Carter John: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
Carter John: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
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JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 I am pleased to follow Shane Jones my colleague from the far north. The first thing I have to say to him is that the young boy from the north— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Is this the member who lost the cemetery records? 
JOHN CARTER 
: Actually the one thing I did not lose was my temper when someone poked me and had a shot at me. So I would be quiet if I were Mr Mallard. The one thing that the young fellow from the far north needs to learn is that if he aspires to be the leader of the Labour Party at some stage then he had better believe in what he is talking about. The way he expressed his argument was eloquent and interesting but it needs to come from the heart. The member has to believe in what he is saying. 
I can see the reason that Mr Jones spoke on this bill; I can see what he has in the back of his mind. He wants this bill to pass through so that he can then use it as a reason why he should put his land in the far north into a trust like this as well. He has a vested interest. I can see him saying to the Jones whanau: “Look we have done it down in Waitakere so now we can have it up in the far north and we will be able to look after it.” That is what will be behind it. 
The second thing I will say is that Mr Jones was correct on one thing. He was absolutely dead right with one thing he said. He said that this bill would not divide the people of Waitakere and he is absolutely right. It already has—it cannot divide them any more. They are divided all right. Members should have heard the submissions to the Local Government and Environment Committee. Talk about a divided community! 
Local government is about local governance is it not? That is what it is about and here we have an authority that is meant to be representing the people of the Waitakere area and what has it done? It has caused an astonishing amount of division amongst the people. It has caused serious acrimony. It is unfortunate that neighbours who have got on for years while developing the area will now not talk to each other. Now they cannot go into the same street and they cannot live together because this bill has divided them. So I say to Mr Jones that he is right. The bill will not divide those people because it cannot any more. They are already divided and that is rather unfortunate. 
The next thing is that I listened to Mr Jones and I thought— 
Dail Jones 
: Shane Jones. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Yes—Mr Shane Jones. We should make that distinction now. We have two Mr Joneses who are list MPs but we need to distinguish between Dail and Shane. The next thing is that Mr Shane Jones criticised my colleague Mr Bennett from the central North Island who I thought made a particularly good speech. Mr Jones got up and said that Mr Bennett did not talk about Part 2 of the bill. I listened very closely to what Mr Bennett said and I thought that he actually made some very good points about Part 2 unlike Mr Jones who wandered off all over the place. I was frantically looking through the bill when he was talking about gumfields people up trees and all sorts of things and I could not see them in the bill. I ask whether any member can point out where it talks about gumfields and all that. I thought to myself that maybe Mr Shane Jones has not actually read Part 2 of the bill. I suspect that is the real problem. 
What we need to talk about is the purpose of Part 2 of this bill which is about managing the Waitakere Ranges is it not? That is the purpose. 
Paula Bennett 
: And the foothills. 
JOHN CARTER 
: And it is about managing the foothills and the surrounding areas. That is what it is about. We need to pause and just reflect on this: who until now has been managing that area? The people who live there have been managing it which is why it is like it is. The people who live there love it. They want it to be like it is and they want it to be better than it is. They are constantly striving to improve it. We talk about the management of the Waitakere Ranges; well bless my soul that is already there. We do not have to have a whole lot of rules and regulations idiocy and nonsense and costs and bureaucracy. I can see that this bill will drive people mad.