Williams Andrew: Game Animal Council Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Andrew: Game Animal Council Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 19 November 2013. Volume:695;Page:14854. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First): I take a call on behalf of New Zealand First on the Game Animal Council Bill. When this bill was first presented to the House we were not particularly impressed with it. New Zealand First thought that it was in its first drafting somewhat of a sop to the Hon Peter Dunne just to satisfy the Government’s confidence and supply agreement with United Future and that the Government was perhaps just giving lip-service to it initially as a result of that. We opposed the bill at the time but we were confident that if it went to a select committee and was given the proper light of day huge improvements could be made to it—and that turned out to be the case.I would like to commend the Local Government and Environment Committee which I am on for the work that was done on this bill because the bill is considerably changed from the original bill. The committee heard submissions in both Wellington and Christchurch. There were over 600 submissions in total and many were heard orally. Our hearings in Christchurch were an interesting experience. They were held at the International Antarctic Centre by the airport. It was not foreseen but through the wall from the hearings room a movie of Antarctica was going on. It was on a 30-minute loop with a large crescendo of loud music and sound. Jacqui Dean Paul Goldsmith and others will recall that it was somewhat ironic that as many of the submitters were getting to the end of their various presentations coincidentally there was a loud growth a crescendo of music and sound. It was somewhat ironic and people commented that they did not expect to have a musical accompaniment to their submission.Maggie Barry: Surreal.ANDREW WILLIAMS: It was quite surreal but it was quite fitting. Many of those comments and statements were being made by many parties from across a sector that is involved in game animals hunting recreation and conservation and it was very appropriate that they had a musical background to them. But it was good to see so many people coming together from all those interests and I would like to congratulate all those who did so many of whom had been involved on the Game Animal Council Establishment Committee for the last 5 or 6 years to get it to this point particularly the likes of Garry Ottmann who chaired that committee which brought much of the thinking together to where it is today.It was also very good to see in Christchurch an old colleague of mine Tom Williams who led the delegation there and spoke on behalf of quite a number of the entities. Tom was the former chairman of the New Zealand Game Industry Board many years ago when I was in the venison industry. Tom has huge experience from across the deer industry and the game industry and it was very good to see Tom again taking a lead role in bringing so many of those entities together as one voice.It really was impressive. You know there are really many different factions involved in recreational hunting in commercial hunting in commercial deer operations and in commercial farming that impact on the conservation estate where wild animals can interact with farmed animals and deer farms as well. It was very good to see so many of those people coming together with one voice.The Game Animal Council Bill will bring many of the parties together in a council that will have between nine and 11 representatives. It is good to see that it will be independently chaired and the select committee made some recommendations on this. Clause 12(1A) states: “The Minister must appoint as chairperson a member of the Council whom the Minister considers has the appropriate management and conflict resolution skills to chair the Council.” Our committee thought that it was very important that whoever is appointed as chair of this because there are many factions involved must have the ability to chair it and bring those parties together.This bill also provides a balance between the Department of Conservation and conservation principles and the recreational and commercial hunting sector. We believe that it achieves a good balance so that both sides are able to come to this council in one collective place and express the interests of all those involved in the many activities out there in the conservation estate and in the wild. It provides for the designation of herds of special interest and will improve the management of the likes of chamois deer tahr and wild pigs. The bill allows the Minister of Conservation to define locations on conservation land and designate a herd of game animals as a herd of special interest specifically for recreational hunting without adversely affecting other users or biodiversity values.We included in our recommendations on the bill things such as the council would be subject to LGOIMA—the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act—so that the council will be required to provide information as other local authorities in New Zealand are now required to provide official information on their meetings and their correspondence. The council must notify the Minister of the adoption of any procedure as soon as it is reasonably practical after it has been adopted. So again this council will have to keep the Minister well-informed of its intentions so that it can be monitored all the way through.It was interesting too that we recommended in terms of the trophy export levy in clause 22 that “A person must not export a game trophy from New Zealand that is a souvenir of an animal hunted and killed in New Zealand on or after the day this Act comes into force unless the person pays to the Council the game trophy export levy prescribed …” in this Act. Again this is a good thing because it does mean that highly prized game trophies will be charged a levy to be determined by the council and recommended to the Minister. Again these sorts of things can only be good to help improve the return and to then be able to have funding to go back into the estate itself and into managing the herds.In terms of funding again we provided for fees for hunting any animal that is part of a herd of special interest and for the game export trophy levies. Again there needs to be some form of funding to cover this. It does come at a cost but it is a necessary cost because at the end of the day all those involved will benefit from it. A nominal cost that is the result of this can only be good for the overall management of the herd in ensuringthat this is continued well into the future for this generation and future generations to be able to enjoy the great wild and the recreational sport that this involves and for commercial hunting as well.One of the other things that I believe is good in this bill is that there will be a review of the Act no later than 3 years after the commencement. That provides for Parliament to ensure that the council its activities and what comes out of this whole piece of legislation are monitored. The legislation will not be perfect there will be some teething problems no doubt and there will be a settling-down and bedding-in process while it all comes to be. But it is good that there will be a review within 3 years and as a result of that I am sure that any minor discrepancies or oversights in this bill will be picked up and addressed by a future amendment perhaps in this House.New Zealand First is supporting this bill. We think that the considerable changes that were put through as a result of the submissions and listening to the parties involved are good ones. We believe the bill is a step forward for this sector. We commend the bill to the House.