Smith Nick: Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Smith Nick: Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:631;Page:3158] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 It is with real pleasure that I stand today to support the very effective member of Parliament for Invercargill Eric Roy on his Marine Reserves (Consultation with Stakeholders) Amendment Bill. This Labour Government is making an absolute hash of marine reserve creation all over New Zealand. Whether in Kaka Point in Southland or Great Barrier Island in Auckland it is hard to find an area of New Zealand that the Government has not made a complete mess of in terms of consultation with its communities. Yet what we find with this Government is that for all Labour’s promises in 1999 about marine reserves it has made little progress. 
If members think back to 1999 they might remember that Labour said 10 percent of New Zealand’s marine environment would be set aside for protection. Yet 7 years later that has been achieved in less than 1 percent of New Zealand’s marine environment. I also draw to the House’s attention the abysmal progress that has been made in respect of the Marine Reserves Bill. Eric Roy is doing the hard yards for the Minister of Conservation Chris Carter. The Marine Reserves Bill was introduced and referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee in October 2002. That is more than 3½ years ago. Labour has a bill on which submissions were heard over 3 or 4 years ago that has still not been reported back by the select committee. What sort of mickey mouse Government do we have? 
Earlier this year last year and the year before that National attempted to move motions in the select committee in order to achieve some progress. It was Labour and—can members believe it—the Green Party that opposed our getting on with the business and reforming the Marine Reserves Act of 1971. There is consensus in this Parliament that that 1971 Act is out of date and needs to be updated substantially. Under the 1971 Act the sole purpose of a marine reserve is scientific. I think most of us today would say that marine reserves have a wider purpose than that. We want to have marine reserves so that people can simply enjoy the marine environment in its wild and natural state. We also want to have marine reserves because it is true that they strengthen the recreational fishing in adjacent waters. Yet again we are disappointed that Labour has made absolutely no progress on that legislation. Labour needs to be held to account for that. 
My colleague Eric Roy proposes that at the front end of the process for establishing marine reserves we inject consultation with the actual community. Has anyone ever heard of such a radical idea? Fancy having to talk to the local people! I know that for the Department of Conservation under Chris Carter talking with the minions the lowlife the people in communities is not something that Labour is used to. 
Steve Chadwick 
: Tell us about the long-term community communication plan. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I did not know there was such a thing as a long-term communication plan. 
Steve Chadwick 
: The principle of community communication. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Oh! The member for Rotorua has suddenly woken up and is in favour of long-term community communication plans. What Labour is proposing in the area of local government is the most bureaucratic expensive bull that I have heard of and my good friend Nathan Guy who is a new member of the House and a local councillor knows that it is a consultation farce. National will not back that sort of rubbish; we will back the sorts of sensible measures that Eric Roy put forward which reflect the fact that people actually care where marine reserves are situated. They want to have a say. That is where Labour is so misguided; it wants to see people buried in bureaucratic nonsense. 
Has anyone ever heard of anything as stupid as a long-term community communication plan? Does the member for Rotorua think we have the sorts of residents out there who want to be having meetings on long-term community communication plans for goodness’ sake? I tell that member who is so arrogant and so disconnected from her community that people want to be consulted about marine reserves. They want be engaged with that issue early on. So I say to the member that I hope she will be supporting Eric Roy’s bill. 
Steve Chadwick 
: We are! 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I am very pleased about that. That gives me some hope but perhaps the member for Rotorua might explain why the Government has been stalling on the necessary reforms of the Marine Reserves Act for 4 long years.