Heatley Phil: Fiordland Marine Management Bill — First Reading 
Heatley Phil: Fiordland Marine Management Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:622;Page:18129] 
PHIL HEATLEY (National—Whangarei) 
: 
 We in the National Party support the Fiordland Marine Management Bill going to the select committee. We do so on the recommendation of the Hon Bill English who has been involved in this particular process from the ground floor. Over the last few years we in the National Party caucus have appreciated the updates Bill English has given us from time to time on how the process of establishing this co-management regime is going. He acknowledged those in the guardians group for their work and he mentioned their determination and participation. What he did not mention was their frustration with having to fight the ivory tower over the years and I would like to put that on the record. I thank Bill English on behalf of our caucus for his work there. 
It comes as some surprise to us in the National Party that the bill will be referred to the Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation Committee which is fast becoming the clearing house for the Government for controversial legislation. So it is with some trepidation today that we see that. We are wondering what sneaky tricks will come out of that committee that result in this bill and all its good intentions in some way being changed and made a little bit more sinister than they are today. We celebrate the bill. We are nervous about it going to that committee. We do not know what the Government has in mind. 
I suspect though that it is about avoiding the Green members who sit on the Local Government and Environment Committee. The Government does not want the Green member who chairs that committee to be involved in the bill and the Government’s tenuous relationship with the Greens is reflected in this move. That is quite interesting. I reflect on the marine reserves policy that Labour espoused before the election—not the 2002 election but the 1999 election. It said that it would lock up 10 percent of New Zealand’s marine area in marine reserves. That was a sop to not just the Green Party but to green voters right across the country. Before that election the Labour Party said it would lock up 10 percent of New Zealand’s marine space in marine reserves. Today Labour is saying that 10 percent of New Zealand’s marine space will be in marine protected areas. So it has done a U-turn there. Now it is saying that it did not mean that 10 percent would be marine reserves; now it says that that 10 percent includes shipping lanes cable protection zones taiapure and mataitai—any area that is locked up in some way and protected whether because of shipping or law to do with Maori customary rights or telecommunications or electricity generation. Those areas fall into the marine protected areas trap. So voters on the green side of life who supported Labour on its hardy marine reserves policy will be very disappointed by the U-turn in that policy that we are seeing espoused today. 
One of the good things this legislation reflects is the degree of consultation that has finally happened with the Guardians of Fiordland’s Fisheries and Marine Environment. The announcement that the Minister of Conservation will be driving through some marine reserves in Northland has prompted moves to have guardians’ groups set up there as well—for example the proposal to turn Mimiwhangata Marine Park into a marine reserve— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is nowhere near Fiordland. 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: That is fine but we are talking about a guardians’ group to do with— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No we are talking about the Fiordland Marine Management Bill. 
PHIL HEATLEY 
: We are. In due course we will see a bill relating to Mimiwhangata introduced to Parliament as well because the only way to make progress in the marine environment with the fractured approach to the marine environment that the Government is taking is to have that solution wound out throughout the whole country. We will see that in Northland. The consultation that has finally happened in Fiordland has to happen throughout the rest of the country and I hope it does. The local people in Fiordland know most about their local marine environment and the local people in Northland know most about the local marine environment there. 
Interestingly enough the Department of Conservation up north when discussing its particular marine reserve proposal like the one for Fiordland tried to do a deal with local hapu for quid pro quo support for aquaculture—the aquaculture interests of hapu would be supported by the Department of Conservation if local hapu would support the interests of the department in a marine reserve. Local hapu turned round and said no in that instance. They said that their aspirations as Maori are exactly the same as the local community’s and local recreational fishers’ aspirations—that there was no distinction and they should not be approached as a racial group to get some sort of support through the back door because they shared the same aspirations as everyone else in that marine area. 
I commend the bill to the House. We will support it going to the select committee. We will be sitting on the Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation Committee and watching very very carefully to ensure that the rules in the bill are not changed too much in order somehow to appease the Department of Conservation. We will be watching over its progress on behalf of the people in Fiordland and the Hon Bill English who represents that region very well indeed. 
Bill read a first time.