Parker David: Walking Access Bill — Second Reading 
Parker David: Walking Access Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:17944] 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for Land Information) 
: 
 I am very pleased to speak in support of the second reading of the Walking Access Bill. I first acknowledge the members of the Walking Access Consultation Panel who were behind the design of this solution. It was chaired by John Acland and members were Eric Roy; Brian Hayes former Registrar-General of Lands; John Aspinall a farmer from the Mount Aspiring area; John Forbes a local government representative from up north; and Bryce Johnson from Fish and Game who is in the gallery. I apologise to anyone I have missed out—those are the members I can recall. 
This bill has an interesting history. Our forebears in New Zealand were very wise when it came to the provision of public access. Queen Victoria through her agent instructed the administrators of New Zealand when subdividing land prior to settlement by settlers who were purchasing land or settling land upon colonial occupation of New Zealand to lay off access strips alongside all rivers lakes and foreshore and that there be access strips reserved at regular intervals through the land that was being freeholded. The mechanism that was used was paper roads. Paper roads are Crown land over which people have rights of access. It was the mechanism that was commonly used not just for what are now called paper roads but also around lakes rivers and the foreshore. 
That requirement was generally honoured but occasionally it was not. A lot of the access ways were created for the future public access of New Zealanders. They were never intended to be formed—indeed these were organised before there were cars. Where they were intended to be used it was by people on foot and people on horses. Sometimes there was maybe no active expectation that they would be used in the foreseeable future but there was recognition that some time in the future there would be a need for public access. So these paper roads have been created all around New Zealand. Over the succeeding 100 years a lot of them have fallen into disuse and there have been changes in occupation of the surrounding land. 
I was very pleased to hear David Carter’s acknowledgment that despite that change in historical use of the surrounding land he and the National Party now acknowledge that there should be public rights of access along those public strips. 
Jacqui Dean 
: Always did. 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Well it is true that some of her party always did. 
Jacqui Dean 
: Don’t make it up. 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Actually I am not. I will actually quote a meeting that I was at earlier in this debate a few years ago when this issue was raging. I am not putting this on the National Party but I was at a meeting where Federated Farmers representatives were speaking. They were saying: “Well yes we’ve got private rights.” and I said: “Well the public have got public rights in respect of these paper roads.” The response— 
Jacqui Dean 
: You’re making it up. 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: No I am not. I will name the gentleman to the member later but I will not publicly shame him now. He said: “But there’s been change of land use. We’ve got the right to control access along these paper roads.” That of course is the fiction that developed until we had this debate in the last few years: that there were no public rights in respect of those paper roads. This debate and the very good work that was done—particularly by Brian Hayes setting out the history of paper roads but generally by the Walking Access Consultation Panel—has illuminated this issue and forced there to be an acknowledgment in Parliament that the public has public rights in respect of paper roads. This is the mechanism through which we are in a practical sense enabling people to exercise their rights of access through these public strips to rivers lakes foreshore and conservation areas. 
One further aspect I would like to just touch on before I sit down is that the large exception to the laying down of proper paper roads is in the South Island high country. The reason why that occurred is laid out in Cabinet papers for people who want to search through the Internet. Essentially when the South Island high country was settled no long-term tenure was being granted to the farmers—they had non-renewable pastoral occupation licences limited to a term of years. At the end of the term that land would have reverted to the Crown and any access issues could then have been resolved. For good reason those non-renewable pastoral occupation licences were turned into perpetually renewable leases and the reason that happened was that without security of tenure no one had a long-term interest in the land. Their value in the house they built could be lost and any fences or paddock and pasture improvements they did could be lost to them so they did not do it. It was not economic for them. 
So the Government of the day turned the licences into perpetually renewable leases but recognised that there were historical deficits in access alongside lakes and alongside rivers. Those properties are enormous properties and are sometimes still not surveyed—they were defined by way of mountain ridge and river so the river was in the lease. We are slowly fixing those things but there are other rights under the Land Act to fix those things so in terms of Judy Turner’s concern that there are no powers to fix some of these areas where there is no access—in fact there are. There are powers under the Land Act and there are powers that councils and central government can exercise under the Public Works Act if there are areas where there is no access but access is needed. Those powers already exist; there is no need to state those powers again in respect of this legislation. 
This legislation is primarily concerned with regulating and ensuring that people can exercise their public rights of access over public roads or unformed paper roads as they are sometimes called so that they can access rivers lakes foreshore conservation areas and public areas that we as a birthright in New Zealand all feel that we should have access to. 
This is very good legislation. I compliment the Minister Damien O’Connor on charting what have been difficult waters at times and getting to a practical solution that I think will enable all New Zealanders to march forward with pride as we move through this in a non-confrontational way and improve access. 
Jacqui Dean 
: Oh! 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: In terms of Jacqui Dean’s laughter this issue is relevant to her electorate. She pretends to be supportive of these issues now but the reality is that she had been one of those people who have been I think a little bit too willing to undervalue the public’s rights over public roads and suggest that other people have rights that should outweigh them because of changing land-use practices on the adjacent properties. Having said that I am pleased that we have reached an accommodation across this issue and I value Eric Roy’s wise words on this issue. I recommend the legislation to the House.