Smith Nick: Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill — Procedure Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Smith Nick: Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill — Procedure Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6221] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 A few points have been raised by Dr Russel Norman and I think it is important to put the record straight. The first point is that he questions the right of Parliament to decide what the Resource Management Act can be used for. I was here when the Resource Management Act was passed in 1991 and I can tell members that the entire Parliament at that time would have been flummoxed if it had realised that in the future almost a million Aucklanders would be required to get a resource consent to trim a tree. It is absolutely proper for this Parliament to tell councils what the limits of their powers are under the Resource Management Act and that is exactly what we are doing this evening. 
The second thing that members are completely overlooking is the reverse effect of these laws. It is interesting that I have had letters—and I know that the Local Government and Environment Committee heard this evidence—from nursery staff who said that people tell them that they want to buy only trees that will grow to less than 3 metres. Why do people do that? Well if their council has a law that says they will lose control of their property if the tree grows to more than 3 metres then it is not surprising I say to Russel Norman. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: It’s 8 metres. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: It varies from council to council. But what homeowners do is to say that they will not plant a tree and lose control over their property or else they will buy only a little tree. 
The underlying proof of that is that if these rules work what we will expect to see is Auckland having a whole lot more trees than cities that do not have these rules. In reality in Palmerston North in Napier in Nelson in Christchurch in Dunedin and in Wellington is there any evidence to support the contention from Russel Norman and the Labour Party that there are a whole lot more trees in places that have these blanket tree rules? The answer is no. The third point I would make— 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Christchurch hasn’t scheduled one tree. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The member should let me make the point. Let us see whether Mr Cunliffe is prepared to live up to his claim. I would have a bet with him for the best bottle of wine that either of us can find that Christchurch has protected hundreds of trees. [ 
Interruption 
] Oh now he is changing his tune. The truth is different and I will swear on the Bible with regard to that. I had lunch only today with the Mayor of Christchurch and he has pointed out that hundreds of trees have been protected so this is just another example of the deliberate misinformation that comes from members like Mr Cunliffe on this issue. 
The last point I will make— 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. It is a fine line for the Minister to argue the case and it is another thing to question the integrity of a member by saying that I had changed my story. I had not. The point I had always made is that there has been no new scheduling since the lifting of the blanket rules. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: That is a debating point and there is no confusion on this. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The last point I will make is to do with a contradictory comment from Russel Norman. He said that the same councils that want to pass blanket protection rules over everybody’s property without any consultation are not prepared to use the plans to identify and consult with landowners about scheduling individual trees or groups of trees. Well I have never heard such an illogical silly argument in my 20 years in this Parliament. If councils are prepared to ride roughshod over everybody’s trees then I ask Russel Norman why they would not be prepared to use the powers that we will provide for them to protect those individual and specific trees which occurs in every other part of New Zealand. I say to members that these sensible provisions will see those very valued trees protected but they will get rid of the bureaucracy of requiring thousands of resource consents for trimming a tree.