Chadwick Steve: Freedom Camping Bill — In Committee 
Chadwick Steve: Freedom Camping Bill — In Committee 
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Hon STEVE CHADWICK (Labour) 
: 
 It is great to follow my colleague Damien O’Connor who is a former Minister of Tourism. I had a brief fleeting moment as a Minister of Conservation. Freedom camping was an issue that we looked at when we were in Government and it came up at a mayoral forum with senior Cabinet Ministers which we held on a regular basis. We realised there was a problem not because the Rugby World Cup was coming up and we were going to dump down ridiculous legislation to try to tidy up the motorways of New Zealand for our Rugby World Cup visitors but because there was a genuine concern about people littering on our State highways and in places of quite high visibility. But beneath that there was also concern about environmental degradation. We were really concerned about it. 
Mayor Geddes’ solution was where we were at when we lost the election and for us to now have to sit here and watch National bring in a bill that is 64 pages long is an embarrassment. The Freedom Camping Bill says that in New Zealand people can freedom camp but only in certain places. Visitors cannot camp it up when they come to our country to enjoy the lifestyle that New Zealanders love. The bill is absolutely a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It is an embarrassment to us in Labour that we are seeing this nanny State Government bring in such stupid legislation. There is now also a Supplementary Order Paper from the Minister of Conservation to tidy up the infringement and penalty regime because the Government got that wrong too. It is an embarrassment to us in this country who are saying: “Haere mai. Welcome to New Zealand and enjoy the Rugby World Cup.” I am embarrassed and we are definitely opposing this bill especially after listening to submissions during the select committee process. 
I come from Rotorua. We have a by-law in Rotorua that works perfectly well. We have never needed legislation that is 64 pages long for us to say to visitors: “When you come to New Zealand these are the places where we want you to go. Don’t freedom camp in this place because there are no ablution blocks anywhere near it but these are the places you can go to.” 
I think this Government and the Minister of Tourism—who for goodness’ sake is the Prime Minister of this country—have failed to understand the very nature of the visitors to our country. They come here to explore the great outdoors. That is what they love. They come here and they want to get in the great outdoors. New Zealand is a long skinny piece of string as our previous Prime Minister called it. The visitors think they are freedom campers because they get in their campervan they can travel anywhere north and south and they cannot get lost. They can go off the north-south continuum in this country and they can find their way back to the main routes to the next town. 
The bill is putting in something that those visitors will not even know about. They will not even understand. We will have an infringement regime that pings people when they get to the airport. It will say: “We got you when you were going through Rotorua when you stopped at Rotoiti—” 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
Hon STEVE CHADWICK 
: You are not a visitor Mr Chairperson; I mean the visitor. The infringement regime says: “We’ve got you and you’ve got an instant fine here of $200. Hope you had a good trip. Bang! Here’s your fine. Pay it before you leave the country or there will be problems when you come back into the country.” It is just silly and it is just embarrassing for us as hosts who are saying: “Come to our country. When you come here enjoy the great outdoors. Please don’t spoil the great outdoors experience by littering our highways and our byways but do enjoy yourself while you’re here.” This is ridiculous. 
The other aspect of this bill that is ridiculous—the Minister of Conservation has become absolutely passionate about conservation—is that there is no way that the Department of Conservation front-line staff want to be involved in snooping around the country and checking up on who is pooping on the side of the roads that are not on the conservation estate. They do not want to have anything to do with it. They want to go out there and look after species that are threatened not tourists who will feel a bit like threatened species when they come to this country. The Department of Conservation wants to get on with front-line work. When I know that there are cuts to Department of Conservation staff and conservancies around the country it makes this stupid bill even sillier.