Carter Chris: Budget Debate 
Carter Chris: Budget Debate 
[Volume:608;Page:5921] 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Conservation) 
: 
 This Government cares about future generations. We want to ensure that our children’s children inherit an economically prosperous country. We want to ensure that future generations inherit a united country—one that is not riven by racial intolerance or greed. We want to ensure that future generations inherit sensible solutions to problems that we in our old age will help to create. All of that is evident in the Budget before this House. 
But what is also clear in this Budget is a real desire by this Government to ensure that future generations also inherit a sense of identity. That is why a total of $15.2 million has been put aside in the Budget for the preservation of New Zealand’s historic places stories and artefacts. As part of this package $4 million will be spent over the next 4 years to upgrade and restore some of New Zealand’s most significant historic sites managed by the Department of Conservation. The department’s resources have traditionally been used to protect New Zealand’s flora and fauna and our mountain hut and track networks. 
The preservation of our nation’s biological wealth and its breathtaking landscapes is indeed vital work but so too is the role of the Department of Conservation in historic conservation. The department manages about 12000 heritage sites around our country. Most of these are archaeological sites that require less intervention than buildings in order to conserve their values but about 500 of those sites require what the department calls “active management” to ensure they are there for future generations. Until now the management of these sites has not been as active as it should have been. Important maintenance work has been constantly deferred—but not under this Government. The money set aside in the Budget will ensure that the most significant of those sites receive the attention they so richly deserve. 
Those to get immediate attention are Ruapekapeka Pa in Northland and I know that the Opposition senior whip will be delighted about that and North Head fortification in Auckland and I am sure the National member for North Shore Mr Mapp will be delighted with that. The Dominion Observatory in Wellington; Godley Head fortifications in Christchurch; and Jacks Hut at Arthur’s Pass in Canterbury are all iconic sites. 
The beauty of these sites is that by investing in them the Government is also investing in the tourism infrastructure of New Zealand communities. We are starting to see in New Zealand a gradual recognition that conservation be it environmental or historic has significant economic benefits for our economy. All over the country there are examples of innovative communities reared in a culture of extraction embracing the sustainable economic opportunities of historic and environmental conservation. 
I have recently set the Department of Conservation the task of trying to identify and quantify the extent of the contribution that conservation is making to the New Zealand economy. The work is at a very early stage but is focusing on three broad areas. The first is the direct contribution that the department’s assets and services are making. I am thinking here of the sizable infrastructure of huts tracks information centres and sites maintained around the country that contribute directly to tourism and recreation. The Department of Conservation manages over 11000 kilometres of track 1000 backcountry huts 1600 toilets and 80 visitor and information outlets. Frankly no region of the country would be the same without those assets. 
The second area the department is looking at is the contribution that conservation makes to tourism. The whole tourism industry in New Zealand floats on the foundation of the public conservation estate. Tourism provides hundreds of thousands of jobs and it would not be an exaggeration to say that many of those are reliant on conservation attractions for their very survival. Within the boundaries of Tongariro National Park there are 1000 jobs directly dependent on the mountains. Over 1000 tourism operations hold concessions to operate directly on conservation land. 
In the past 2 years some concessionaires in some regions have seen an increase in business of over 100 percent. I recently met the Mayor of Rodney District John Laws who gave me a report from the Rodney Economic Development Trust on the economic contribution that the Leigh Marine Reserve is making to the Rodney district. That report estimates that the 260000-plus visitors a year that the reserve receives are bringing in $12 million to the local economy. The trust predicts that the tourist trail to the reserve could generate up to $40 million in the future. That is not bad for 5 kilometres of protected coastline! 
The final area in which I believe conservation is contributing economically is the provision of ecosystem services. I recently opened the Te Papanui Conservation Park in Otago. This is an outstanding example of an ecosystem service derived from the conservation estate for Dunedin City. The park protects a vast tract of unbroken tussock grassland that due to farming and ploughing is now rare and vulnerable in New Zealand. The park sports a diverse range of fauna and flora with some 547 different species of insect alone found within its boundaries many of which live nowhere else in the world. Te Papanui’s unusual beauty will no doubt make it a tourist and recreation destination but it has another value as well. Intriguingly the area is also critical to Dunedin City’s water supply. Over 60 percent of that supply comes from the eastern slopes of the Lammermoor Range and over the Te Papanui plateau. Tussock grasslands are good for water supply. Their fine foliage can intercept tiny water droplets and fog as it blows over the plateau. The water supply is consistent regardless of the weather. The Dunedin City Council is so convinced of this benefit that not only did it contribute over $600000 to developing Te Papanui to protect its water supply but it is replanting tussock in other parts of its water catchment area. 
So I challenge the Opposition to start seeing the conservation estate as an asset. ACT is probably a lost cause. It is more interested in destroying New Zealand’s historic and environmental heritage. Look at its views on the Resource Management Act—development at any cost and never mind that future generations will pay the price. Look at the National Party’s view on the Dobson Dam. Just last weekend I was on the West Coast and visited the site. Some National MPs boasted in this House a few weeks ago that they were going to go down to the West Coast to look at the proposed Dobson project. They went down there but it was raining so they never got out to the site. I on the other hand went and stood in the Card Creek ecological area and saw why that area was gazetted as conservation land in 1983 under a National Government and I saw why it deserves the conservation status it has now. 
Some National MPs want to destroy an ecological area that a previous National Government thought was important enough to protect for our children. They have seized on a power generation proposal that would rip the heart out of a conservation asset when there are literally dozens of other far more significant alternatives being discussed by everyone else in the country except them. What a pathetic state National Party members are in; they cannot see the trees for the gorse. When are Opposition members going to realise that in neglecting a historic site or destroying a conservation area they are destroying an asset. This Government recognised that fact long ago and our Budget funding increase for conservation reflects that. 
I have just a couple of minutes left and I would like to mention education. This Budget delivers for education. I have 27 schools in my electorate of Te Atatu. I visit them all; in fact I call into them very regularly. As a former teacher I am passionate about education. I can report that virtually every one of the schools in my electorate has engaged or is engaging in major building projects—projects that have been dependent on funding that has come from this Government. More teachers are being taken on and more resources are being developed in our schools because this Government passionately believes that education is the ticket to a good future for the young people of our country. I applaud what my colleague Mr Mallard has done in education. I thank him on behalf of the parents and children of the Te Atatu electorate and I look forward to more resourcing going into the vital area of education. 
This Budget has delivered for New Zealand. It is wide and comprehensive and has seen major funding in all important portfolio areas which are investments for the future of our country. Not the least of those is conservation which has done so very well under this Labour Government.