Pillay Lynne: Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill — Procedure Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Pillay Lynne: Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill — Procedure Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6198] 
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour) 
: 
 The Minister in the chair the Hon Dr Nick Smith is clearly not listening to what this argument is all about. This clause is being held up by the Government as some sort of trophy for cutting red tape and bureaucracy and also as a promotion of individual and property rights. I see the Minister is looking attentive. I ask whether he can explain to the Committee how the requirement of councils to identify trees in groups or individually throughout the whole of the Greater Auckland region is not bureaucracy. The task would be hugely time-consuming expensive and complex and it would be impossible to carry out effectively and efficiently. 
Now the Minister is saying that he wants a progress report from councils every 6 months. Under the new one city we will have Len Brown as the mayor and after a few months he will ask what is going on as his budget will have been absolutely blown-out on identifying and protecting trees. The hard-working council workers—those who have kept their jobs—will say that they are going out to meet all the property owners and have a nice cup of tea with them and a jolly good chat but that there are thousands and thousands of them. The council workers will say that they have not got through them all or identified all the trees but that they are talking to them. That is where the expense is. When the Minister next takes a call I would like him to explain that point very clearly because I think that he talked about having a cup of tea with property owners— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I’ve never said that in my life. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: —or having a good chat with them. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I never said it. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: If the Minister goes to Waitakere I am sure that the property owners there will ask him whether he would like a cup of tea and they will ask the council workers that. But the reality is that the process will take huge huge amounts of time. 
So many Aucklanders from right across the region from every city in the Auckland region have sent piles and piles of emails. They have held meetings they have written to MPs and they have telephoned MPs. I am proud of my west Auckland colleagues and my Greater Auckland colleagues who have listened to the people and are running the argument here. I have to say that not one National MP from Waitakere has answered those people’s calls or listened to them. My colleagues are the people who are there to represent westies. The people who have contacted me and my colleagues have not just been critical. They have offered sensible solutions and proposals such as expanding the exemption list to include exotic trees increasing the list of notable trees and removing tree protection from areas that are low in character. All of those suggestions fell on absolutely deaf ears and were completely disregarded by this Government which is a Government that talks about central government not being nanny State. Yeah right! 
The irony of it is that the councils and community groups throughout Waitakere are working really hard at the moment and are putting considerable resources into identifying the cause of the disease that is killing many many kauri in the ranges. Why bother? I ask why they are bothering to go to all that trouble when any individual under his or her individual property rights can cut down the tree anyway. Why are they putting in that time and resources? When the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill was in its early stages and it was supported by the vast majority of westies Nick Smith rode into town and did he ever whip up a storm! “Confiscation by stealth” is what he said. The minority of people who believed him were so inspired that they got signs made that said “confiscation by stealth”. Just like his leader— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Stop making it up. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: The Minister says that he did not say it. Is the Minister saying that he never said that? 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: That’s correct I’m saying you should stop making it up. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: The Minister said he never said it. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: You should stop making it up. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: OK—just as his leader said “socialism by stealth”. Did anyone in Waitakere have their land confiscated by the enactment of the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Act? Absolutely not. 
I hope that my amendment will not be necessary because of the Green Party’s amendment and the amendments of my colleagues—my very good colleagues who have put great amendments on the table. I hope the Government will support those amendments. In the event of that not happening my amendment—and this amendment was requested by the Waitakere City Council—seeks to enable councils to identify trees in a more achievable less bureaucratic and less red-tape sort of way. If that can happen by way of a map then it will not be easy but it will certainly make the provisions in section 52 more achievable. I hope that my amendment is not necessary because I hope the amendments that give more protection to trees will be carried through the Committee. 
It is ludicrous to hear not only the Minister but many MPs compare Timaru with the pressures of Auckland development. I have been to Timaru; it is a fabulous place but we can in no way compare the development and the population pressures in the Auckland region with that of Timaru. A third of the country’s population is in Auckland. The pressures of development are astronomical. One of this Government’s many slogans has been about allowing local people to make local decisions. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: That’s right we’re going to make a local decision. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: That is right! 
Hon Tau Henare 
: If I want to chop my tree down I’ll chop my tree down. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: I say to that member to speak out again. Yet central Government is taking that right away from— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: If I want to prune my trees I’ll prune my trees. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: I say to that member Tau Henare to speak out again. Central Government is taking that right away from locally elected councils and citizens who want to ensure that trees and our environment are protected. We all know that trees reduce urban pollution stabilise soil give shade and privacy and are integral to the well-being of our communities. The reintroduction of many species of native birds and the well-being of tui and wood pigeons happens because we protect trees in our environment. In Waitakere the trees on private land are vital— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: What wood pigeons? You killed them all 100 years ago! 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: They may not have them in Te Atatu. The trees are on private land and they are vital to ensure a buffer between an urban area and the regional park. Any schoolkid in New Zealand can tell this Government why tree protection is so important in urban areas. Those same students had got their heads around climate change and were doing meaningful projects and tackling climate change when this Government was still a climate-change denier. My property in Titirangi—[ 
Interruption 
] It is the weaving of the tree roots that stabilises the soil on the bank that it stands on. If the council did not have the time and resources to get around to my place and put it on the list—because thousands of properties as we all know need to be done—and if I had decided that it was my individual right to cut those trees down what would be at risk? At risk would be beautiful trees that are hundreds of years old and the erosion of not only my property but also my neighbour’s property. There would be very serious problems including landslides and potential flooding to say nothing about the risk to birds or the ghastly blot on the landscape. 
Before the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Act the Waitakere Ranges were being really cut away at. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment referred to the axing of those trees as “death by a thousand cuts”. The implications of clause 52 being enacted would lead to just that but it would be across the whole Auckland region—“death by a thousand cuts”. I urge the Government and the Minister to take heed of the speeches and to support the amendments that are before the Committee.