O'Connor Damien: Freedom Camping Bill — First Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Freedom Camping Bill — First Reading 
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Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour) 
: 
 I wonder what our pioneering ancestors would think. The Freedom Camping Bill is a nanny State bill if ever there was one because we are now going to be told where we can do poos. I will tell members why this bill is nothing but a bit of grandstanding by Nick Smith and a few members over there. If it was a true bill to address the issue it would be called the “Environmental Protection Bill”. 
I accept that there is an issue and there has been an issue here for a long time. It was not raised on the basis of people stopping for the night but of people stopping during the day and in South Westland in particular. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Doing their business in the day? 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: That is right. I do not think that member does; he should do it more often because it might clear his head. The issue is that in many places throughout rural New Zealand there are simply no facilities; there are no toilets. If people are travelling 200 kilometres or even 100 kilometres and stopping then the question of where they go to the toilet is a significant one for them. We ended up with and still have many stopping places—not camping places but stopping places—up and down the country that are littered and are absolutely disgusting. 
The question is what we have done to help tourists to know about the situation. We have done nothing. Our signage is pathetic. As the Minister of Tourism I raised the issue that we as a tourism industry and as a country had a responsibility to inform those people whom we were hosting in this country about some normal issues of where they should go. We tell them whether there is petrol. We sometimes tell them about the speed limits. I have to say though that that signage is quite pathetic. Many tourists coming to this country get pinged for speeding when they probably have not seen a speeding sign because those signs are so small. The same thing will happen now. 
The nanny State National Government will let the councils say people can go here and here but not there. Speakers in this debate have said the law might be used to chase people to camping grounds when they may have otherwise camped out around this country. We have a spectacular country. We have a small population. No one could say we are overpopulated. The vast majority of people visiting this country come because they want to see the spectacular scenery and enjoy the incredible nature that we have. 
I ask what is wrong with using a shovel. Will someone camping somewhere with a shovel dealing with their excrement properly be fined as well? Can Mr Henare tell us that? He does not know. The question is whether the normal sensible systems that many people have adopted over many many years will be accepted as mitigation for what has been a growing problem. I accept that it is a growing problem. But here we have for cheap political purposes a bill that will I have to say send shivers up the spines of many people trying to market and promote this country to a whole lot of people out there. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: That was the best the Minister of Tourism could do. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: The Minister of Conservation is over there. She is jumping up and down. I ask her what she or her Government has done to increase the level of facilities and toilets throughout the country and what she will do to address the issue of daytime toilet need up and down this country—up and down this country. People will be told where to go in the evening when they stop—they will be told where to go at night—but what about during the daytime? Hold on hold on! Help is coming. They will have to go down the road and round the corner and there is a spot where they can camp and go to the toilet. It is rather ridiculous. 
I think we need a more comprehensive approach to this issue. Labour will support the referral of this bill to the Local Government and Environment Committee because we accept that there is an issue but I have to say it is a bizarre approach and it is a half-hearted approach from a Government that thinks we can just fine the people who come to this country—and I can just imagine the reaction of many many tourists when they come to this country—when we have not even informed them through a normal system of signage and education about the protocols around this. The councils I have spoken to over the years Westland District Council in particular have been complaining about this issue for a long long time I have to say. As people have driven down through South Westland there have been no toilets and there have been some shocking sights at popular rest areas. But we have not even put up a sign. We have not even bothered to put up a sign that says to those travellers: “No toilets for the next 50 kilometres” implying— 
Simon Bridges 
: What should the sign say? 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: Well just listen. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Go to the gas station. 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR 
: We have that. We say: “No petrol for 100 kilometres”. I have seen signs like that. But we do not assist people by saying there are no toilets for 100 kilometres which would imply the same thing. I am raising the realistic issues of people as they travel around this country. If the nanny State party over there is going to tell people where to go to the toilet now and if the National members think they have addressed the problem of camping at night then they are kidding themselves. What will this Government do to address the issue of toilet need during the day Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson? You can even understand it yourself can you not? 
Some real issues need to be addressed here. There are some wider environmental issues and the issue of the tourism industry contributing to more infrastructure in this area is an important one. I challenge the Government to address that issue. The fact is that the Sanitary Works Subsidy Scheme—the subsidy for small communities to put in place toilet facilities and dump stations—has gone. There is no assistance at all. Small communities are expected to put in place large facilities. Even for camping grounds that might be then allocated or dedicated to this purpose I say that if one has a concentration of campers in one area one will have to upgrade the facilities. The question is who does that. Some commercial camping-grounds will be happy to do that but many many areas around this country will not be able to do that without proper assistance. 
In conclusion I say this is an ad hoc response. It is a bit of political grandstanding by Nick Smith and it does not address the major issue of infrastructure for tourists—not just at night time but during the day as well. If we are to uphold and support the “100% Pure New Zealand” brand in this country then a more comprehensive look at environmental infrastructure for tourists has to be addressed. But that Government chopped $15 million off Tourism New Zealand’s budget in the last Budget; there is $15 million less to promote New Zealand. I guess that is one way of addressing this problem because there certainly will not be as many people coming to New Zealand. Maybe that is it—in fact National might have outsmarted us; I concede that. It may be that National’s cunning plan to address this issue is to cut $15 million off Tourism New Zealand’s budget. It will reduce the number of people coming to the country and we will not have the problem. That is exactly what will happen here. 
The bill is a Draconian approach to what is a real issue. We will just fine individuals whose understanding of the English language might not be great who have had no information or education about the norm and protocol in New Zealand and who have hired a rental van with or without facilities—like elsewhere in the world. Those people will feel really gutted I am sure when they are slapped with a $200 fine. It surprises me but the nanny State the Draconian Government that National is has finally shown its true colours. It has cut the budget of Tourism New Zealand and cut the money from the Sanitary Works Subsidy Scheme and the support for local councils for toilet and sewerage facilities. It has simply slapped a fine on those people who cannot hold on any longer. Thank you.