Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 20 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16917. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management BillFirst ReadingHon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Conservation):I move That the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Local Government and Environment Committee to consider this bill.This bill is part of this Government’s blue-green agenda to improve New Zealand’s marine management while we also strengthen our economy. It creates a new marine reserve a new whale sanctuary a new seal sanctuary five new customary fishing areas and it tightens recreational catch limits in the Kaikōura area. Its provisions will not only benefit—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Order! Would members leaving the Chamber please show some courtesy to the member trying to address the business of the House. It is good conduct and being considerate of others. Thank you.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Its provisions will not only benefit Kaikōura’s whales its dolphins its seals its albatrosses its rock lobsters its shellfish and its finfish but also safeguard and sustain that region’s $134 million-a-year tourism industry.The rugged Kaikōura Peninsula and its snow-capped mountains stand out as a jewel within New Zealand’s coastal environment. The deep canyon of Kaikōura makes its waters the most biologically productive in the world at depths of over 500 metres and supporting a stunning diversity of marine wildlife. I am advised by scientific experts in marine conservation that the level of marine life at those depths is a hundred times greater than the next most prolific area emphasising just how special that Kaikōura marine habitat is. Marine mammals like our sperm whales humpback whales blue whales southern white whales the orca the dusky dolphin and Hector’s dolphins already knew this long before our scientists surveyed this area as can be seen by how often they hung out in these rich waters.Its waters also support our largest New Zealand fur seal breeding colony. Since 1988 when the first whale-watching boat was launched Kaikōura has gained a global reputation for this unparalleled marine biodiversity. The region has witnessed a rapid and successful expansion of that marine tourism including dolphin swimming seal encounters and snorkelling as well as fishing. But until now Kaikōura’s marine treasures have not been subject to any formal protection. Recreational fishing charter fishing and legal fishing practices have meanwhile been placing unsustainable pressures on local fish stocks especially in respect of the cherished local crayfish.The ambition to better protect Kaikōura’s marine environment goes back at least two decades. When I first engaged in this issue in the 1990s the divisions in the community were as deep as the ocean canyons adjacent to the Kaikōura coast. It has been so encouraging over the past few years to return to Kaikōura to meet with local conservationists fishers and iwi to see them working together and to see the package of marine protection measures that have now been agreed by consensus.I particularly want to acknowledge Colin King the MP for Kaikōura who early in his career and even before he was elected persuaded me to don a wetsuit flippers and a snorkel in the middle of winter to help make the case for marine protection. His advocacy for these marine protection measures has been consistent. I also want to acknowledge my other colleagues who have played a significant role particularly the Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy and his ministry; Amy Adams the Minister for the Environment whose ministry has also helped fund the Te Korowai process; and those officials who have diligently worked since these proposals were presented in 2012. The Kaikōura marine strategy is ultimately the beginning of this bill and is the positive outcome of all of this work.There are six key elements of that strategy that are implemented with this bill. The first is a new marine reserve the Hikurangi Marine Reserve covering 10400 hectares over the deep Kaikōura canyon. The proposed marine reserves include that area that is the critical habitat for the resident sperm whales. That area is an absolute no-take zone in respect of no fishing no mining no marine farming and no exploration.The second major initiative is a whale sanctuary covering 4500 square kilometres and extending out beyond the territorial sea into the exclusive economic zone. The sanctuary will protect whales by placing restrictions on seismic survey activities in that area. It prohibits those high-level seismic survey works associated with petroleum exploration but it quite deliberately allows those lower-level seismic works—for instance to be able to investigate the sorts of risk from tsunamis that have been highlighted in technical reports released today.A third measure is a New Zealand fur seal sanctuary at Ōhau Point. This is the most significant breeding colony on the New Zealand mainland islands for this endemic species of New Zealand. Access to Ōhau Point will be restricted but people will still be able to observe those seals from the existing viewing areas and from the water.The fourth element of this bill is the customary fishing areas which include two newtaiāpure local fisheries and threemātaitai reserves. This vital cultural element will restore and maintain traditional food-gathering areas of special significance to Ngāti Kurī of Ngāi Tahu. It will enable Ngāti Kurī to utilise traditional knowledge and customs to protect those fishing areas.A fifth and important part of the changes in this bill is the tightening of recreational amateur fishing regulations. These will result in reductions in bag limits for the number of finfish and shellfish species. For example there will be a daily limit on some seaweeds and a reduction in bag limits for tarakihi kahawai butterfish and blue moki as well as prohibiting the take of red moki and requiring tail clipping for recreationally caught crayfish. This will discourage illegal black market sales as the ability to store quantities of recreationally caught crayfish will be limited.The final part of this package is a new ministerial advisory committee to provide an ongoing role in respect of the conservation and fishery issues in Kaikōura.I want to square off three criticisms by Opposition members of the Prime Minister’s announcement of this bill. The first is from Labour MP Ruth Dyson who said that the only progress this Government is making is on low-hanging fruit. I remind that member that the proposal for the Akaroa marine reserve sat on the desk of Labour conservation Ministers for 9 years without moving and for her to now suggest that this Government progresses only the easy issues in conservation is simply untrue.I also remind Labour and its support partner the Greens that 34 petroleum wells were drilled in the ocean during their term in Government without any consents being required or any environmental assessment. It is only under this Government with the establishment of the Environmental Protection Authority and the exclusive economic zone legislation that we now have a robust system for managing the risks of petroleum and minerals exploration in our vast oceans. I simply ask members opposite where they were for the 9 years when that work took place.I also believe that it is rather churlish of members opposite to be critical of the size of this new Kaikōura reserve. It will be the largest marine reserve on any of New Zealand’s main islands. It is actually larger than all of the nine reserves that were created in Fiordland added together. Inevitably it has involved compromises but it covers the unique deep canyon off the Kaikōura coast that is most deserving of this high level of protection.I also want to put this bill in the broader context of this Government’s work in the area of marine conservation. It is our view that the ocean environment which is 20 times our land area is the new frontier for conservation. That is why this year our Government will pass and put in place a record number of marine reserves and why we are also progressing very substantive work on a new piece of legislation for marine protected areas to enable us to be able to progress these sorts of reserves without the need for special legislation.I would also note the work that this Government is doing in terms of the Ross Sea which is known as the last ocean in the world. We are making progress in the international negotiations around the protection of that area too.I am one of those who are proud of not just this Government but this country’s record in respect of marine conservation. I note that the international Marine Policy journal looked at 68 major countries with marine resources and said that New Zealand’s record was the very best in terms of conservation management of our oceans. This is a good bill a huge amount of work has gone into it and I commend it to the House.Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills):Can I say that it is a real pleasure to be speaking in support of this bill the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill. I want to open by congratulating the Minister of Conservation the Hon Nick Smith on the content of this legislation and say that I look forward to it progressing at good pace through the Local Government and Environment Committee back into this House and being passed. I think it is a very good initiative. I also want to acknowledge the outgoing member of Parliament for Kaikōura Colin King who is well known for his advocacy here and was certainly acknowledged by the Minister. I do not know what it is about a Thursday afternoon but we seem to do this on quite a regular basis. Sometimes I feel a little tricked that I end up leaving the House congratulating the Minister of Conservation. I have just done it again—but he deserves it. Actually he also deserves congratulations on the Akaroa marine reserve because it did languish—not for 9 years of a Labour Government as he said but actually for 9 years of a previous National Government before that. I recall that the late Rod Donald; Mr Speaker David Carter; and I as the three members of Parliament in that area signed joint representation signing a joint letter of advocacy to the then National Minister. I am just trying to recall who that would have been. It might have been the Hon Nick Smith actually. We were advocating in the early 1990s for a marine reserve in the Akaroa Harbour the Dan Rogers Marine Reserve. So let us not be petty about this because the Hon Nick Smith did sign it off just as he has progressed this legislation and signed it off.I also want to acknowledge a far bigger group of people—the local iwi those in the local marine industry the tourism operators and the environmental groups who have worked for 7 or 8 years to get this management plan progressed. I totally agree with the other point the Minister made and that is that we would all be better off if we did not have long protracted litigation about marine protection but rather went down a path where we can get agreement by all the different groups in the first place. A similar effort was proposed a decade or so ago. It did not really get progressed. I hope that the next attempt achieves that. It seems to me that for the fishing industry that would be a good thing. It would be very clear where there are no-take areas. They do not have to argue about it. They would just know about it. For those of us who care passionately about having better marine protection we would not have to spend hours and lots of dollars on going through contentious and divisive court action in order to progress it. Local people would be able to have their say on what is important in protection in their community. I think that is a very worthy aspiration and I would certainly commit to Labour working alongside the Government—until 21 September when we will not have to. But I would invite the Hon Nick Smith to give us the same reciprocity from his position in Opposition on 21 September so that we would be able to work together so that our communities will be less divided over marine protection and have the opportunity to come together.As I said at the beginning of my contribution it is a real pleasure to be able to support this legislation. It is a good move. I still maintain that it is low-hanging fruit because there are a number of quite substantive areas in which the Minister of Conservation has failed. I want to just draw those briefly to the attention of the House in my concluding comments. The Minister acknowledged the Minister for Primary Industries the Hon Nathan Guy. He has actually been an obstacle in some of the most urgently needed protection and that is better protection for the Maui’s dolphin and the Hector’s dolphin. Just this week at the Local Government and Environment Committee a very substantial petition signed by thousands and thousands and thousands of New Zealanders was presented and spoken to by Christine Rose from Auckland and Associate Professor Liz Slooten from Otago University. They talked about how easy proper protection measures would be to be put in place and how the protection measures that the Hon Nick Smith and the Hon Nathan Guy have recently introduced just do not cut the mustard. They do not go far enough.We might ask why that should be of concern to the House. Well actually it must be of concern to the House because we have the responsibility of protection of the Māui’s dolphin. There are only 55 adult Māui’s dolphins left. They all live in New Zealand waters. It is our responsibility to take the most precautionary approach possible to ensure the survival of that species. What bigger responsibility can there be in terms of marine mammals than to have the fate of a species in your hands? That is the position we are in. Bullied by the fishing industry and the Minister for Primary Industries the Minister of Conservation buckled and did not hold the line on the precautionary approach and the best possible protection. I think that that strategy needs to be relooked at. I would be delighted to ask the Minister a patsy question about how great the Māui’s dolphin protections were if he introduced such protections but he has not. I think he lets not just the side down but New Zealand down.Our fishing industry is now under threat because of internationally the increasing number of consumers who look at the product they are about to purchase and say: “Where was this made? How was it produced? Is it sustainable? Is the industry that produced it sustainable?”. We have more and more of our consumers overseas—the wealthier end of the market buying high-value products—looking at our fish and saying: “Well when this fish was caught they may well have killed a Māui’s dolphin. They may well have killed a dolphin that is critically endangered.” and those people are saying: “We’re not going to buy that fish.” We have the opportunity to support our fishing industry to move to sustainable practices and at the same time save our Māui’s dolphins save the species. How could anybody lose from that proposal? Why did the Minister of Conservation not take it up? Why did he get bullied by the Minister for Primary Industries and buckle when the literal future of a species is at stake? So I think that is something that we need to be concerned about need to work harder on and as I said I will be delighted to congratulate the Minister of Conservation when he does the right thing.The other area where the Minister of Conservation has significantly let the side down is when through some exchange of concern information or advice between the Minister his office and the Department of Conservation the substantive submission prepared by the Department of Conservation raising concerns about the one-nutrient model which is proposed in the Tukituki plan change to progress the Ruataniwha Dam just vanished. Instead of a well-researched properly scientifically based submission raising genuine concerns with the board of inquiry about this one-nutrient model—it is a model that says the level of nitrates in the Tukituki River will not be of concern and it will worry only about the phosphorous level; it is brand new it is unique it runs the risk of turning the Tukituki River toxic—the Minister of Conservation through that exchange with his department had the submission withdrawn. Those concerns had to raised by NGOs by Fish and Game by Forest and Bird and by other local community groups that are concerned about this brand new model being tested in the Hawke’s Bay and running the risk of turning the Tukituki River toxic. I think that is a very big black mark on the register of issues against the Minister of Conservation. I do not think that that submission should have been withdrawn. It was an important one to make. It is at the heart of the advocacy role of the Department of Conservation which has been not just watered down but actually drowned and thrown out—the baby with the bathwater—by this Government. The current Minister is certainly a step up from his predecessor in terms of being passionate and caring about conservation issues but that was the worst example of where the department was needed and had the responsibility for putting that submission to the board of inquiry and that substantive submission just went in the bucket.In conclusion I want to again congratulate the Minister on bringing this legislation forward. It is a good bill and it is one that we will be supporting hopefully through all stages—unless something goes off the rails in the meantime and I cannot imagine it would. I want to again acknowledge the local people who have worked so hard on preparing Te Korowai which was the strategy document that led to this. For many many years they worked constructively hard with passion and with genuine understanding of the local area and it is a great pleasure to be able to support this legislation on that basis.NICKY WAGNER (National—Christchurch Central):I too am very pleased to be able to support this bill the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill. I am really pleased because it is an exciting day for the people of Kaikōura many of whom have been involved in the Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura project for over 7 years working on coming up with an innovative and different way to protect their marine environment. It is a collaborative process and it has worked very well. It has had locals from all around the community representing all the different stakeholders working to get this protection for the Kaikōura that they love correct.If you think about marine protection Kiwis are very keen on marine reserves. They are particularly keen on marine reserves that are not where they go fishing. As you know fishing is one of our most popular pastimes in New Zealand and fishers tend to be very passionate about their secret fishing spots and they visit them regularly. They are also passionate about marine reserves but not where they go fishing. New Zealand was the first country in the world to introduce the idea of no-take reserves but it is the location—the fact that it is your favourite fishing spot—that has caused huge debate when people suggest new marine reserves. There has often been huge and quite bitter debate that has divided communities.It was not until the Guardians of Fiordland Fisheries and Marine Environment got together and developed a stakeholder model that it could work with the community around the areas: the people who go fishing there the people who have tourist operations the people who are conservationists—the people who are really involved in their area. It got them together and came up with a mutually agreed process and some marine protection that everybody could sign off. I think that is the answer for marine reserves. The huge subantarctic marine reserves that the Minister of Conservation visited last month were very successfully negotiated through a collaborative stakeholder forum. I think that is what it is all about. We do want to protect our marine reserves. Some of us have vested interests in certain spots but if we can get together and have a bit of give and take we can come up with something that really works.Now we have Te Korowai. This is an example of a very successful collaborative community process and it has really delivered an intelligent well-supported and comprehensive marine package for that area. It is innovative it is different and it has different levels of protection right across that Kaikōura coast. First of all it provides for the Hikurangi Marine Reserve and that covers 10416 hectares—so it is a very large area. It protects all the species in the area including whales and fur seals but it also protects that very unique hugely deep submarine canyon that goes along the Kaikōura coast for about 23 kilometres. It also protects the other natural marine habitats in the area. The bill also creates a whale sanctuary. That is to protect the whales themselves and also the habitat of the whales. The sanctuary stretches all the way from Gore Bay to the Clarence River—that is over 91 kilometres of land mass—and then it stretches out way past our territorial waters into our exclusive economic zone about 56 kilometres off the coast. Again it is a very large area that will be protected for the whales and the whale habitat.It also creates a sanctuary for New Zealand fur seals. This will be at Ōhau Point which is an area where they naturally congregate already and where the colony can be observed by the public. It is a particularly popular area for tourists so far because it has a unique feature: it has a seal pup creche. The seal pup creche is in a stream with a waterfall that goes up into the bush behind up from the beach. The mothers pop their seal pups there when they go out fishing and they leave them there. It has become a tourist attraction where you can walk up through the bush along the stream to this waterfall and you can see dozens of baby seals playing in the water while their mothers go out to get their dinner for them. It is area that has been naturally popular with tourists people enjoy it and now that will be protected as well.There will also be some customary fishing protection through two taiāpure and mātaitai and finally there have been significant changes to fishing regulations. Again this is an interesting story. Locals have got together and they have looked at it. They have reduced the bag catches of some species they have actually made some prohibitions on other species and they have reduced the legal take sizes. I was very interested to hear this weekend when I was at Kaikōura fishermen talking about “Oh well we really can’t take our whole bag because those Korowai people won’t like it.” So they are actually already reducing their take for the future so they can protect their marine environment.I would very much like to congratulate the people of Kaikōura. It has been a long haul—7 years—and a great collaborative process. Everybody has been involved. It is leading to an excellent bill that we will be very pleased to put through the Local Government and Environment Committee. Thank you.DARIEN FENTON (Labour):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. It is a real pleasure to take a call on the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill and offer Labour’s strong support for the bill. And as my colleague Ruth Dyson has spelt out we want to congratulate the Minister of Conservation and the Government on bringing this bill to the House.I am excited about the description of what will come out of this bill. It is exciting for any New Zealander and I cannot imagine there will be a single person in this House who does not feel thrilled about the development of these marine sanctuaries and the reserve because we all feel very strongly about this. We all have close connections to the sea. We are a seagoing nation. We are a nation that likes to fish. Many of us come from traditions that have strong connections to the coast. Actually I am a Pisces so that gives me special connections to fish and the sea and I always feel very excited whenever I get close to the sea and smell the sea air.Mike Sabin: Have you got gills?Le’aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor: Don’t be rude.DARIEN FENTON: It is all right; I can take it. Anyway the bill establishes management measures for the coast and sea around Kaikōura. It includes a marine reserve a whale sanctuary a New Zealand fur seal sanctuary—where access will be prohibited except by permit—five customary fisheries areas an advisory committee and fishing regulations that are specific to the area. I think the previous speaker Nicky Wagner gave a very good description of what this area looks like. For a North Islander for someone who comes from the city of Auckland it was very helpful to be able to envisage what this is going to look like. I am sure that others who are closer to the area like my colleague Maryan Street will be able to describe what it means to the people whom she knows and lives and works among in her area.One of the things that is very important and that was acknowledged by the Minister is marine tourism in Kaikōura. It is a significant economic earner for New Zealand that is increasing annually. Revenue from whale and dolphin tourism increased from $72 million nationally in 2004 to $80 million in 2008. International visitors have voted whale and dolphin tourism 45th out of the 131 activities and attractions surveyed. Kaikōura is the main centre in which these activities take place.One of the things we have to be really careful about when creating beautiful marine reserves adventure activities and wonderful places for tourists to come to is making sure we get all of the processes right—all of the rules around this bill and also all of the rules that apply to the tourism experiences that we offer to overseas visitors. And on that note I have to tell the House that there is a big botch-up going on at the moment with adventure activity tourism. It has been in the news a little bit in the last few days. It came about because the Prime Minister promised the country tourism operators and the population of New Zealand that he would do something to make sure that adventure activities are safe. He promised there would be new regulations and the then Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson got stuck in to it and brought about some regulations that finally came in at the end of 2011.The next Minister of Labour after the previous one had been sacked then announced there were going to be three providers that would provide the audit that was going to be required to ensure that these adventure activities are safe as indeed the Prime Minister had assured the country and had assured tourists they would be. So the regulations were developed and they require a provider to audit the activities. Those audits have to be done by 1 November this year. It will be illegal it will be unlawful for any adventure activity provider to operate without that audit specifying that it is safe under the health and safety regulations that have been created.What the Minister has failed in and the Prime Minister has failed to oversee is ensuring there are actually the resources to provide the audits that are going to have to be carried out—something like 600 and many I am sure are in this area of Kaikōura—and support the companies the providers that are carrying out these audits. Initially the Minister announced there were three providers. What he did not tell us of course was that they were all NGOs so they were not in it for making private profit. They were NGOs carrying out their business. Two dropped off very quickly and the last one that was left Outdoors New Zealand—which is also a not-for-profit charitable trust not a commercial organisation—has said in the last week that it can no longer carry on. It said it had done its best to implement the outdoor safety regulations of 2011 to make sure that our outdoor adventure tourism is safe throughout the country. However it expected that the Minister and the Government would provide some support—that it was not going to just be able to be established and audit 600 providers without some support from the Government—but that support was not forthcoming.Outdoors New Zealand has now suspended audits saying that it has a cash flow problem and it cannot continue. What that means is there are 600-odd organisations that are in limbo and do not know whether they will be able to operate after 1 November 2014. So that means those organisations including those in Kaikōura will not be able to take forward bookings until this mess is sorted out.It is also a very bad message for our international tourism market because this health and safety audit came about because of a couple of awful accidents in adventure tourism. That is why the Prime Minister made the promises that he has been unable to keep. One of the reasons he said we needed to do that was not only for the safety and health of people but also for our reputation. Tourists want exciting adventure activities but they want to know they are safe and that we have in place the most stringent regulations to ensure that is the case—that every provider has been checked has been audited and has plans in place so that we can give assurances to people not just overseas tourists but also domestic tourists that these activities are safe. So there is a huge problem right now.Although it is great to celebrate this bill I really hope that by the time it comes back to the House the Prime Minister has come home from China and sorted this mess out because we—and I mean we as a country—have a terrible problem to deal with right now that will affect all of the hard work that has been done by Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura. It will affect the reputation of organisations in Kaikōura. It will affect every other adventure tourism operator throughout the country. It will affect our brand which is so important to all of us. All of the hard work that is going into this could be lost because of the carelessness of the Prime Minister in making promises he could not keep and the carelessness of his Ministers like the Minister of Labour who has not paid attention to this issue and who has not supported the organisations that have to provide these audits.Right now there are angry operators up and down the country. They are furious with the Government about this because on this rests so much not just the lives and the health and safety of people but our reputation as a nation—our international reputation. So all of the work that has gone into this fantastic marine reserve —wonderful work wonderful collaboration—and all of the things that preserve so much of our national identity the things that we are proud of and the things that we value as a nation are currently on the line because the Prime Minister has not done his job. He is busy over in China doing something else at the moment when he should be here fixing this up really quickly. The Minister of Labour has not done his job either—Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: What a silly thing to say. That’s just silly.DARIEN FENTON: That member Jonathan Coleman—he is silly. He might think it is silly—Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: Yes it is silly.DARIEN FENTON: So that member thinks 600 adventure tourism providers with their businesses on the line—Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: Well saying that the Prime Minister shouldn’t be in China is bonkers.DARIEN FENTON: Oh yes! So anyway to finish—look we are delighted to support this bill. Jonathan Coleman probably needs to study the issue a little bit more before he starts shouting out things about being silly but we are delighted to support this bill. Thank you.GARETH HUGHES (Green):Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. I rise to support this bill the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill. The Green Party supports greater marine protection. We think that this is an absolutely stunning and beautiful part of the country. Seeing those seals the other marine life and that trench which is one of only 100 such deep marine sites in the world—this is a beautiful part of our beautiful country. It is somewhere that many New Zealanders love where they go camping they go surfing and they go there to check out the marine life. I think every New Zealander has got their own story about their favourite part of New Zealand but I would not be surprised if this coast the Kaikōura coast was at the top of many Kiwis’ list.It is also a good example of the clean green economy. We call it the smart green economy which is built on enhancing and taking advantage of our natural beauty protecting it so we have got a sustainable income into the future—not this drill it mine it and frack it approach to our natural environment that we see from the Government so often. What you can see in the officials’ advice to the Government is that marine tourism is a huge earner for this country bringing in more than $1.6 billion. More than 500 million international tourists took part in some sort of marine conservation or marine tourism activity so it is a fantastic smart green economic sector. With the fourth-largest exclusive economic zone in the world this is a real area where we could see new jobs new prosperity and a richer New Zealand as a result.So we are supporting marine protection. That is why we are supporting this legislation today. We would like to acknowledge the Minister of Conservation Nick Smith. We would like to acknowledge and thank for the hard work all the people involved over so many years in the Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura process—the local iwi Ngāti Kurī obviously Ngāi Tahu and everyone involved. The Government is sort of—you know of course this is election year—trying to pretend like this is something it has come up with and it is acting on. But I really do want to say that over many many years people have been—Maggie Barry: No it took 7 years to organise it. We’ve got substance unlike that member.GARETH HUGHES: Well if Maggie Barry is going to sit there and slag off from the backbenches about this she in fact is backing up my point which is that this bill has been something developed from the community for many many years—longer than this Government in fact. So it is unfair for this Government and the member Maggie Barry—[Interruption]The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Order! I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. Can I just say to members in close proximity to each other—and I go back to Sir Basil Arthur in 1984 for this Speaker’s ruling. When you have close proximity it muffles the microphone. It makes it so much more difficult for the person trying to address the House. Can I just remind the House that courtesy is contagious.GARETH HUGHES: And it is quite unbecoming as well. So I am making the point that people have been working very hard over a number of years and we would like to thank them and acknowledge them. I think that with such collaborative processes we could see more successes like these in the future.We know the bill does a number of things including establishing a new marine reserve the Hikurangi Marine Reserve; a new whale sanctuary; a new fur seal sanctuary; the mātaitai; the taiāpure; and some regulations when it comes to fishing. So it looks like a big package but what I want to do is go into each element of this bill provide a bit of context a bit of analysis and then look at the motivations behind it. But more important I want to look at the Government’s track record when it comes to marine conservation because there very much is an agenda behind this legislation we see today.First off I want to look at the marine reserve because this is what the Minister of Conservation Nick Smith has been trumpeting. He says it is the largest marine reserve to touch mainland New Zealand. Although that is the case in a strict measurable sense in terms of being just slightly larger than 10000 hectares at 104 square kilometres it is important to point out—people watching this on the television or listening on the radio obviously cannot see the maps that are provided in the legislation. What this marine reserve does is have a tiny little bit on land 1.95 kilometres—a tiny bit on land—and then extends out into the waters over the trench. We are not opposed to protecting trenches but we just think if you are going to be talking about making the largest marine reserve that touches land you would not have this almost triangle shape with the smallest point touching land. We think there is a bit of misadvertising there. What we would like to see are greater marine reserves over our beaches over our rocky shores so that people can enjoy the biodiversity and the protection benefits that marine reserves provide.We would note that there is very limited fishing in this area. We would note again the size: 104 square kilometres. The Government is making out that this is a huge deal but it is 104 square kilometres. Last year the Government offered oil blocks to the oil industry that were 4000 times larger. So let us put them in contrast: 104 square kilometres of new protections yet 4000 times more oil blocks were offered in a single year. Here you can see the Government’s priority. The Government is again making out like this is a huge marine reserve and we do need some big marine reserves. Less than 0.5 percent—0.41 percent—of our exclusive economic zone and territorial sea is protected in marine reserves. We know that Colmar Brunton surveyed New Zealanders and found they assumed that we had around 30 percent protected—no the truth is 0.41 percent. So what does this new reserve take the total to? From 0.41 percent to 0.41 percent. The size is that small in the global picture that it moves only a couple of decimal points.When it comes to the whale sanctuary we would like to see greater protections for our whales and marine mammals in New Zealand. We have got 55 Māui’s dolphins left nationally our New Zealand sea lions are critically endangered and the Hector’s dolphins just around the corner from this area—a bit south—are again critically endangered. So the whale sanctuary sounds like a great idea does it not? But when you read the legislation and the associated documents you have got to ask yourself what the purpose of the whale sanctuary is. All this whale sanctuary does is make voluntary seismic surveying for oil and gas activities—which are currently voluntary including in the entire exclusive economic zone—apply in this area. This whale sanctuary does not provide much sanctuary if that is the only thing it does. If all it does is to still allow seismic surveying the very weak and permissive voluntary code of conduct should have applied. Basically to sum up the code of conduct you need a couple of people on the ship having a look out to see whether they can see any dolphins or whales. This is far from best practice. For a marine country where our economy depends on and derives much of our income from whale-watching and other tourism I think this is almost laughable.But I guess the biggest threat facing this area which was graphically highlighted by the locals is that while the Government gives on this hand on the other hand it is massively endangering this beautiful part of the country with its risky deep-sea drilling agenda. I would like to thank the work of Ngāti Kurī. I was not at the Bluegreens Forum—surprise surprise I did not get an invitation—but what we saw was in fact more people outside the conference protesting this Government’s agenda than were there inside despite being part of this collaborative process.The Government describes this as the next frontier the oceans. I think what it means is the next frontier for extraction because although there is this new marine reserve which is great and which we support we have got to put it in contrast with all the oil and gas permits it has offered. You know the Government is funding Trans-Tasman Resources $12 million to $25 million to literally suck up 50 million tonnes per annum of the Taranaki and Whanganui seabed. It is still frankly ridiculous that we need legislation in Parliament to get marine reserves passed because this party sat on its hands for the years it has been in Government and has not updated our marine reserves legislation our antiquated 1971 Act. It is still missing its targets. Now two Ministers of Conservation have missed their target—Wilkinson and Smith—and we still do not have modern marine reserves legislation.Although it is seeing new marine reserves created let us not forget that this Government had to be taken to court by the people of the Akaroa community to get that marine reserve created. This Government will not protect all of the waters around the World Heritage - listed Subantarctic Islands. It is still not acting on what the scientists urge us to do to protect the Māui’s dolphins. New Zealand sea lions are still being caught in those lethal indiscriminate fishing nets including earlier this year yet the Government is not requiring we go to sea lion - safe fishing techniques. We are seeing the Government granting minerals exploration and mining permits in benthic protected areas. We are seeing less than 0.5 percent of our oceans protected in marine reserves and a gigantic part of our oceans open to oil drilling.What the Greens in Government would do is take this seriously. This is the smarter greener economy. We would modernise our marine reserves law. We would undertake spatial planning in that exclusive economic zone protecting a great vast area—more than National. We would include protection of the Kermadec Islands overnight taking New Zealand from 0.41 percent to 15 percent of our waters protected. We would act with the urgency and the haste that scientists say we must if we want to give the Māui’s dolphin a shot at survival. We will protect the New Zealand sea lion. When it comes to protecting the marine environment that we Kiwis love it is the Green Party that is the champion not that party with a lick of “greenwash”. When you look at National’s track record it is not the champion of the marine environment.Hon PHIL HEATLEY (National—Whangarei):I too rise in support of this legislation the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill sponsored by the Minister of Conservation Nick Smith. It is another opportunity that the Minister has brought forward to create marine reserves around the coastline of New Zealand. When we brought another bill to the House only a few weeks ago regarding marine reserves I indicated in the debate that there had been a lot of talk from the Green Party and Labour Party in Opposition about marine reserves. They did talk a lot about them for those 9 years. National seems to be creating them. I think that is all about delivering on stuff not just consulting on it which is the mark of our Government.This bill establishes the following management measures off the Kaikōura coast: a marine reserve; a whale sanctuary for obvious reasons; a New Zealand fur seal sanctuary; five customary fishing areas; fishing regulations that are specific to the area; and an advisory committee that the Minister will draw upon to make management decisions. Interestingly of the five customary fisheries areas two are taiāpure—local fisheries areas—and three are mātaitai reserves. In a taiāpure you can in fact fish. In a mātaitai as a general rule you do not fish. With taiāpure it tends to be local iwi and the community who manage the taiāpure and make recommendations to the Minister. With a mātaitai it is generally iwi led and it is a non-fishing area. So it is quite a broad approach to the marine management and protection tools that the Minister is bringing to the House today on behalf of all those who worked in the Kaikōura and upper South Island area—all those communities and all those iwi. I know that he does it with some pride. I know that he does it acknowledging that it was the people down there who did the hard graft. I support him in bringing this legislation to the House.ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First):I would like to take a call on behalf of New Zealand First on the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill. New Zealand First will also be supporting this bill of course as all parties in this House are doing. Kaikōura certainly is a special part of New Zealand. I was fortunate to visit there at the end of last year to have a look at the situation there in terms of the concerns of the Kaikōura community—in particular in relation to the seismic surveying taking place off the coast in relation to oil and gas exploration which was of great concern to the people whom I spoke to in Kaikōura. The fact is they have such a wonderful area for viewing whales plus all the other marine life in the area and they were concerned about the possible impact of some of those activities on the marine life in the area and of course by implication the possible impact if the whales were to move on or be scared away as a result and what that would do to the community in terms of tourism people visiting local economic development in the area and so on and so on. The ramifications were quite significant.So to hear that this consultation has been going on for 7 years—it is a long time but it is very good that local iwi in terms of Ngāti Kurī of Ngāi Tahu Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura; recreational fishers; the Kaikoura Boating Club; local commercial fishers including of rock lobster pāua and inshore finfish fishers; charter fishing operators; tourism operators; and the Kaikōura branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society all worked together to develop the Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura paper and form the Te Korowai group. They came up with this over a period of years as a recommendation to the Government in 2012. It is a great initiative on behalf of that Kaikōura community to come through with that which has ended up in this piece of legislation.Also in relation to the area there is the New Zealand fur seal colony. It is quite extraordinary how when you drive down that coastline you see the seals basking in the sun on all the rocks and living so close to the road and being so accessible for humans to be able to watch them—it is quite extraordinary. Also the pool that Nicky Wagner talked about for the pups and the creches as they call them is quite extraordinary. This is a good piece of legislation that assists that whole area.The marine reserve is going to be very significant. The Hikurangi Marine Reserve of 10416 hectares is focused on the very deep waters of the canyon connects with the land for about 2 kilometres just north of Goose Bay and extends out to 23.4 kilometres off the coast. So it is a very very sizable area and no mining fishing or harvesting of any kind will be allowed in this area. This new reserve is larger and deeper than any other existing marine reserve near New Zealand’s three main islands.Then of course there is the Kaikōura whale sanctuary of 4686 square kilometres. The sanctuary will be extending 45 kilometres north and south of the Kaikōura Peninsula and 56 kilometres out to sea. This will protect the sperm humpback southern right blue killer and other whales that frequent the area and it will prohibit high-level seismic survey work in the area. So that does afford a level of protection.And then there is the Ōhau Point New Zealand fur seal sanctuary 700 metres along the coastal highway of State Highway 1 and about 50 metres to the low-water springs mark. There are something like 3000 seals in this area and this bill ensures there will not be human interference in terms of public access and ensuring that people do not actually go into those seal colonies. It was shocking a number of years ago when we had that tragic incident where a seal was battered to death in that—Hon Maryan Street: Not just one.ANDREW WILLIAMS: Just one—it was just the one?Hon Maryan Street: No several.ANDREW WILLIAMS: Several was it not? Yes. It was tragic that that happened and I think it really did highlight how elements within the community choose to operate in that way in a shocking manner when those seals themselves were so unfortunate. They are so close to human civilisation and we have to do all we can to protect them.Then of course this bill also includes provision for some customary fishing beds and restrictions on some commercial fishing in certain areas there and also new recreational fishing regulations. Recreational catch and size limits are to be tightened within the two Te Korowai areas due to the concern about unsustainable pressure on fishing stocks. Again that helps that whole marine environment in the area.New Zealand First supports this bill. There are many areas around New Zealand that need this type of assistance. Our Local Government and Environment Committee has been looking at a lot of these things including as was mentioned before this week the situation with Māui’s and Hector’s dolphins off the west coast of the North Island—in particular where the Māui’s dolphins are located there are only 55 left in the world. Again that is something that has to be looked at very very urgently in terms of how we will ensure those 55 dolphins are protected and how we can help regenerate that very very small group of dolphins and hopefully in years to come get them back up to a reasonable number. It will take 20 to 30 years just to get them back perhaps into the hundreds but they were there in the 1970s and it is a great shame that they are down to 55. Likewise the Hector’s dolphins are under pressure as well and these dolphins are found only in New Zealand. Therefore we—New Zealand as a nation—have a responsibility to protect them. New Zealand First will support this and we look forward to it coming to our select committee and to assisting this bill in its passage through this House.PAUL GOLDSMITH (National):Like other members I have had the pleasure of driving along this wonderful coastline of Kaikōura with my family—over Christmas actually. It was about 12 degrees—it was January—but it was still a very beautiful place. It is not just what is on the surface but what lies underneath that is important so this bill the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill is a significant one for New Zealand conservation. It seeks to address the current lack of formal protection and recognition of marine species in the submarine canyon and other natural marine habitats.The phrase “te korowai” refers to a cloak of a chiefly person laid over something so as to ensure its care and protection. It is worth noting that although we have got about a third of the land mass in Department of Conservation estates—that is one-third—the marine environment is a new frontier for conservation. New Zealand has some of the most spectacular and important oceans of the world and National is working very hard to protect them. On that basis I commend this bill to the House.Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour):It gives me a great deal of pleasure to rise to speak to this bill the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill. With the indulgence of the House for a moment I want to use a little story from my own experience that I hope will demonstrate the impact that adventure tourism and whale watching in particular has had on the township of Kaikōura and demonstrate why this particular piece of legislation is so useful.My family and I went to have a look at the whales and do the whale-watching experience some years ago. The first day we got there it was too choppy to go out. The sea was too rough and the trip was cancelled. We were to turn up the next day and try again. So we decided to do something else of course on that first day. Of course Kaikōura had learnt to cater for just that situation. Its tourism infrastructure has developed alongside the whale-watching tourism venture that we know so well. It is an extraordinary thing to do to go out a very short distance from the shore and because of the sheer steepness of that continental shelf and the depth that is suddenly achieved have these whales on our doorstep by that freak of nature that edge of the continental shelf. But the Kaikōura township and community has equipped itself to deal with the off days as well. So my family and I did something else. We did another bit of adventure tourism. We went up Mount Fyffe. We enjoyed that experience as well.My point in relating this is that adventure tourism and the kinds of things for which Kaikōura is now famous provide economic development in a region. Economic development in our regions does not come only from drilling for oil and gas. Here we have a wonderful example of a region that is thriving because of its natural features. It is no wonder that the people of Kaikōura are so up in arms about the prospect of drilling for oil and gas. It is no wonder. This is an area where it might be an either/or situation. I want to come to that in the context of this bill because this bill is basically a good bill. I am pleased to see it here. I am pleased that it has reached this stage and Labour is happy to support it. But can I just make a couple of points because this is not over yet.First of all I want to acknowledge Peter Lawless who came to see me in my office in Nelson to talk to me about Te Korowai o te Tai o Marokura about its establishment about its development and about the process by which it hopes this bill might finally arrive in this place. I was delighted to tell him that Labour would be pleased to support this bill. He was acting as a facilitator on behalf of the Te Korowai guardians and presented this to me. It was a testament to the people of that area who care about what happens to it. I want to pay a tribute to the Kaikōura Coastal Marine Guardians Te Korowai at this stage of the legislation. Its commitment and its energy have brought it this far. The Minister of Conservation is the lucky recipient of the result of this work. That is not to detract from any credit that he deserves for bringing it to the House in this state but I do just recognise the Kaikōura Coastal Marine Guardians Te Korowai and its role in this process.I want to go to one of the points that is not finished. There is the provision in this legislation for the gazetting of notices and there are two notices that the Minister must gazette. First let us recognise that this bill establishes a whale sanctuary and a seal sanctuary. These are good things. In respect of the whale sanctuary there will be a Gazette notice implemented within 1 month of this Act coming into effect that would impose restrictions on seismic surveying in the area. My point is this: imposing a restriction on seismic surveying begs the question of why seismic surveying would be allowed in a whale sanctuary in the first place.This is one of these moments when the Government does need to work out which of these two regional development initiatives it is going to support. Why would we have any seismic surveying in a whale sanctuary? It is not a question of just putting restrictions on the kind of seismic surveying but one of why we would have any seismic surveying. I am not a scientist and I stand to be corrected but what I understand about it is that having seismic explosions at depth that test the topography the texture and the construction of the seabed and the underwater terrain in a whale sanctuary makes no sense at all. Here is a region that is thriving on adventure tourism and on its natural blessings really—the things that it has around it its natural features. So I would like to see at some stage when this bill goes to the Local Government and Environment Committee that very close scrutiny is paid to this idea that the Minister should provide restrictions on seismic surveying when in fact if we are going to have a whale sanctuary let us have a whale sanctuary.One of the things that I learnt when I was out on that boat watching the whales—and the talk that they give one on the boat is stunning; it is just stunning—is that at 3000 metres or 3 kilometres which is the depth to which these whales descend off the continental shelf just off the Kaikōura coastline nobody knows what body shape the whale takes under that pressure. What body shape does the whale take under that pressure? What we do know is that seismic reverberations and the kinds of explosions that are involved in prospecting through seismic surveying will have an impact on these mammals. So why would we do it?My challenge to the Minister is that although we support this bill and would like to see a whale sanctuary in place and would like to see a seal sanctuary in place and would like that area protected why not go the whole distance and say that there shall be no seismic surveying there shall be no deep-sea drilling and there shall be no oil and gas exploration because there is no need?This exploration is not the only answer to our economic woes. What we ought to be doing is maximising the protection of this area because it is a good thing to do for the environment. Not only that; it is of economic benefit to that region and that cannot be disputed. I hope that that is considered when this bill goes to the Local Government and Environment Committee. Thank you.JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki):The problem I have with the kind of hocus-pocus science we have just heard from across the House about whales and deep-sea drilling exploration is that that member Maryan Street acknowledges that she does not know what whales are afraid of and yet she does not hesitate to give a very strong position that is absolutely against any kind of deep-sea exploration for oil. It is very confusing because on the other hand another member of the Labour Party the Hon Shane Jones gives out exactly the opposite message. So what are we to believe from the Labour Party? What is its position? Well frankly I do not think it knows what its position is because on the one hand we have one member of Parliament from Labour who seems to understand that deep-sea drilling can actually bring benefits and then we have seemingly the rest of the members who rely on hocus-pocus science which they admit they do not even know to debunk that signal. So that kind of just summarises Labour all over. It does not really know where it is.I did google what whales are afraid of because I reckoned that this kind of hocus-pocus science is as good as their hocus-pocus science and what I have learnt today from some person on the internet is that whales are afraid of sharks and killer whales. So that is my scientific contribution. The Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill is a great bill and we will have fun with it at the Local Government and Envronment Committee.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): The next call is a split call.RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. I am pleased to take a call in the first reading of the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill. This is a significant bill and in addition to supporting it wholeheartedly along with my colleagues on this side of the House I would like to acknowledge the whānau and hapū of Ngāti Kurī in Kaikōura for their driving contribution to Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura and the culmination of bringing this bill to the House. It is wonderful to see all of the features that will be given due recognition through this legislation.I do think of my cousins in Ngāti Kurī because they have been involved and are involved in every aspect of their taonga in Kaikōura. In talking about that whānau I also acknowledge my own connection to my grand-uncle Rangi Solomon or as we affectionately called him Uncle Rangi and Auntie Dee Solomon and their pā harakeke which is in Māori their descendants—their huge family. It is an enormous whānau of all my cousins there. They have been involved in every aspect of contributing to that community—for example the whale-watch business which was established largely through the driving force of a few whānau such as my Uncle Bill Solomon. They always knew that there were whales along the coastline. They were generations of fishermen. And to see that opportunity there and to transform that whole town now into not only a leading internationally renowned tourism business but also a—what was it—$134 million - odd revenue earner for that community is an astounding contribution that they have made.But there were also the little things. I remember as a young child our family going up to see our cousins in Kaikōura in Ōaro. In those days you could just go down to Ōaro and turn over a rock at low tide and there was plentiful pāua. That was our upbringing—how we grew up—especially where my cousins were from. I do have a deep affection for my cousins. I am really pleased to see contained within this bill a mātaitai reserve because unfortunately these days you cannot just go over there turn over a rock and there is your pāua. You have to do a bit more scratching around. You might have to frolic around with the seals which is good fun but you might have to scratch around a bit harder to actually find our delicious kai.It is wonderful to see the mātaitai reserves in particular in Mangamaunu and Ōaro and also the taiāpure. I also enjoy fishing in Kaikōura. I did some fishing over the holiday break and I know that when you go down to South Bay during the summer time it is heavy boat traffic. Everyone goes out there. They enjoy dropping their pots and putting out their lines and enjoying a day’s fishing. It is really great to see in this bill that there is a taiāpure around the Kaikōura Peninsula. So that—[Bell rung] Oh! One more minute? Time goes fast. It is great to see a taiāpure peninsula and that the local hapū will have a say there.I could have gone into many other aspects of this bill. I am really delighted to see it. We know that the sanctuary for these whales is not limited to just the confines of this bill. As we know the passage through those vast canyons deep under the water goes all the way up to Pegasus up to the Cook Strait. These whales travel large distances. So it is not just focused there. I hope to pick up on other matters in this bill in further contributions. I do commend this bill to the House. Kia ora tātou.EUGENIE SAGE (Green):I am pleased to take a call on the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill. As with the Government’s subantarctic marine protection legislation the Green Party is supporting the bill because this is a step forward for marine protection but it is not going far enough. We are also supporting it to of course keep faith with the community representatives in the Kaikōura Coastal Marine Guardians which worked very hard for more than 7 years to develop the proposals.It is to the Kaikōura Coastal Marine Guardians that we pay tribute because it was its initiative to develop some protection for the Kaikōura coastline. It was not a Government initiative that has led us to this bill. Its work was in response to an early proposal for marine protection by Forest and Bird around the Kaikōura Peninsula in the late 1980s and early 1990s. So it has been a long time coming in getting some protection for this dramatic stretch of coast.Rino Tirikatene talked about fishing as a child. It has been the community’s concern too—the reduction in shellfish and the decline in the recreational fishery that has led people to propose some fishing regulations that are specific to the area that the bill includes and also the three mātaitai reserves and two taiāpure to recognise Ngāti Kurī’s strong customary interests in the area and their desire to protect those cultural values.But we have had National members including the Minister of Conservation suggest that the oceans are the new frontier for conservation and that National is somehow the saviour of the marine environment with this legislation. Nothing could be further from the truth because as my colleague Gareth Hughes spoke about it is this National Government that is opening up our oceans to major resource exploitation to very risky oil drilling encouraging seabed mining and that is directly at odds with our marine protection.So this bill is not that ambitious because although it is protecting an area in the Hikurangi Marine Reserve—sizable though it is; 10000 hectares—there is not a great deal of fishing pressure in that area. In fact if you look at the regulatory impact statement there is an estimate that the annual impact of displaced fishing activity will be only $1.1 million. So it is not a significant area for commercial fishing. Yet Kaikōura is a really important area for marine tourism. As others have said it generates $134 million annually locally and it is part of a much bigger marine tourism industry.Fifty percent of the international visitors to New Zealand take part in marine tourism. They spend $1.6 billion while they are here. If National was genuinely interested in having an economy that recognised its dependence on a healthy environment it would be doing much more in this bill to protect our marine environment on which that marine tourism depends and on which amenity values of New Zealanders depend because so many Kiwis love going to the coast particularly the Kaikōura coast. But National is not interested in genuine solid marine protection. The sanctuary that this bill establishes will still allow seismic surveying. To correct the member for Waitaki seismic surveying can have quite substantial impacts on marine mammals which is why there is a code of practice. But the fact that seismic surveys even though they are not the worst sort can occur in the whale sanctuary shows that there are some quite considerable flaws in the bill.Another of the flaws is the very limited area of the rocky coast that the Hikurangi Marine Reserve covers—only 2 kilometres. Its very jagged boundaries will create quite significant enforcement difficulties. It will create edge effects. Those boundaries have been criticised by both Forest and Bird and the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society. Another of the flaws in the bill is that National in its stingy funding of conservation is not giving the Department of Conservation any more money to help with enforcement and compliance of the marine reserve boundaries and that is expected to cost about $100000 a year. We look forward to submissions and we hope through the select committee process to be able to improve the bill.MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore):I rise to speak to the Kaikōura (Te Tai-o-Marokura) Marine Management Bill at its first reading. It is a great privilege to do that today. I was in Kaikōura on Sunday when it was announced and unlike the carping that we have heard from the Greens who are negative from the sidelines who do nothing who just talk ridiculous—Hon Members: Carping!MAGGIE BARRY: Yes carping. It was a pun that was intended. They are not in the green space at all. They do nothing for the environment. Talk is cheap and so is their rhetoric and so is their substance of which there is little.This bill on the other hand has a great deal of substance and it had complete agreement from the people who were there. The collaborative method that we have been using which has taken 7 years to get to this point has been a remarkable coming together of the community. People from the outside who understand nothing of the needs of this community would do well to consider this bill in its detail. The balance is right. It is a stakeholder collaborative model that works wonderfully well. I look forward to speaking about it in more detail on another occasion. In the meantime I commend this bill to the House.Bill read a first time.Bill referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee.