Delahunty CatherineCATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. I was not on the Local Government and Environment Committee so I was very interested to hear what the previous speaker Meka Whaitiri had to say. This is a very important issue to the Green Party. Obviously we support the protection of endangered species 100 percent. I think there is nothing more despicable than the international smuggling of our most important species such as the 68 lizards that the last speaker was just talking about.I want to take a call on this issue even though I was not on the select committee because I think that we are at a very interesting time in our history in relation to how we enforce the law. The Green Party is fully in support of the full protection under law of endangered species. But the point that I wanted to discuss in terms of the powers that are given under this bill was the importance of recognising that we are now in a new era where a lot of land that was previously administered purely by the Department of Conservation (DOC) is now or will be administered under co-governance regimes or in models such as what has been developed very creatively between the Government and Tūhoe in Te Urewera National Park.Although there is no dispute about the need to protect these important species when we enter into new forms of governance arrangements it is basically based on—one would hope—article 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It is an opportunity to talk about how this policing is carried out with reference to those relationships. I think the critical word is relationships". I would hate to see the powers be used in a way that does not recognise the cultural sensitivity of some of these situations.There is a history of customary take which is not affected by this bill. Customary take is clearly not affected so there is nothing to fear in that sense for tangata whenua. But there is also a necessity of recognising that some people have been arrested or charged with taking birds that are endangered and although that is the law—and it should be the law—I and the Greens would like to see a higher-level discussion between the governing parties of conservation-related land and endangered species around the best mechanisms for doing that and how that is done.So although I am not challenging this bill at all or the powers—particularly because it is targeted at a group of despicable international smugglers taking our wildlife. I think that there is a need for a more nuanced and sophisticated conversation than we have had in the past between the Treaty partners around how it is enforced so that for people living in the forest according to their traditional ways their customary take is protected. This law does not change it but there is still the necessity where things occur that breach the law that the cultural understanding is deepened and that the conversation and education that tangata whenua are leading with their own people—and I am thinking of people like Kevin Prime from Ngāti Hine who has led this for many years—about the need to protect endangered species is recognised by my culture as well as the need for a more nuanced dialogue rather than the heavy hand of our way of going about enforcing the law.So it is a plea I guess that these new powers in terms of those contexts that there is a dialogue and that there is a discussion with the co-governing parties wherever whenua is co-governed and where the issues are affected so that this is not just a matter of taking power but sharing power and a discussion on how power might be shared in order to do that.Other than that we are in full support of the necessity to protect our wildlife. But let us do it with recognition of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and recognition of conversations and dialogue about how these powers are used so that we do not entrench some of the misunderstandings that have existed between DOC and mana whenua hapū on the ground. It is all about relationships. It is really important that this stuff is well understood and owned by all of us and also that we recognise the sensitivities around these relationships because they come from a time and from the leadership of those who in the past and into the future want to sustain all the resources. Kia ora koutou."