Smith Nick: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Smith Nick: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:619;Page:15131] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 The previous speaker blew his credibility on any issue to do with fishing over the fiasco with scampi. I cannot believe the gall of the man— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. Could you do me a favour and tell that very naive inexperienced and green member that the matter is now sub judice and if he wants to join the action then he should go outside and open his mouth. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I thank the member for raising that point. I ask members to confine themselves to Part 1 and matters related. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I want to respond to the pretty pathetic contribution we had from the member for Tauranga and simply suggest that the member read page 18 where it refers to the deed of settlement in respect of fisheries and in which the words are very clear that it is for the sustainable management of commercial fishing in New Zealand. The words “New Zealand” are there in black and white. The comments of that member are typical of him. 
I want to talk about the Government’s record and to say that Part 1 shows everything that is bad about this Government—firstly its disrespect for Parliament and parliamentary process and arrogance in its legislative agenda; and secondly its political correctness over both Maori issues and environmental issues. It is a constitutional disgrace that the Minister has tabled in this Chamber a 13-page Supplementary Order Paper that affects the property rights of people who are involved in one of the most important industries for New Zealand without any opportunity for them to be able to comment. David Carter quite properly tabled a motion to refer the Supplementary Order Paper to a select committee but this Minister does not even have the courage of his convictions to speak to the Supplementary Order Paper refer it to a select committee and let democracy take its course. 
I must say this issue involved one of the most appalling incidents I have seen whereby a Government’s own bill was defeated by a select committee. I cannot recall in my 14 years in the House a new Minister face the humbling of a select committee that says: “Minister you’ve got it all wrong. You’ve stuffed it all up.” If I were the Minister I would have thrown in my warrant from day one. He need embarrass himself no further. In fact I know of nothing this Minister has done in his role since he has had his warrant that he has not managed to stuff up—whether in respect of kahawai this bill the scampi issue or the mess he is making of the Resource Management Act. 
Then we come to the provisions in Part 1 dealing with highly migratory species. What sort of naive Minister do we have that he is going to stop good fishing companies from my electorate of Nelson being able to participate in those industries when there is not an international agreement? Members on this side of the Chamber agree that New Zealand should sustainably manage those fisheries and work with those countries to get agreement but it is just a nonsense to tie the hands of our fishermen while we allow others to rape those particular highly migratory species. It is the sort of expectations we would have of the Green Party not a Labour Party. Such is the incompetence that we have from this Minister. 
Then we go into another dose of dripping political correctness in respect of Maori issues. How can it be that this Minister somehow believes that under the Treaty of Waitangi there is a right for Maori to 20 percent of quota for fisheries outside New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone? That truly is naive. Whatever there might be we are the Parliament of New Zealand. We should ensure in the legislation that we provide for no such nonsense whether it is the Ross Sea of Antarctica or the fisheries to the north of New Zealand. Only a Labour Party that has gone to incredible extremes to placate Maori would possibly provide them with quota outside those areas. It is a nonsense. The provision should be removed from the bill. 
Even the Government’s Supplementary Order Paper does not provide for changes in that respect and that is a nonsense. It is a double dose of what we have seen with the Aquaculture Reform Bill in which this Government is tossing huge wealth away from ordinary New Zealanders to Maori on the basis of ethnicity. That is one of the reasons this Government will be thrown out at the next election.