Connell Brian: Resource Management Amendment Bill (No 2) — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Connell Brian: Resource Management Amendment Bill (No 2) — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:608;Page:5524] 
BRIAN CONNELL (NZ National—Rakaia) 
: 
 I thank the Chair for the opportunity to make a contribution to this debate. I notice that the Minister’s head has been down for most of the evening and I say that she should hang her head in shame. I think this is some of the worst legislation that has been perpetrated in this Parliament since I have been here. The dribble that came from Jill Pettis was no better. It was the cringing type of lounge-bar liberal muck that we get from members on the Government side of the Chamber who sit around while they sup their Chardonnay and try to frame this type of legislation which has caused the divisiveness that she is now taking exception to. 
While I am on that tack I say Larry Baldock that you are a political vigilante. You know this legislation is wrong— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member cannot bring the Chairman into the debate. The member used the word “you”. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I accept your direction but I ask you please to apply it even-handedly. I heard the Minister when she was on her feet refer to “you” and you took no action. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: You are right. That escaped me at the time but you are absolutely right and I agree with you. But at the same time two wrongs do not make a right. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: I am a relatively new member in Parliament and I look for direction from those people who have been around for a long time. I assumed because you let that go through that it was acceptable. 
I am desperately concerned about in particular the heritage provisions the cultural provisions and the cultural landscape provisions. I respect people’s right to be concerned about the environment. However this amendment bill just does not do that. In the way that the present legislation is framed at least it has genuine aims. What is being suggested now will put us into reverse. It will not just be a handbrake on growth; it will put us into reverse. 
One of the great lies that comes from this Government— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member may not use the word “liar” in this House. It is totally unacceptable and that is a longstanding convention. The member will withdraw. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: One of the great mistruths that has come from this present Government is that compliance costs— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I asked the member to withdraw when he used that word. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: I withdraw. I am sorry; I did not hear you Mr Chairperson. One of the great mistruths that has come from this Government is that compliance costs will come down and that that must be true because the Government has told us that. This is the same Government that told us that we live in a benign strategic environment. The current instability in the Solomon Islands East Timor and the Middle East suggests that Helen Clark has probably been spending too much time with Nandor Tanczos. 
The linkage between sustainable use of our resources and our standard of living is there for everybody to see. Companies are closing their doors and sacking workers because the Resource Management Act means that projects that once took months to get approval for are now taking years. I have spent considerable time working in and visiting Singapore for example and that country has a highly regulated society. However it turns around all its environmental consents in 7 days. We can now take years to do that. We cannot afford to say goodbye to the wealth creators who sustain our standard of living and to drive away those sorts of people and those sorts of jobs. The wealth creators are the people who support our hospital system and underpin our education system. They are the people who will help to drive down our crime rate because they will keep people employed. 
I accept that National introduced the Resource Management Act. I accept also—[ 
Interruption 
] Did it? I apologise. 
John Carter 
: We passed it. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: I accept that we have that Act and that its intentions were well founded. I accept that it needs to be amended now. However the amendments that National has put forward have been completely ignored. Instead we have been forced to bow to an unholy alliance of bureaucrats Greens and lounge-bar liberals who say that nature comes first and people come second. That lot on the Government benches think that people should live in urban ghettoes surrounded by wilderness. If one suspected all along that the Act as it has been suggested now would result—