Connell Brian: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 4) — In Committee 
Connell Brian: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 4) — In Committee 
[Volume:619;Page:14575] 
BRIAN CONNELL (National—Rakaia) 
: 
 This is a critical part of the debate and I note that my colleague Mr Ardern is also seeking a call. Also my good friends from New Zealand First have not yet had the opportunity to take a call but I am sure they will. Certainly if the Chair allows the debate to range over these issues it will be very worthwhile and it will be to the betterment of the fishery. 
National has provided conditional support thus far with regard to this bill. On my way down to the Chamber I felt very certain in my mind that that support would be withdrawn if we could not get some satisfaction as to why these boundary changes have been made. I am somewhat mollified by the information my colleague Mr Heatley shared with me but I still have some questions for the Minister. I note that other questions have been posed to him as well. I would like him to get to his feet and address some of the issues so that I have a better understanding of how moving these boundaries in such an arbitrary way will enhance the fishery and enable it to be managed on a sustainable basis. I think that is a very fair question. I have heard other members putting that question to the Minister and if we could get some satisfaction around that I think the Minister might get some sense of cooperation from us. I have to say though that in offering his answer to us I would like more advice than his simply saying: “My ministry officials told me so.” I think it only fair and reasonable given the circumstances that surround the ministry’s performance on this legislation that we are given some sense of independence in the advice we receive. I think it is wholly reasonable that the Minister give us an assurance that the advice has been sought. 
There is a significant opinion—maybe it has changed over the last 24 hours—that says that the boundary changes should not be moved and that moving them is simply of little practical use. I note that the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research says there is no justifiable reason why we should change the quota management areas off the Southland coast. I accept that new information does and can come to hand. If that is the case and if there have been compelling reasons why these changes are not simply arbitrary decisions made by the Minister and his officials then I will listen carefully to what those reasons are. That necessitates the Minister getting to his feet and giving some explanations. I am perfectly happy to yield the balance of my call if he will give me some indication that he will get on his feet and take a call. However it seems he will not. One then wonders why we get suspicious about what is actually driving these changes. We have a Minister who I accept is new to his role. I accept that he takes advice from his officials because he simply does not have the experience to make these decisions himself. But surely instinct would tell him—given the circumstances surrounding the performance of the ministry—to seek independent advice. I can only conclude that he is not getting to his feet to answer the questions because he simply does not have that advice. 
I have to tell the Minister that I am particularly concerned at the way that United Fisheries and the six other fishers that my colleagues named have been treated around this quota issue. It is no fault of theirs that they have no part or a limited part in the scampi catch at the moment. The decision of the Minister’s officials not to bring some sort of closure and justice for them is wholly wrong. I want to quote from part of a letter from Geoffrey Palmer who wrote from Chen Palmer and Partners to every member of Parliament—if I can find it. I cannot find it but he pointed out that getting things wrong is not the essence of the issue but how or whether we put things right is. That essentially is the issue. The Minister is not giving me any confidence that he is prepared to deal with these issues.