Wall Louisa: Game Animal Council Bill — First Reading 
Wall Louisa: Game Animal Council Bill — First Reading 
[Advance Copy - Subject to minor change before inclusion in Bound Volume.] 
LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Deputy Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute. I am the spokesperson on sport and recreation so I will bring a different spin on this bill. I want to acknowledge Minister Peter Dunne who has brought the Game Animal Council Bill to the House. For all intents and purposes it is really a member’s bill but because of the situation he is in he has managed to negotiate as part of his confidence and supply agreement this bill. 
Labour is supporting the debate. I think it is really important that the interest groups have an opportunity to have a say and actually we have heard about the concerns of some of those interest groups particularly from the Greens spokesperson. So I want to acknowledge at this point in the proceedings that we are going to take into consideration what the affected parties have to contribute. When I look at the purpose of this bill it says that the main purpose of this bill is to establish the Game Animal Council “to improve the management of deer tahr chamois and wild pig including the improvement of opportunities to hunt those animals.” So the premise is you need animals to hunt not the actual hunting process itself. 
It has been really interesting for me to look at what research has been done in this area. In June 2010 Amelia Woods and Geoffrey Kerr produced a research report for land environment and people. It is a Lincoln University study that looked at recreational game hunting. It looked at the motivations the satisfactions and the participation of those hunters. The report found that for most hunters—and these are both overseas and New Zealand hunters—they were motivated to hunt for the following reasons: they enjoyed being in or experiencing nature they enjoyed the social aspect of time with family or hunting companions they were engaging in an exciting activity and they got solitude challenge sport and exercise from hunting. So although getting a kill is a desired outcome from a hunt not all hunters are primarily motivated by this aspect or this activity. I think that is really interesting to note given the evidence about the purpose of this bill. 
I did want to highlight some of the interest groups and as sport and recreation spokesperson I have to ensure that—for example with hunting and fishing the fact is that for a lot of New Zealanders enjoying our natural environment is a pursuit that not only they enjoy but also the community enjoys. Actually when we look at TV shows like the  
ITM Fishing Show 
 the  
TradeZone Gone Fishin’ 
 on TV3  
Outdoors With Geoff 
 and  
Hunting Aotearoa 
 this issue and this area are things that New Zealanders are really interested in. But they are interested in them within a context and that context is the beautiful green Aotearoa that we have. When I look at for example some of the organisations that this is relevant to I look at Fish and Game New Zealand which is a statutory body. It was set up under the Conservation Act of 1987 to manage maintain and enhance sports fish and game birds for present and future generations of anglers and hunters. When I look at the history of groups that engage in this activity there has been a dual focus on environmental protection environmental enhancement and enjoying our environment so I think that we have to make sure we are not going to compromise that which a lot of entities are deriving pleasure from. I just want to highlight that— 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: The duality the member talks about hasn’t actually happened in practice. 
LOUISA WALL 
: But it is the underlying theory of us as a nation having an environment that we can enjoy so we have to keep central to any bill what the unintended consequences may be from introducing species and their impact on the environment. 
Looking at the whole context of hunting in New Zealand it is interesting to note that game hunting in New Zealand is primarily governed by two factors. One is obtaining a hunting licence or permit which is administered by the Department of Conservation and if using a firearm it is about obtaining a firearms licence from the New Zealand Police. The conditions contained in the hunting licence or permit have to be observed and some of the conditions around that licence or permit are about not discharging firearms in the vicinity of huts tracks or camping grounds; not spotlighting on public property; and not hunting 30 minutes after sunset or 30 minutes before sunrise. Again all these rules are about ensuring that there are multiple uses of our environment so we have to make sure that those who are there to tramp to camp and to just enjoy what New Zealand has to offer are not going to be adversely affected by this bill. 
The other thing I would like to take the opportunity to highlight is that it is really hard to see how this bill will address the issue of an enforceable law—an explicit code of practice for hunters. We do have one for game bird hunting which has a code of practice but it is going to be really interesting to see how this code of practice will impact on people who are not in regulated organisations or do not belong to clubs. There are a lot of people I know back in Taupo who hunt because they like to put food on the table and actually they get the permits from the local iwi groups because they go pig-hunting to feed the whanau. How are we going to make sure that these people are going to also have this code of practice for hunters? It is something just to highlight. But if the underlying purpose of the bill is in fact to prevent the types of hunting accidents and tragedies that have happened then I do not think the bill is the answer. If the bill seeks to manage the hunting of specific types of game animals then surely the granting of hunting licences and permits is the starting point for this type of control. I look forward to the opportunity for interested parties to have a say which is why we are supporting this bill’s referral to the select committee but we have serious reservations about the unintended consequences if this bill proceeds. Thank you.