Mathers MojoMOJO MATHERS (Green): The Green Party is really pleased to be supporting this Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill. We have a biodiversity crisis with over 800 of New Zealand's precious and unique species listed by the Department of Conservation (DOC) as being at high risk of extinction. Our native wildlife needs all the protections that it can get. So we are supporting this bill because it gives extra enforcement powers to DOC rangers.I would just like to echo the comments that have been made by many previous speakers honouring the commitment and dedication of DOC rangers many of whom do face sadly unacceptable levels of abuse while going about their daily work protecting our unique and precious wildlife. But the bill ignores the elephant in the room that other speakers have spoken about which is the under-resourcing and underfunding of DOC. It is stating the obvious that if you do not have enough rangers on the ground monitoring and checking what is going on then all the enforcement powers in the world are not going to make a difference because there simply is not anyone on the ground there to do anything about the offences or witness them. We know that smuggling is occurring. We know that smugglers are not getting apprehended and it is going to take far more to protect our native wildlife then chucking a handful of extra enforcement powers at DOC. We have to increase the number of rangers on the ground as well and that means significantly increasing funding for DOC. Let us be clear. DOC's budget has gone down by an average of about $55 million each year since National came into power in 2008. We are very aware of multiple cases across the country where DOC is not fulfilling its responsibility because it is so cash-strapped. We have seen massive job losses and worst of all DOC ranger numbers have dropped significantly. How can DOC ensure that wildlife is protected when the number of rangers has dropped? There has been a cut of over 40 rangers in the last 5 years. What this means is that DOC is increasingly reliant on volunteers and private funding to do its core work of protecting our precious species. This is the wrong way round. Volunteer work and private funding should be the icing on the cake to ensure that wildlife flourishes. It should not be what is needed just to save them from the brink of extinction and that is what is happening. The Green Party is completely committed to restoring and increasing DOC funding as the first step towards ensuring that our native species thrive because without these sufficient numbers on the ground our wildlife is suffering. In addition to restoring DOC funding we will implement a taonga levy a levy on tourists entering the country which will help fund the predator pest control programme and make the much-hyped goal of a predator-free New Zealand a reality. It is also apparent that we need a much wider review of the Wildlife Act than just simply increasing extra powers to rangers. As my colleague Eugenie Sage has mentioned previously it is hugely frustrating that there is no protection in the Wildlife Act or any of the statutes for any of our native freshwater species. It is a serious failing when you consider how vulnerable our native species are with 74 percent of native fish species facing extinction and four of the five main whitebait species. So you have the bizarre situation where we have legal protection for introduced species but none for our native fish species. It is hugely disappointing that the Government has failed to close this gap to ensure legal protection for our native freshwater species.Debate interrupted.The House adjourned at 1 p.m. (Wednesday)