Benson-Pope David: Third Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Benson-Pope David: Third Readings 
[Sitting date: 14 December 2004. Volume:622;Page:17777. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister of Fisheries) 
: 
 I move  
That the Resource Management Bill (No 4) the Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 5) the Conservation Amendment Bill (No 2) the Biosecurity Amendment Bill (No 3) the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Bill the Te Ture Whenua Maori Amendment Bill (No 3) and the Aquaculture Reform (Repeals and Transitional Provisions) Bill be now read a third time 
. 
These bills create a new regime designed to allow the rational development of the industry while ensuring that the impacts of new aquaculture activity can be fully considered in relation to all coastal marine users. We have acted to protect the coastline for all New Zealanders. The whole purpose of the reform is to provide users with clarity and certainty which were not there before. The aquaculture industry has been held up under the moratorium for a number of years after an overload of marine-farming applications left councils and communities struggling to assess projects and keep up with demand. The aquaculture reform bills secure a sustainable future for New Zealand’s aquaculture. I am confident they balance economic development environmental sustainability and community concern. The bills make the Resource Management Act the main legislation for managing aquaculture. That will enable councils to effectively manage aquaculture and encourage the industry to develop in a sustainable way. There was need for change. We listened hard to industry concerns and have responded providing them with greater flexibility certainty and fairness. 
Let me firstly thank the industry which has set aside any unease it may have had and worked in a highly cooperative manner with the Government to reach this point. I also thank the Primary Production Committee and the officials who supported the committee for working under great time pressure so that the moratorium could be lifted on the due date. Their work has helped us reach our goal of having a number of bills that support clarify and define aquaculture’s place in the marine environment. To that group I add the very cooperative attitude of local government which yesterday and today is working with the Ministry for the Environment to make sure that the implementation of the legislation is highly successful. 
The bills also address Maori interests in commercial marine farming space by providing iwi where possible with 20 percent of marine-farming space allocated since 1992 and 20 percent of any future new space. That is an important step. Settling contemporary commercial claims removes a potentially huge impediment to progress and certainty in the industry. It is clearly in line with the 1992 fisheries settlement aquaculture being the unfinished business of that deal. The 2002 Waitangi Tribunal report entitled  
Ahu Moana: The Aquaculture and Marine Farming Report 
 states plainly that Doug Kidd who was the then National Government’s Minister of Fisheries and Minister of Maori Affairs had forbidden officials from including marine farming in that settlement. It is time that National members put aside their obsessions. We need to talk about solutions not empty slogans. 
Although it has taken time to reach this point I am confident that we have come up with a workable solution that will take us into the future and will see the exciting potential of the marine-farming industry realised. I am delighted to commend the legislation to the House.