Carter David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Carter David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:627;Page:21900] 
3.  
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
 to the  
Associate Minister for Rural Affairs 
: Has drafting of the bill to enact the Government’s walking access policy decisions begun; if so when does he intend to introduce the legislation to the House? 
Hon JIM SUTTON (Associate Minister for Rural Affairs) 
: 
 Yes drafting is under way and as I have said before it will be introduced when it is ready. There are some policy issues—such as mechanisms for negotiating compensation and what to do with the millions of dollars worth of public land in the form of paper roads that are being farmed rent-free by adjoining landowners—that still have to be clarified. 
Hon David Carter 
: What does the Minister find “amusing and funny” about today’s farmer protest as he stated in the  
Straight Furrow 
 dated 21 June 2005? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: Well there are some things in which size does matter. 
Peter Brown 
: Will the Minister clarify whether the proposed legislation as outlined on  
Morning Report 
 this morning is simply to allow the public access to rivers waterways and beaches or is that an oversimplification? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: No the member has got right to the nub of the whole issue. 
Larry Baldock 
: Has the Minister received any advice that United Future would give any support to a Government proposal that denied the principle of private property rights given that Gordon Copeland’s member’s bill before the House would enshrine those rights in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act; if not has he therefore familiarised himself with United Future’s policies that promote a common-sense solution to giving New Zealanders recreational access to their birthright while respecting farmers’ concerns? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: I believe that the bill the Government has in mind would represent a very common-sense compromise between private property rights and public access rights and therefore I am confident that that party will support the bill when we can get it introduced. 
Hon David Carter 
: Does the Minister stand by his answer in the House last week when he said: “I am confident that I have the support of my colleagues.” particularly in light of John Tamihere’s statement in the  
Herald 
on Sunday 
 of 12 June that he considered the access proposals to be “tantamount to the right to roam” and that “any drongo” could see that the proposals put Labour in a “no-win position”? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: I presume that my colleague was misquoted because he would know as other members of caucus know that the policy is not for a right to roam at will. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: What will the Minister do to ensure that local authorities enforce the law on public access to publicly owned paper roads that are fenced off by adjoining farmers or planted over by forestry companies or will he continue to tell people denied access that they will have to go to court? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: I am sure that is an issue the Government needs to address and it certainly interfaces with the walking access legislation under preparation. Exactly how that interface will function is something we have not worked right through yet but I agree with the member that it is an issue that commands Parliament’s attention. 
Peter Brown 
: Noting the Minister’s answer to my earlier supplementary question will those rivers and waterways have to be fenced in similar fashion to the swimming pools of landowners whose lands people will have to cross to get to the rivers and waterways? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: No. 
Hon David Carter 
: Will the Minister give an assurance today that the access legislation will be introduced into the House before the general election? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: As I have pointed out to the House before I cannot possibly give that assurance because for one thing I do not know the date of the election. 
Rodney Hide 
: In drafting Labour’s “land-grab legislation” has the Minister given any consideration to the member’s bill of National’s Nick Smith which takes riparian-strip land outright or is Nick Smith’s bill considered too draconian a measure even for the Labour Party notwithstanding that the bill has the full support of National? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: Dr Smith’s bill is far too draconian for the moderate centrist Labour Party but I must correct the member who asked the supplementary question. The bill that I have in mind is not a land-grab bill; all land will remain in its existing title. 
Hon David Carter 
: I seek the leave of the House to table the  
Straight Furrow 
 dated 21 June 2005 in which Mr Sutton says the protest was quite funny and amusing. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Hon David Carter 
: I seek leave to table the  
New Zealand Herald  
in which Mr Tamihere says the legislation is tantamount to the right to roam. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Rodney Hide 
: I seek leave to table the commentary on Nick Smith’s member’s bill which has the support of the National Party but is considered too draconian even for the Labour Party. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection.