinely believes that the current Resource Management Act framework does not provide the mechanism for the protection of those soils but provides for inappropriate subdivision as he called it let us fix the general Act; let us not have these sorts of piecemeal bills that are more about politics than they are about substance. 
When I look at Part 3 I ask this question: how many times do I hear people say that we need to simplify the Resource Management Act? How many times do I hear that the Resource Management Act is too complicated? How many times do I hear that there are too many word games around the Resource Management Act? I genuinely ask the question of this Committee: do we think this bill will address those very legitimate concerns about the statutes as they are now without these extras? Do I hear anyone saying: “What we need with the Resource Management Act is more plans.”? I never hear that yet I see in this Part 3 of this bill the creation of even more plans and more complexity as we try to work out how national plans regional plans district plans and local plans— 
Paula Bennett 
: LTCCPs— 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: LTCCPs! 
Paula Bennett 
: LAMPs. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well LAMPs—but the rhetoric is just killing this country— 
Sue Moroney 
: The member can’t keep up. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: No it is not a matter of keeping up. I tell you what—the people of New Zealand have had enough of the wishy-mush law that those members are proposing with this bill which takes New Zealand nowhere. I do not think that the member in the chair Lynne Pillay actually understands at all what this will do. 
Lynne Pillay 
: The member in the chair does understand. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well I ask the member whether this bill will allow the erection of farm implement sheds. That is a fair question. I have heard from people— 
Lynne Pillay 
: You’re being pathetic. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: No no. She says I am being pathetic; I have to tell her that I have met with people in the Waitakere Ranges who want to know under the transitional provisions of this bill whether they will be able to build a farm implement shed. Will they be able to build granny flats on their sections? Will they be able to plant vineyards on their properties? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Marian Hobbs) 
: Part 3. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well the member is not able to answer any of those practical questions. She does not know and this law creates even more fuzziness. One of the constant arguments we hear in this Chamber is to do with the increased costs we impose on ratepayers and local government for no good. In fact that is the very reason that John Key’s speech really struck a chord with New Zealanders today in talking about excessive bureaucracy. In clause 28A we see even more bureaucratic reporting requirements on councils. If councils want to and if they support this sort of idea there is absolutely no reason why right now they cannot produce a 5-yearly report on the state of the Waitakere Ranges. Why do we need an Act of Parliament to do that? Can the person in the chair tell me that? She has no idea as to why we have to put this into law. 
This bill is about everything that Labour is doing and there is nothing about good environmental policy. It is not about good government; it is all about crude politics. And Lynne Pillay believes that the people of west Auckland are so stupid that if she can somehow run around the patch and say “Oh I protected the Waitakere ranges.” somehow they will be fooled whereas this bill takes us backwards.