Smith Nick: Wellington Regional Council (Water Board Functions) Bill — First Reading 
Smith Nick: Wellington Regional Council (Water Board Functions) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:13872] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 National will support the Wellington Regional Council (Water Board Functions) Bill because it provides for the sensible use of Wellington’s natural resources to try to provide some electricity and energy. But I do point out an extraordinary contradiction by this Government. When it comes to Wellington if Wellington wants to use some reserve land by putting wind farms on it to try to be energy sustainable this Government which is driven by political correctness says that that is fine and is no trouble. That is despite the fact that Wellington actually has considerably less reserve land than most other parts of New Zealand. Wellington is a very intensely urban area; there is not a great deal of open space within the Wellington region. I would like to know from a member of the Labour Party why it is when it comes to Wellington that we can have a special bill to enable Wellington to have wind farms on reserve land but if we hop down to the West Coast where 87 percent of the land is in reserves and national parks this Government will not let even a small iota of that land be used. 
Why is there a double standard? Why is it that it is OK to have wind farms on reserve land in Wellington but it is not OK to have the Dobson hydro project take place on reserve land on the West Coast? Let us be honest about this. How much of the hundreds of hectares of reserve land subject to the provisions of this bill is used for recreation by the people of Wellington? There are 300000 or 400000 people living in the Wellington region and that land is used quite a lot. People walk on it bike on it and use it a great deal. The Minister agrees with me. We asked down in Dobson how many people recreate in the 10 percent of the Card Creek ecological area that is required for the Dobson dam. When we asked how many people recreate in that area the answer was zip. There is no record of anybody recreating in that particular area. So why is it that for this Government there is one set of rules when it comes to Wellington and another when it comes to the West Coast? 
I suspect that it comes down to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister went down to the West Coast and called the people there feral and inbred. We have all sorts of material from Ministers on the Government side of the House about non-discrimination and about equality before the law yet when it suits them they change the rules. I see Helen Duncan piping up. Can she explain to me why the people of Wellington are allowed to have wind farms on their reserves but down on the West Coast the Minister and the Government say point-blank that people there are not allowed to use reserve land and that it cannot be done? The Minister of Conversation said it cannot be done but it can. All the Government needs to do is to introduce a bill. 
Helen Duncan 
: I lived in Nelson for years and I don’t want that project to go ahead. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Helen Duncan from Auckland says to the people on the West Coast that the Government will not let them use 0.03 percent of its reserve land. This bill represents 5 percent of the reserve land in Wellington. It is OK for Wellington to use 5 percent of its reserve land but it is not proper for the West Coast to use 0.03 percent of its reserve land for electricity generation. 
What does this Government have against the people of the West Coast? 
Hon Marian Hobbs 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I understand that this is a local bill and the discussion about Dobson which has nothing to do with the Wellington regional reserves is right off the topic. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member makes a good point. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That matter certainly has a lot to do with the topic. We have here in a local bill a mechanism to change the status of land and add to the functions it can be used for so that energy farming can occur on what is equivalent to reserve land. The point that is being made is that we have an absolute parallel on the West Coast where a small bill like this could allow the Dobson dam proposal to proceed. I would put it to you that that is a very valid analogous situation and is a very valid point that needs to be made. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: The matter however is a simple one. The member cannot point to a clause in the bill that refers to the matter under discussion because no such clause exists. This is a local bill. It is not a Government policy bill and the member should confine himself to the bill before the House. 
Shane Ardern 
: Part 2 is actually called “Electrical installations and works”. That is the part that is relevant to the discussion raised by my colleague the Hon Nick Smith. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Often these matters can be rather wide ranging but it does help to maintain order in the House if we try to keep within the ambit of a bill. I know that the member is trying to do that and I hope that he will keep on doing that. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Why is it that the Government can come into this House and support a local bill for the people of Wellington to use reserve land for generating electricity while at the same time a Minister of the Crown Chris Carter can go on National Radio and say that is impossible and cannot be done—that reserve land on the West Coast cannot be used for electricity generation? That is a contradiction and it is untrue. It would be no trouble at all for the member for West Coast - Tasman if he is half-effective as a member for that district to introduce into this House a local bill that does the same thing that this bill provides for. There is a contradiction in Government policy: the Government has one set of rules for Wellington and a different set of rules for the West Coast. Nor does it have any consistency in its policy in terms of wind farms versus hydro-electricity. They both are renewable sources of energy and they both deserve the support of this House in helping to meet New Zealand’s energy needs. There is no excuse for the duplicitous approach of the Government whereby it has one rule for Wellington and another for the West Coast. 
I challenge the Minister of Conservation to speak. Chris Carter has told the people at the top of the South Island where the lights could go out on any night between 5 pm and 7 pm in the next month or two through this winter that reserve land cannot be used under any circumstances for power generation. He says that in one breath yet the next minute the Government introduces this bill. So I want to hear from Chris Carter. I want him to contribute to this debate and to explain to Parliament why it is OK to use reserve land for electricity generation in Wellington but is not OK to do so on the West Coast. 
I also think this bill is too narrow. One either believes in the power of general competence or one does not. It is my view that we should trust the Wellington Regional Council to use the land for whatever purposes it best sees fit. This bill is quite narrow and restrictive; it only allows electrical installation and works. 
Hon Marian Hobbs 
: That’s what they are asking for. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Indeed but I simply ask the member who is interjecting why we do not trust the council? It is council land. The council is democratically elected so it should decide. [ 
Interruption 
] The Minister Mark Burton says the council has not asked for it. I would suggest to the member that if the council—[ 
Interruption 
] If Mr Burton would just get a grip on himself I will continue. If the council came to me and said it wanted to introduce a local bill so that it could flexibly use its land because the current legislation was very restrictive I would ask it why we should not make it a wide-ranging bill. Why not solve the overall problem and instead of just applying it to wind turbines allow the land to be used for general purposes? Why not let the people of Wellington decide how they want to use their land as they best see fit rather than provide for the form of restrictive regime that is in this bill? If the Government is genuinely committed to the power of general competence it would say to the Wellington Regional Council that this is its land that the council should have a proper public process and that it should use this particular land for the purposes that it best intends rather than have Parliament prescribe how the land should be used. 
Members on the National side of the House support the bill. We think it is sensible that Wellington Regional Council can use the land for those purposes but we challenge the Government to have some consistency between Wellington and other parts of the country. We cannot have one set of rules in Wellington and another on the West Coast. We further say that the bill should give the council a lot more freedom in how it uses the land previously set aside for the purposes of waterworks and forestry than this bill gives it.