SpeechHon NICKY WAGNER (National): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. It's interesting to hear the debate in the House today because this bill has been introduced by my colleague Sarah Dowie in the face of a community and legal stalemate around commercial shark cage diving—something that is causing a lot of anguish and pain in the area. Now this bill is designed to regulate—to regulate—shark cage diving and to strike that balance between the needs and the demands of a unique species of shark and that of the people who share its marine environment. It will require commercial shark cage operators to get a permit and to adhere to best-practice regulations. Permits will be managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and the regulations would protect both the sharks and the people who live work and play in the area. That's exactly what the Minister of Conservation said that she wanted.There are valid conservation reasons why people should have the opportunity to see and admire great white sharks. They are a protected species. We know that species thrive best when people understand them empathise with them and appreciate them. People protect and conserve species that they value. And furthermore as it's been mentioned this is a regional development tourist opportunity. It provides jobs in the community. It's another reason for New Zealand and international tourists to come visit and spend time in one of our most beautiful untouched and isolated parts of the country.There's about a hundred sharks that visit Foveaux Strait every year between December and June. There's a stable resident population around the island. We've heard about the beginnings of shark cage diving back in 2008 and how the community was actually polarised from the very beginning and particular concern from commercial pāua divers. Because of these concerns the Department of Conservation engaged with the community they discussed the risks they looked at the intensity of the operations and they understood the need for rules. They made an attempt to make an evidence-based decision and they did that by getting an international review about the risks conducted by Barry Bruce from the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. What he concluded was that there was no evidence that shark cage diving increases the risk to water users. So the scientific evidence with an international review said that there was no greater risk with shark cage diving.As we know that actually back in 2004 it was a request from the pāua community the pāua divers' community to DOC to issue permits which they did under the Wildlife Act of 1953. They did that in line with what they do with whale seal and dolphin watching. Through that they commissioned the opportunity for two companies to operate at a site one site only about eight kilometres away from Halfmoon Bay at Edwards Island. The conditions of that permit were about banning the feeding of sharks the use of decoys and the controls of commercial filming—the things that were concerning people. There was a code of practice introduced and that code was tightened as well in 2015.But again the same pāua people came back and challenged the right for DOC to issue these permits. That ended up with nearly four years of legal activity in the courts trying to understand the legitimacy of this activity. Finally as we've heard the Supreme Court set aside the Court of Appeal declaration that shark cage diving was an offence. The result now is that commercial shark cage diving continues with no regulation at all nothing to control the activities no rules to mitigate the risk and no ways of managing community concerns or ability to deal with problems. This situation should not be allowed to continue and this bill is the solution—the solution that the Minister of Conservation has failed to deliver. I commend this bill to the House.