Smith Nick: Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Smith Nick: Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:614;Page:10626] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 I am privileged to represent one of the largest aquaculture centres of New Zealand where 360— 
Jill Pettis 
: Not for much longer. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well the member for Whanganui speaks! What happened to the member for Whanganui’s majority at the last election? 
David Benson-Pope 
: Stay calm! Stay calm! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I say to Mr Benson-Pope that if he spent some time focusing on the bill rather than playing dirty personalities in this House this country might have a future. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: He’s playing with the member. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I come back to the bill. Oh that disgusting member who bonks boys; I do not know about him. I come back to the issue of the bill. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Are you going to deal with that or not? 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Yes. [ 
Interruption 
] The member will stand withdraw and apologise. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I withdraw and apologise. It serves the member right for what he said earlier in the day. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member will be seated. [ 
Interruption 
] When I am on my feet there will be silence. The member cannot comment after he has been asked to withdraw and apologise. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I want to speak to the bill and to say this bill is about stopping growth in one of the most important industries for my community of Nelson. The aquaculture industry over the last 12 or 13 years has grown from an industry that employed a few hundred people to an industry that employs thousands. What this Government did 2 years ago was to introduce a moratorium that has frozen the growth of the industry. My concern is that this Government has failed to meet its own timetable and is taking away the opportunity for communities like Nelson and communities in other parts of the country to be able to grow and create wealth. 
That brings us immediately to the mess that the Government has made of the foreshore and seabed issue. If there is any area in which this Government has failed to provide leadership it is on that issue. This is a country in which much depends on fishing and the ocean environment in terms of wealth creation yet this Government is prepared to see the aquaculture industry subject to huge uncertainty in terms of the legal rights in that marine space. This aquaculture moratorium simply engages those involved in the industry in further uncertainty. People in the aquaculture industry have said to me that they feel under siege on every single front. Whether it is with regard to the Resource Management Act the moratorium or the foreshore and seabed issue this Government is killing one of our most important growth opportunities. 
I would like to know from the next Government speaker just what the Government’s policy is in terms of the ownership of the foreshore and seabed. Over the last 6 months we have had a different position every month. We firstly had the position that the Government would legislate for the foreshore and seabed to be owned by the Crown. The Government then changed from that position. The latest idea is that the Government will provide special legislation whereby there will be customary title for iwi around New Zealand. What does that mean for the hundreds of New Zealanders who invest their livelihoods in that industry? What does it mean for them? It means more uncertainty—and uncertainty that is provided by this Government. 
This bill is also further evidence of the Government’s mess within the Resource Management Act. Only earlier today we were debating the Resource Management (Waitaki Catchment) Bill which creates a separate set of rules just for the Government so that it can build the largest hydro scheme in New Zealand for 30 years. Why does the Government on the one hand want to fast track legislation so it can build six dams on the Waitaki River yet on the other hand now want to freeze the development of the aquaculture industry? That is mistaken and it is preferential treatment. Quite frankly more growth for New Zealand would be derived from developing the aquaculture industry in a sustainable way than from building more dams on the Waitaki River. We should take that economic opportunity and not extend this moratorium further. 
My colleague David Carter has raised the issue of what has changed. Only earlier this year the Minister of Fisheries Pete Hodgson gave an absolute commitment to this House that the moratorium would not be extended. Well how many more times will it be extended? I will put money on it that before this legislation expires there will be another moratorium extension bill and the industry will be frozen again in terms of its growth. 
I also want to point out the erroneous approach taken in this bill in terms of the applications that are already in the system. Do members know that only 34 hectares of new marine farms have been approved during the term of this Government? That is a freezing of the industry and I want to know why it is not possible for districts like Tasman which have well-developed resource management plans to implement those plans and allow that sustainable industry to grow. Why is it that the Government through Pete Hodgson and its other Ministers wants to overrule the Tasman District Council which is all ready to go and has spent millions of dollars on sorting out the rules for the development of aquaculture in the Nelson region and specifically in Tasman Bay and Golden Bay. Why is it that this Government which gives us repeated lectures about self-government and about local government being able to make local decisions in the run-up to Christmas is then running a bill through the House that cuts completely across local decision-making and allowing the aquaculture industry to be able to get on and grow? 
I say to the Ministers and Government members that they have failed. The Government has failed; Labour has failed. I ask United Future why it is joining the Labour Government in this failure. This Government has had 2 years to sort out a proper process for considering aquaculture. Why is it that for 2 years the Government has not been able to get its act together to meet its own timetable and is now further freezing the industry? I would like to know whether the Ministry for Economic Development has worked out how many jobs and export dollars this bill will cost New Zealand. It will be a matter of hundreds of jobs and of millions of dollars of lost export earnings for this country. Now I know Government members do not seem to give a hoot about creating wealth for this country and are quite happy to see our standard of living continue to decline relative to that of countries like Australia. The reason it is continuing to decline is that the Government is advancing legislation of this sort which takes away opportunities for New Zealand to create wealth. 
The last point I wish to make is this and it is a challenge to the Maori MPs within this Government. Not one of those members has chosen to participate in this debate yet the largest number of the applications that are to be frozen under this aquaculture moratorium legislation are from iwi—from Maori. So for all the weasel words from the Labour Government about supporting wealth creation amongst Maori and iwi here is a bill that will freeze those Maori organisations out of the industry for another year when they have already been frozen out for 2 years. I want to ask the member for Rotorua why that is. 
Steve Chadwick 
: Because that member from Marlborough— 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Well actually I am not from Marlborough; the member should get her geography right. I would say it is because that member and her colleagues have not advanced a sensible set of rules. Maori are being denied jobs and the opportunity to be able to create wealth and it is a tragedy for Maori and for all New Zealanders. I say to the member for Rotorua that she should stand up take a call and defend this nonsense. This Government has failed and the member for Banks Peninsula has failed. The Government has failed to provide a sensible framework for the development of this industry. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: There’s a very successful deputy leader on his feet. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: That member wants to get personal. He does not argue the issue or get to his feet to talk about aquaculture. The only thing that member is good at is bullying and driving down standards in education. He has been successful in that; he is driving down standards in education. He is also good at wrecking personalities but he will never achieve anything constructive in this House. It is a pity that he did not as Minister apply his time to the aquaculture law so that he could create some wealth and jobs for ordinary New Zealanders.