Carter David: Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Carter David: Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:616;Page:11661] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 As we debate Part 2 of this bill I want to make two points. I want the Minister to listen because he needs to know this in the portfolio he has now accepted as the new Minister of Fisheries. I say to that Minister that when the Government does not have the answers the easiest thing in the world is to impose a moratorium and buy time. That is exactly what has happened with this industry. Speaker after speaker from the National Party has risen and described to the Minister the potential this industry has and the Minister’s answer is to support a moratorium to stop further development of what is potentially a billion-dollar industry. 
I remember the debate when the first moratorium was opposed a couple of years ago. Everybody said then that the Minister would be unable to develop the answers required from the moratorium and we were assured by the Government of the day that that would not be the case. Sadly we are now being proven right by this extension of the moratorium. 
Secondly I say to the new Minister of Fisheries David Benson-Pope that when we come to the Committee stage the easiest thing to do to gain the confidence of the industry—which will be listening to this debate today and reading the  
Hansard 
 with interest—is to stand and answer a few of the simple questions raised through this debate rather than sitting there stifled and unable or unwilling to make a contribution. The questions asked have been simple questions the industry wants the answers to those questions but to sit there like a stunned mullet and not deliver any answers gives the industry no confidence in that Minister at all. 
I start also by saying that although I will be voting against this moratorium extension bill one aspect that I think the industry has found very rewarding are the issues around clause 7 relating to new section 150G which extends the time for the Ministry of Fisheries to grant permits after a coastal permit has been given. That is a very important part and the industry wholeheartedly supports it. 
I want the Minister to rise and assure the House that he has come to grips with the issues facing the Ministry of Fisheries. I want him to assure the Committee today that having been given this extension of time the Ministry of Fisheries will be able to satisfactorily progress the hundreds of applications for fishing permits that are before it to date. I know of people throughout the aquaculture areas Banks Peninsula and the Marlborough Sounds who having obtained a coastal permit from the local regional council have not been able to get under way because their application for a fisheries permit sits on a ministry official’s desk and is not being progressed. 
The second issue I specifically want to concentrate on is the time constraint that the Minister of Conservation has to consider any application from a council to be excluded from the moratorium because that particular council has made progress and resolved issues regarding aquaculture management areas. I was aghast when it was presented to the select committee that the Minister of Conservation should have no time constraints at all. 
 One of the good things that the select committee was able to come up with—and it was done by all parties represented on that select committee—was an acknowledgment that it was totally unreasonable for the Minister of Conservation—particularly the current Minister of Conservation—to have no time constraints imposed whatsoever. The committee was able to work through that issue and instead of having no time constraints we agreed to extend the current time constraint of 20 working days to 40 working days.