5. Question No. 5—EnvironmentMARK CAMERON (ACT) to the Associate Minister for the EnvironmentQuestion No. 5—Environment5. MARK CAMERON (ACT) to the Associate Minister for the Environment: What recent announcements has he made relating to significant natural areas?Hon ANDREW HOGGARD (Associate Minister for the Environment): Yesterday I announced the scope of the Government's planned review into rules that relate to significant natural areas (SNAs) in the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB). The NPSIB was brought in by the previous Government in August last year and requires councils to map out so-called SNAs which limit landowners' ability to develop the land and use it to maximise its productivity. Officials will undertake the review over the coming months which will take a good look at three areas: what criteria councils use to identify SNAs in their district the processes that councils use and what restrictions are put on land identified as an SNA. Targeted consultation is under way with ecologists landowners and iwi and full public consultation will follow.Mark Cameron: How does this fit into Government policy?Hon ANDREW HOGGARD: Thank you. This Government made a firm commitment in the ACT Party coalition agreement: stop the implementation of new SNAs and review their operation. We have already introduced legislation to suspend the requirements the previous Government brought in for councils to identify SNAs under the NPSIB. That legislation is progressing in the House now and will be passed by the end of the year. This will give us time to do this review and I expect that the outcome of the review will be implemented by the middle of next year.Mark Cameron: Why is this review necessary?Hon ANDREW HOGGARD: Thank you. In their current form SNAs are a rather blunt tool that don't recognise all the good work that farm owners and landowners already do to protect the biodiversity on private land. I've heard from a huge number of landowners that this NPSIB will mean that they have areas of land that are effectively locked up despite the fact that they are not all that significant. What is significant is the contribution our primary sector is making to getting the economy humming again. ACT wants to remove the unnecessary barriers for success and to create certainty for our primary sector. We do that by making sure that any measures sensibly protect the most unique and special environments while balancing private property rights and the ability to use land for its most productive purpose.Mark Cameron: Are there other ways to protect biodiversity?Hon ANDREW HOGGARD: Well yes there are. We see it across the country all the time. Many farmers don't need the council's help to protect areas of natural beauty or biodiversity. They're doing it already. All farmers want to leave the land in a better state than it was before. You only have to look at the number of voluntary entries into the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust now up to 180000 hectares. Over 5000 landowners have voluntarily retired land into covenants for ever. This is the way forward—partnership. Another point that we need to remember is that a third of New Zealand is already in the Department of Conservation management. Surely we can find the significant biodiversity within that third. Why are we trying to grab 10 hectares off farmers here and there? We will recognise the good work farmers are doing not strip away New Zealanders' property rights and creating fear in rural communities like the last Government did.