Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:608;Page:5307] 
11.  
GERRY BROWNLEE (NZ National—Ilam) 
 to the  
Minister of Conservation 
: Does he stand by his statement about the proposed site of the Dobson hydro dam that he was “not prepared to rip the heart out of an important ecological area”; if so what is the ecological importance of that area? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Leader of the House) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Conservation 
: Mr Speaker— 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am surprised to see the Minister rise when we have the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Conservation Mr Mita Ririnui in the House. One would have thought that whoever was collecting the salary would answer the question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member knows full well that the Government can decide who answers the question. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: And the Government did so. I answer on behalf of the Minister of Conservation. Yes in 1983 when it was gazetted the purpose of the reserve was officially stated to be “to preserve an example of forest in the wide valley floor containing an unusually high proportion of kahikatea and matai.” 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Does the Minister concerned consider the species  
ulex europaeus 
 which predominates in the environment of the proposed hydro dam to have high ecological value; if so could he explain what that value is? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: It gives very good cover for regenerating forest and native bush. 
Nanaia Mahuta 
: Has the Minister seen any recent reports on the Card Creek ecological area? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I did see that three MPs visited the area. Ironically the media reported that heavy rain meant that the tour party saw the dam site but not the actual flood zone behind it. 
Edwin Perry 
: What representation has the Minister of Conservation had from the member for West Coast – Tasman on this issue and how long will it be before he accepts that member’s representation to build a dam on the West Coast? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: It would not be up to the Minister of Conservation to build a dam on the West Coast but I am sure the member is aware that the legal decision is that the Minister cannot take social and economic factors into account in reclassifying an ecological area. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: On 9 September last year the Minister of Conservation stated in the Christchurch  
Press  
that he would visit the site “soon” to assess the Dobson dam proposal; will he now admit that he declined that proposal without visiting the site—otherwise he would have known as Opposition members know that it is full of gorse broom and substantial stands of macrocarpa like the specimen I am holding? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Going by that performance I am not sure that we are not having a re-enactment of Macbeth here but a good deal of the conservation estate includes regenerating forest. The point about this issue is the rather rare form of valley floor regeneration. The area that is supposed to be swapped is actually much more common within the conservation estate at the present time. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Will the Minister consider using some of the conservation awareness fund to run courses for Opposition members who seem unable at the moment to recognise substantial stands of kahikatea and matai although they should be commended for having been able to recognise gorse and macrocarpa? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The Minister of Conservation would be sympathetic but I believe he is advised by the Minister of Finance that that would be a waste of public money as the Opposition cannot tell the wood from the trees. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: What is more important to the Minister—a gorse-strewn swampy wasteland or a much larger area of unlogged kahikatea forest as is on offer in the proposed land swap for the Dobson project? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The description of wetlands as “swampy wastelands” is why we now have only about 10 percent of them left in New Zealand. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I seek leave to table a piece of the pristine bush on the site of the Dobson dam—notwithstanding the statements made by the Minister or Rod Donald who would not come to the site with us. 
Item not tabled. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I note that two members have had pieces of vegetation removed from this exclusive ecological area and I wonder whether I might seek leave to ask the Minister whether they will be prosecuted for destroying such— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member is being facetious. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was suggested that ACT and other Opposition members could not identify the species. I would like to table the example which is the exact same species on the valley floor of Card Creek: macrocarpa. 
Item not tabled. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. A member has suggested that the ACT party has taken its example from a conservation area. That is not so. We have actually taken it as an example but— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I have ruled on that matter. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I would not like the House to think that we are breaking the law. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Please be seated. I have ruled that that was a facetious comment. 
Gerrard Eckhoff 
: When will the Minister revisit the ecological status of an obscure island in the middle of the Clutha River Birch Island visited only by pigs and deer in order to allow for the further development of sustainable renewable energy? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: There have been arguments over that particular piece of territory for a long period of time. Many other options are available for hydro development.