Parker DavidHon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment) Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I take a call on behalf of the Labour Party in support of this bill at first reading.Can I respond to the last speaker's comments about what a landowner's rights are. The idea that a landowner who owns a wetland somehow is facing a cost if they can't reclaim it is wrong. The idea that a landowner who owns a wetland because they own a piece of land that includes a wetland somehow has a private property right that enables them to destroy that wetland is wrong. That's never been part of the private property right in New Zealand and it shouldn't be.The member who has just spoken Sarah Dowie said that the last Government had acted on water issues. Well actually what they did was spike the national policy statement that was going to prevent further intensification of land use and caused our water problems to get worse. In respect of wetland protection—and I accept that the member Sarah Dowie is well-informed on these issues and is well-meaning having before being elected been an employee of the Department of Conservation (DOC) in the Southland area and she—Sarah Dowie: Don't hold that against me. Hon DAVID PARKER: —I don't hold that against you—now lives in Invercargill. I've got to say the stats I've been provided with show that due to the fact that there has been a lot of wetland reclamation over the years long gone New Zealand has lost 90 percent of its wetlands already. The biggest problem that we've got with native fish is actually habitat. We've already lost 90 percent but the sad truth is that the State of the Environment report that came out earlier in the year said that we're still losing them. In respect of Southland they said that in the period since 2007—which is essentially the period of the last Government—Southland lost another thousand hectares of wetland. That's why we're running out of native fish—we're running out of native fish habitat. Now I know there are water-quality issues and there are fish passage issues as well but it's interesting that the areas where we have the greatest abundance of whitebait left are actually on the West Coast where the habitat hasn't been as modified. Essentially if we're going to save our native fish from becoming extinct—and I think it's terribly sad that unless we do something different in our country more species of native fish are going to become extinct. That's the trajectory that we're already on. So I agree with Minister Eugenie Sage bringing this bill to this Parliament because part of the answer lies in this bill. Actually this bill overall is not really where we can protect habitat. That's more to be done in the national instruments under the Resource Management Act in respect of fresh water including estuarine areas and again it's notable that the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management that the last Government promulgated doesn't properly control for these effects. So that's one of the areas that we're going to have to have another look at the national policy statement and do better in that regard. In respect of the issues that are raised in respect of predator fish it is true that introduced species including trout and salmon quite like the little cockabully if it goes past. Now that doesn't mean to say that we should be ignoring the proper role of Fish & Game to look after the sports fisheries and—Hon Nathan Guy: Well that's your mate. Hon DAVID PARKER: What's that? Hon Nathan Guy: That's your mate who's running it. Martin's your mate. Hon DAVID PARKER: He's very competent. He's behind you looking down at your bald spot. Hon Scott Simpson: Now that's a Minister that shouldn't be talking about bald spots. Hon DAVID PARKER: Well that's true too. That's true too. But it—[Interruption] It is true that I have a bald spot. It's also true that in terms of the parts of habitat in New Zealand that do not currently have sports fish in them actually we do have to be careful that they don't expand into those areas because those are some of the remaining habitats that have not been subject to predation pressure by introduced sports fish. I am sure that that issue can be worked through between Fish & Game and the Department of Conservation. My understanding is that the greater concern in respect of introduced fish is the likes of koi carp. Now I was shocked upon becoming Minister in the current Government when I went to have a look at some of the problems in the Waikato catchment about how bad the problems with koi carp are there. They are an introduced goldfish that grow to a large size in the wild and uncontrolled their spread of population is awful. There are farmers and other community members in the Waikato catchment who are just tearing their hair out but no matter what they do to improve fresh water quality they can't get on top of the problem caused by koi carp. Koi carp burrow into the beds of the rivers and the banks. They kick up sediment. They really ruin the habitat. It's a problem that we haven't got under control in New Zealand and we don't really know at the moment how far they're spreading. Sadly there are occasions where New Zealanders deliberately spread them because they like the fish to catch and eat but it causes such terrible problems environmentally that we've really got to do a bit better with koi carp. So if we need more regulation-making powers on the part of the Minister to control koi carp—and I think we do—I'm in favour of that because they really are a scorge a scourge. Hon Members: A scourge". Hon DAVID PARKER: Yes a scourge—thank you. So I don't think I need to say much beyond that. I do think we need to look at these issues as to the border between DOC and Fish & Game on this. I note that Fish & Game do have statutory authority in respect of sports fish so I'm sure that we can work those issues through. A final point before I sit: I hope that you have the ability to look at tidal flaps. Tidal flaps are used as a cheap way of reclaiming land. They stop the tidal inflow coming in on the incoming tide. They block it because they push against the drain and then against the culvert and then as the water builds up when there's a low tide it opens up and it drains the water. They are an effective really cheap way of effectively draining wetlands. I was involved in litigation with this years ago where we put a stop to any more of them on the Merton tidal arm and the structures that were then consented—at a time when perhaps we weren't aware of the threats in respect of the extinction of native fish—were time-limited but the practice has been that we should always just renew them. I think we actually need to look at whether we've got that right as a country because we really are running out of native fish."