Simpson ScottSCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): It is a pleasure to take a call in this third reading of the Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill sponsored by the Minister of Conservation the Hon Maggie Barry. I listened carefully to the third reading speech of the Associate Minister of Conservation the Hon Nicky Wagner and I was delighted to hear her give what I thought was very appropriate praise and acknowledgment to the Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and officials who had helped us at the Local Government and Environment Committee as we went through this piece of legislation.That the Department of Conservation staff are hugely committed to protecting and enhancing our natural environment goes without saying but this is an area of the law that is due for an update. It is an area of the law that actually has not been addressed by this Parliament for nearly 60 years. Over that 60-year period the focus and the intent of illegal smuggling poaching and stealing of our beautiful native creatures has actually changed quite dramatically. We now have a burgeoning flourishing and enormously profitable trade internationally in some of our most precious most vulnerable and most at-risk native creatures—the lizard is just one that comes to mind.In an electorate like mine in the beautiful Coromandel where a very large part of the electorate is managed very competently by the DOC ministry and employees I see literally every day examples of how dedicated those people are to our beautiful natural environment. So this piece of legislation extends the powers of those officers to actually intervene and intercept in situations where they see illegal acts taking place. That has not been the case in the past under the principal legislation which as I mentioned is almost 60 years old so it is very appropriate that we update it.I want to just make mention of a comment that the Hon Nanaia Mahuta made in her speech regarding David Parker's Supplementary Order Paper 243. What the committee actually did do in terms of Fish and Game was we extended I think appropriately and correctly the ability for rangers to be able to require proof of date of birth name and address. Full-time fish and game rangers have had that extension of power given to them as well. So the distinction here—and I think the point that the Hon Nanaia Mahuta missed—was that it was the volunteer personnel from Fish and Game to whom we have not extended that opportunity and right to require proof of date of birth name and address. So full-time fish and game personnel and officers have had that extension granted to them and I think that is an appropriate course of action. I think that extending it further beyond that to what are essentially well-intentioned volunteers is actually a step too far in terms of the appropriateness of what are quite significant powers to stop to hold and to arrest.So it is about getting the balance right. I think this piece of legislation does get the balance right. I think that the select committee has done very good work and I want to commend the work of my colleagues from across the House on this bill. They worked assiduously to get a good bill out of the select committee in terms of it being a better bill. So this is a small but really important piece of legislation in terms of helping to protect our native species from the poachers from the smugglers and from those who seek to profit illegally at the expense of our beautiful and unique native creatures. It is my very great pleasure to commend the bill to the House.