Bridges SimonHon SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga): Madam Speaker can I just congratulate you on your role and I think as my friend on the other side has said it's the first time for me as well to speak in this House with you in your position as—I always get these around the wrong way; I want to say that you are the—Chris Penk: Assistant Speaker.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: —Assistant Speaker. I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job. Can I also start by saying congratulations to the member Rino Tirikatene Sullivan and to make clear that I think he should have given the first speech on this bill because he has real mana in some of the areas where there is the most aquaculture in New Zealand. In my view frankly there's not enough aquaculture actually but what there is is in his neck of the woods in the Mainland. Not only that I also am aware that he was no slouch as a fisheries lawyer; he's done some work in this area and other areas associated with this. So he had the experience and the mana to do a good job. I know he's got his under-secretary gig or whatever it is. It sounds pretty good; Minister sounds better though Rino I can tell you for nothing: maybe your day will come but I think you should have spoken first.That said of course the Minister is David Parker and we do have a new portfolio here that this bill comes within and that's Minister for Oceans and Fisheries a very grand title one would have thought. I just say to David Parker if he is listening right now that I hope he will live up to that title and he will do some of the things that need to be done. This is a good albeit dare I say it a perfunctory start really because this bill as the last speaker has said is simple; even Rino and I can understand it and we can work this out pretty quickly. It gets the assets where they should be. If you accept in principle the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process if you accept the establishment here of the various bodies involved in this then it's not much of a leap to say that actually the allocation the transfer that happens under this bill and the improvements made therein are the right thing to do.But of course this is just the start for the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries with that grand title and I think there's more work that he needs to do when it comes to aquaculture and sensibly opening that up in this country and also dare I say it issues like the Kermadecs which sat there for three years and they're progressing this—that's nice; it's a nice little perfunctory thing but there are bigger issues in the oceans where we need solutions and Minister David Parker we will support you where you do these big things and we'll challenge you where you don't.Broadly speaking this bill is and can be placed as part of the Treaty settlements process. It's an area where for National we believe we may not get the votes but we have done the mahi and over the nine years we were in Government we had an incredibly proud record an unprecedented record frankly of Treaty settlements of getting out and doing what needed to be done. Chris Finlayson bears much of the mana associated with that but also the Rt Hon Sir John Key and the Rt Hon Sir Bill English who were incredibly supportive of that.It's been a slow start for this Government and I use the term Government—last term this term very slow. So they're doing this; this is the easy stuff. Look it's a bit better than motherhood and apple pie; it's got a little cream on the side. But it's pretty banal stuff really. What we'd like to see is actual land forest Treaty settlements around New Zealand—Dr Duncan Webb: How about this bill?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well this is about this bill. I'm doing a compare and contrast if the member would like—which you know keeps me within the scope Madam Speaker of this bill which is a banal and perfunctory bill as I've said. So a proud history of Treaty settlements which this bill is part of from National; a slow start from this Government. New Zealanders support the full and final Treaty settlement process and the need to redress past injustices but let's speed up the train eh? Let's see more happen this term than last term. This is a very small tepid start. It's nice it's simple; but let's see more from the Government.I want to in the four minutes remaining just touch on two other matters associated with this bill—firstly aquaculture and just talk a bit about that. There is a huge opportunity which this bill helps with in its own little way. There is a huge opportunity in aquaculture in New Zealand and we haven't let's be honest the last National Government and this Government really done enough to un-tap and unleash that opportunity. It requires certain changes to the way we think and look at these and address these legally and I say to the Government: actually I for one—I reckon my colleagues as well—would be there and would fulsomely support changes that make doing aquaculture in New Zealand easier frankly. I think it's been in the too hard" basket. But I think of Norway which I had the privilege of visiting as a Minister. You couldn't think of a more sustainable country. They've got themselves in large part—well no they haven't got themselves out of oil and gas but they're doing a bunch of things to divest the oil and gas industry and they have a trillion-dollar pension fund from that but what people forget is the other massive sector for them is aquaculture. They are legends in this area and there is no simple reason other than our will and our determination to do it that Aotearoa New Zealand couldn't be in that class as well with the willpower from the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries and others.Finally—who knew that I would get to eight minutes in this contribution frankly? It is amazing how much one knows when you stand up and start talking about these things! I do want to finish on another integral part of this bill the Minister for oceans and aquaculture.Tim van de Molen: What's the bill about again?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: It's about aquaculture OK? Come on! It's over there and that is the Kermadecs. And I say to the other side—[Interruption] No I say to the other side of the House that there are Māori rights and interests there—we get that—but you know what? That shouldn't take a decent competent Minister very long to sit down to work through and get us a solution to the Kermadecs what should be something all New Zealanders Māori and Pākehā could be hugely proud of in that huge expanse what would be I think the biggest ocean sanctuary in the world.So I say for one last time to this House and to the Labour Party this bill is fine. It's nice everyone's going to support it though I don't know what they're doing. [Points to ACT Party members] I reckon even ACT is going to support this bill frankly because there is so little to it. But the work is just getting started. You need to do more as a party and as a Government in the areas of the Treaty in the areas of aquaculture and actually in the areas of protecting our oceans in the right places like the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary."