Simpson Scott: Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 29 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9986. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): As chairman of the Local Government and Environment Committee it gives me great pleasure to be speaking in this first reading debate on the Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill introduced by my friend and colleague the Hon Maggie Barry.I listened carefully to the contribution made by the Hon Nanaia Mahuta and I think she has raised several good points that will need to be teased out and addressed at select committee. I want to give the Hon Nanaia Mahuta a cast-iron guarantee that the committee will strive to make sure that we get a good range of submissions that we give those submissions due consideration and that the matters that she raises will be carefully considered by the committee. I want to thank the Minister of Conservation for her very considered introductory comments. I thought that her speech—and I listened carefully to it—was very good and it actually neatly summed up what is the nub of the issues confronting the hard-working warranted Department of Conservation (DOC) officers who do so much to preserve our natural environment and also the creatures that live in that natural environment.The Hon Nanaia Mahuta and I have something in common in that our electorates cover the same piece of geography. One of the great features of the Coromandel electorate is that a very large proportion of my electorate is covered and administered by the DOC conservation estate. In that area there is a small but very dedicated group of warranted DOC officers and rangers who do an extraordinary job on behalf of all New Zealanders. To have those people’s good work so frustrated as it has been now for so long when they encounter criminal activity occurring—not being able to do anything meaningful about it is not only frustrating for those committed officers but also extremely frustrating for those of us members of the public who want to ensure that our conservation estate is protected and secured for the future.This bill as Minister Maggie Barry has made comment on is a reforming of the principal Act the Wildlife Act of 1953. It will come as no surprise to members of the House that an awful lot has occurred since 1953 much of it for the good and we now live in a society where many of the pleasantries that existed back in 1953 in terms of our conservation estate no longer exist. The simple stark reality is that many of our native creatures are highly sought after in terms of black-marketing across the international market place for people who have evil intent and who want to market our rare and endangered speciesinternationally. This bill on first reading would appear to give those DOC officers—there are about 260 of them—the power that they need in certain circumstances when it is warranted and needed to do something about criminal activity in our native environment when they come across it. This bill will better empower DOC staff to take on those who are offending against our native wildlife.There are four main provisions in this bill. The four new standard powers that the bill will give to those officers will be firstly to take preventive action when an offence is about to occur. When they know that something is going to happen they will now be able to actually intervene and do something about it rather than merely stand aside and watch criminal activity occur in the most frustrating way.The second power that they will be given is to temporarily stop persons suspected of an offence so that an investigation can be allowed and can take place. Up until the passing of this legislation that has not been able to take place.The third power will be a power to seize a broader range of evidence. Of course back in 1953 there were no such things as laptops and iPhones and cameras and mobile phones and all those sorts of devices. Much of the criminal offending and evidence of it is now recorded on such devices and this bill when passed will ensure that DOC officers have the ability to seize such evidence of an electronic and technical nature.The fourth power that they will be given is to require identification details from suspected offenders. Nothing could be more frustrating for a DOC officer than to come across an illegal act going on in the conservation estate somewhere and then not be able to demand and insist that the perpetrators of these crimes identify themselves when they are suspected of being an offender.This bill modernises the principal Act and not before time in my view. I am very much looking forward to working with parties across the House to guide it through the select committee process. I was interested to hear on the radio this morning Kevin Hague from the Green Party indicating that the Greens are going to support this legislation. I welcome that too.I am looking forward to this bill coming to the Local Government and Environment Committee. I am looking forward to providing a rigorous scrutiny of it and I am looking forward to receiving submissions from a wide cross-section of New Zealanders who are interested in the work that our DOC officers do and in preserving the natural environment over which they administer. I commend this bill to the House.