Dean Jacqui; Mallard TrevorHon JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): Thank you Mr Speaker. I want to thank the conservation Minister Eugenie Sage very much for mentioning in her speech earlier this evening the Bluegreen's forum the very successful forum that was held in Nelson over the weekend. So successful was it that the room was full of very enthusiastic practical environmentalists belonging to the National Party.I also want to acknowledge her congratulations to our leader for his announcement around beach clean-ups. That initiative provides $5 million extra funding for community groups under an enhanced Keep New Zealand Beautiful programme. Now not only is that a practical conservatism approach which is what the Bluegreens are renowned for but it also values and recognises the input that volunteers and community groups put into conservation efforts all around New Zealand. That is a conversation that is dwindling very quickly under this Government where it seems to be that partnerships community groups and valuing volunteers seems to be a dwindling force under this Minister and under this Labour - New Zealand First - Green Government.So according to the Minister in her speech—which was exactly like last year's speech which was exactly like the year before's speech and on and on into the distant past because it's always the same—all is sunny in the conservation portfolio. Her speech funnily enough on the one hand largely referencing projects commenced under the previous National Government—and I will go through some of those—but at the same time having the interesting position of saying that we had nothing new to offer. Well I ask the Minister possibly to answer in a different forum what has this Government done in the conservation portfolio that wasn't commenced under the previous National Government? I'll just go through a few of those projects—interesting always to read a financial review and to hear Director-General of the Department of Conservation (DOC) Lou Sanson who as it turns out appears to be the greatest cheerleader for the initiatives that were commenced and undertaken and now picked up by Eugenie Sage in her portfolio but commenced under National. I'm going through the first one and here's Lou Sanson and I'm saying So predator free?" He says "It was launched by Prime Minister Key four years ago." Well thank you Lou Sanson for acknowledging that Predator Free 2050 was in fact a National initiative commenced with the Hon Maggie Barry back in 2014-15.The next reference in this document is Battle for our Birds: "We've ramped that up."—well congratulations that's really good news that you've done that. But once again this is an initiative which was commenced under National. It's just a shame that the Minister has quietly let the name go and has subsumed it into the Predator Free 2050 work space.Now good stuff all good stuff but "predator free" and Battle for our Birds certainly had a good ring to it and was a rallying point for all those volunteers who are now beginning to feel a little neglected. So here's the next glowing reference to the previous Government by the director-general Lou Sanson: the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's Tohu Whenua the landmarks that Minister Barry introduced three years ago is on a roll. Well that's also great news I suppose and also great news that Maggie Barry and the previous National Government have been credited with that initiative.Then we get back and Lou Sanson carries on with his narrative: "I started at DOC in 2014" then he starts talking about the number of huts and then he says "we set up the Backcountry Trust"—thanks again to the previous National Government. So I guess without really labouring the point far too much I think it would be fair to say that I haven't heard anything so far in Lou Sanson's glowing summary of the conservation estate—anything new except for maybe one name change: getting rid of Battle for our Birds and subsuming it into another project.However Lou Sanson was not so flattering about life under this Minister and this Government. I go back to the written word and the first question I have—obviously to be answered in another forum although anyone is welcome to answer these questions—is Lou Sanson mentioned how excited he was at the international visitor levy of $42 million potentially to come. So the question is "Where is that international visitor levy?" and as a relatively new Environment Committee member three weeks as of today I will be asking some questions around that international visitor levy.Then the second mention by Mr Lou Sanson Director-General of DOC where things maybe aren't going quite as much as the Minister would purport is of course the Supreme Court decision which said that the Treaty partner trumps all legislation to do with national parks. And so DOC are now reviewing the national park legislation and the conservation park general policy—that is fine; that is the way it should be. But what seems to have been forgotten through all of this is the concessionaires who are waiting waiting waiting for that legislative review to happen to give them some security when they go to the bank—because they have a concession to operate hunting or fishing or rafting or guiding or boating within a national park. They need to go to the bank to refinance—what do they say? "We have no tenure I'm sorry bank manager because there's a review under way." This is something that is impacting hundreds and hundreds of concessionaires all around New Zealand. For a Government which says it's the Government of infrastructure well DOC and concessions are part of that infrastructure. Well they'd better get a wriggle on because there are people hurting out there in the regions and it's at the hands of this Minister who needs to get on with that work.The next mention where Lou Sanson is glowing is in an area where DOC had a very difficult relationship he says with farmers formerly—and he's referencing the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island—and he says it is remarkable how this project has coalesced now since the Department of Conservation and the local councils and iwi have all got together. Well they forgot to ask the farmers what they thought because those very high country farmers who either have tenure on the land or land and free title—which is highly contested—they're not being asked. They're not being asked what's going on they are not being included and that is not a good way to treat stakeholders out in the world.Māui dolphin protection gets the next grand mention and that is interesting because with the Māui dolphins they're saying in regards to cameras on fishing boats "Yep absolutely. We think cameras on fishing boats are the way to do it." Well how about those cameras on fishing boats Minister? Where are they? Approximately a quarter of fishing boats have got cameras. We all thought that the policy was in the bag but it got torpedoed by somebody in that Government. So maybe not quite as glowing as perhaps they might have thought it was going to be. Then the conversation turned as it does to Predator Free 2050 and the question really comes now: Predator Free 2050 in order to really have an impact on predator control in New Zealand has got to use—and relies on—new technologies and part of that new technology is of course gene editing. So where is this Government on gene editing? Well it was all go. Lou Sanson Director-General of DOC last financial year was quietly optimistic and excited about the prospect of gene editing; this year gone—dead in the water. Why? Because of this coalition Government who has three different views and none of them can agree. None of the Green Party's agenda ever gets under way just like the Kermadec sanctuary and just like a number of initiatives that the Green Party and the Green Minister have put up that have been absolutely torpedoed by one or other of their coalition partners. So for the Ministers to stand up and say all is rosy within the conservation estate—I respectfully disagree. It is not rosy in the conservation estate. Who are the losers? New Zealand's wildlife. Those—SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired."