Connell Brian: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) — In Committee 
Connell Brian: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) — In Committee 
[Volume:619;Page:15192] 
BRIAN CONNELL (National—Rakaia) 
: 
 Like my colleagues I would also like to speak on clause 64 which deals with mussel spat. But before I do so I think we need to have some contextual statements. There is a certain amount of disquiet about the way this bill has been managed through the House and the select committee. In order to understand that we need to reflect on the fact that we have had a 17-page Supplementary Order Paper come into the Committee. Today further Supplementary Order Papers have been put forward yet at this stage the Minister has got to his feet and taken only one call on an issue that deserves the closest possible scrutiny. I do not want to overplay that but the issue around this fishery and mussel spat is of such significance that in time there will be an industry that is a billion-dollar – plus earner. That industry deserves to have confidence in the Minister who is running this portfolio. The confusion that has arisen out of the 17-page Supplementary Order Paper and the steadfast refusal of the Minister other than on one occasion to get to his feet and answer reasonable questions are disturbing. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Part 2. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: Thank you for your direction. I want now to turn my attention to the question of mussel spat. It was raised in the select committee and I understand that the Green members were very concerned about it—I mean these are people who kiss green-lipped mussels for goodness’ sake! When the bill went to the Primary Production Committee the Minister had the full support of all the parties but when it came out from the committee that goodwill had been lost. We have to ask the question: what needs to be done to lose the goodwill of the Green Party? 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: Before the dinner break I was telling the Committee that there is a crisis of confidence in this Minister and nowhere is it more evident than in his determination—in fact it is not his determination; it is his officials’ determination—to put mussel spat into the quota management system. 
Simon Power 
: What is mussel spat? 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: Mussel spat gets washed up on to the shores of our local beaches. The problem is that it gets washed out again when the tide comes in. So what we do not know is whether we are counting it once twice or the number of times the tide brings it back in. The question that I need the Minister to stand up and take a call on is how he establishes a quota system for mussel spat. In fact I note that the Minister will not stand up and take a call so maybe he could answer this question: what does he need to do to establish a fair quota system? What science has he—or the Minister’s officials—relied on to say that this is how he has established a mussel spat quota? [ 
Interruption 
] Oh the Minister has done that. I notice that the Minister still will not stand up and answer that question but I will put this to him: science that cannot prove a fact is bad science. 
Can it be that the real reason mussel spat is going into the quota management system is that it is a sop to Maori with regard to the foreshore and seabed issue? Is that the real reason? I suspect that it probably is because there is no scientific basis at all for mussel spat to go into the quota management system. That is the only reason I can think of for this Minister to allow it to happen. I suspect that is the real reason. I do not want to be unkind to the Minister. 
Simon Power 
: Why not? 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: Well to be fair to him if he were a fish we would throw him back in respect of his management of this ministry and at this stage he is struggling. But one would expect that he could rely on his officials. 
Shane Ardern 
: He’s floundering. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: He is floundering. He can rely on his officials to give him his advice but the problem is that he is held captive by them because he cannot or does not seem to have the capacity to stand up and take a call and explain his position.