Sage Eugenie: Game Animal Council Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSage Eugenie: Game Animal Council Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 19 November 2013. Volume:695;Page:14875. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]EUGENIE SAGE (Green): That was a very interesting explanation by Mr Roy but I am still puzzled. We can understand the code of practice around hazing but there is this fundamental change that herds of special interest are now no longer going to be established so that they are managed for recreational hunting purposes. This means that they can be managed then for trophy hunting purposes completely undercutting the previous thrust of the Game Animal Council Bill which was about promoting recreational hunting.I would just like to talk about clause 16 and the whole process of designation of herds of special interest because the Local Government and Environment Committee included some more specific criteria in there to ensure that the Minister did take a number of matters into account that were not in the original bill including the purposes of the Wild Animal Control Act. There were a number of submissions on the bill from regional councils like the Auckland Council for example. That is where again Supplementary Order Paper 395 is also of concern with the other change that it makes. The Supplementary Order Paper amends the definition of “game animal” to include chamois deer tahr and wild pigs that are kept in captivity. “Kept in captivity” is quite a loose term when you are talking about safari parks. In extensive areas in North Canterbury and Marlborough where animal numbers are allowed to increase quite significantly they are run and hunters who are paying for the privilege get a very easy opportunity to shoot an animal. So I would ask the Minister in the chair the Minister for Sport and Recreation who has not said anything during this debate whether he could explain why the definition of “game animals” has been expanded to include these animals that are run in safari parks.Potentially as I read the bill that means that herds of special interest could be established in those safari parks on private land and the problem with that is the potential implications it has for pest management. The Auckland Council was quite adamant in its submission that the bill should make it clear that the herds of special interest should be able to be established only on conservation lands and once an animal was no longer in its designated area it could be managed in accordance with other legislation i.e. the Biosecurity Act. We do not have deer everywhere in New Zealand. In Northland for example there has been a major effort by the regional council there to control deer numbers and prevent the establishment of feral deer populations. So if the bill with this Supplementary Order Paper is loosening the provisions around safari parks it means that regional councils the Animal Health Board and the TBfree New Zealand programme will have a reduced ability to control animals like feral pigs in order to prevent the spread of bovine TB and to make sure that landowners in those areas actually have proper fencing in place so that the animals do not escape. Could the Minister please explain what this whole expansion of the definition of “game animals” to include animals in captivity is all about? Why is that required when the bill has been promoted as being about improving recreational hunting in the first instance?I have put in three Supplementary Order Papers in my name that relate to clause 16. The number of matters that the Minister must have regard to has been expanded to include things like taking advice from the Ministry of Primary Industries primarily around biosecurity issues from any relevant regional council from the Conservation Authority and from any relevant conservation board and also having to look at theactual status of the conservation land. That was another important change that the select committee made to the bill—that you do not have just herds of specified interest being established but you actually have to designate the land area that they relate to. The Supplementary Order Paper seeks to address the concern that at the moment some of these introduced species are located in specific areas like the white-tailed deer population which is found only on Rakiura / Stewart Island. The Himalayan tahr population is found in the central Southern Alps between about the Rangitata River and the Landsborough River. Keeping those animals [Bell rung] confined to a particular range is really—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Does the member want to call?EUGENIE SAGE: Yes Mr Chair. Thank you Mr Chair.The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): You must ask for the call.EUGENIE SAGE: Sorry Mr Chair. May I have a call please?The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Eugenie Sage.EUGENIE SAGE: Thank you Mr Chair. Preventing the expansion in the feral range of these introduced animals is critical in managing their impacts on introduced biodiversity. My Supplementary Order Paper 399 seeks to ensure that the Minister has another matter to consider and that is that the designation as a herd of special interest will not lead to an expansion in the feral range and will not prevent its range being contracted as animal numbers are controlled. We all know that some hunters like to take animals and plant them in other areas to expand their hunting opportunities. That is highly irresponsible—particularly in relation to feral pigs because it spreads bovine tuberculosis—because it spreads the pests’ impacts by expanding their range.Supplementary Order Paper 400 which I have talked about previously is to prevent herds of special interests being established in national parks.The third Supplementary Order Paper in relation to Part 1 is Supplementary Order Paper 401 and I would encourage National members to consider this one seriously too. It makes very clear by adding an additional clause clause 16B that the Minister could withdraw the designation of a herd of special interest at any time and restrict the location and area of conservation land where that herd of special interest was managed. It also makes clear that he would consult the organisations that are already listed in the clause such as the Minister for Primary Industries the Department of Conservation regional councils the Conservation Authority and conservation boards. The reason for doing that is that it may become quite obvious that the Game Animal Council is not adequately managing the biodiversity impacts of herds of special interest that it has allowed the populations to expand to make it easier to go hunting and that that through the browsing impacts is affecting a lot of our threatened plant species and damaging habitat. The Minister has to have the power to actually be able to uplift that designation or to reduce the area that it applies to. It is a belt and braces approach as Ruth Dyson has noted but it is a sensible one to make clear that the Minister has those powers. I would encourage the Government members to consider it seriously. Thank you.Phil Twyford: Mr Chairman please may I have a call Mr Chairman.