Hague Kevin: Marine Animals Protection Law Reform Bill — First Reading 
Hague Kevin: Marine Animals Protection Law Reform Bill — First Reading 
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KEVIN HAGUE (Green) 
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Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker te Kaihautu o te Whare. I want to begin by talking about some of my experience as a yachtie. I do not have time to do it any more but in years gone by I used to do it a lot. There is nothing quite like sailing a boat out of sight of land. It is kind of an eerie feeling; it changes one’s perspective. I am minded to think of the fact that when we look at Earth from space most of its surface is taken up by ocean. When we look at this country of ours New Zealand Aotearoa most of its exclusive economic zone is also sea or ocean. The problem is that from land we cannot see it. The problem is that it is out of sight out of mind. As we have heard from various speakers tonight so much of the vital biodiversity of our nation and indeed so much of the biodiversity treasure trove of the world is in the ocean surrounding New Zealand. Most of us cannot see it and therefore we often do not think of it. 
In his address tonight Colin King spoke of a commercial fisherman’s story and I will give one of my own. It concerns one of the central figures in the commercial fishing industry in New Zealand today who told me about the nuisance presented by dolphins. They get caught up in fishing nets and then what can one do? It is a waste of a good net. So it is a bullet through the head for the dolphin. 
There is no question that the legal framework we have currently for protecting marine animals both mammals and other animals is not working. There is no question that we need to do something and we need to do something now if we want to change that picture. I have listened to all the speeches made on this legislation by members of the House and every one said they want to do something about this problem. Well the very best opportunity we have in this House to do something about this problem is the opportunity presented by this bill tonight. Certainly I have heard from various members of the House tonight that there are problems with this bill. Eric Roy spoke about some of those problems and I think all members have acknowledged some improvements that can be made to this bill. But the place to deal with those problems is at the select committee. If we choose to not allow this bill to proceed tonight and instead to wait on some never-never land of another bill that might come before the House at some future time then the cost of that decision will be in extinctions of New Zealand marine animals. 
We Greens see the protection of biodiversity as not being principally an economic issue but we are aware that some people do see it in those terms. I want to note that the clean green image on which we trade internationally in every respect—not only tourism but also all of those agricultural exports—actually relies on the protection of our biodiversity and the protection of the marine animals and other animals in New Zealand. So I appeal tonight to those on the Government benches. I realise that they came into the House tonight with a set of instructions to oppose this bill. I appeal to those members to reconsider. If this is truly a bad bill then they can vote it down at some future stage. What is the harm in allowing this bill to proceed to select committee? The reasons given for not doing so are pathetic. The Government talks of a nanny State; I say instead that they run the risk of promoting the “ninny State” which risks cutting off its nose to spite its face. They speak of the fishing industry and I say that craven capitulation to those interests does no one any good.