Dean Jacqui: Conservation (Natural Heritage Protection) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dean Jacqui: Conservation (Natural Heritage Protection) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6646. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) 
: 
 You know it is easy enough I guess to stand in this House and lament budget cuts to the Department of Conservation and completely ignore the realities of the fiscal restraints that this Government is operating under. And it is easy to sit up in Opposition and say that we should be spending more money. Well that is what they are doing in Greece. That is what they are doing in the European Union. This Government takes our responsibilities a little more seriously than that. I also want to pick up on the comment of the previous speaker Steffan Browning that the real economic value of not losing species is not realised by this Government. Well actually it is because I am bringing this bill the Conservation (Natural Heritage Protection) Bill to the House and this bill well and truly values our special creatures in New Zealand. It recognises absolutely the economic value that is brought to New Zealand as well as all the other intrinsic values by these special creatures. And it is this party it is this Minister of Conservation and it is me with this member’s bill who are putting effect to those words. The words from across the House are all very well they are all very fine but it is this party and I am the member of that party who is putting up this Conservation (Natural Heritage Protection) Bill for the consideration of Parliament and the Local Government and Environment Committee. 
You know bringing consistency into the legislation around our natural heritage if nothing else will send the clearest message to those who seek to profit from our most precious creatures. Interestingly several members have said that they would not go near a jewelled gecko if they fell over one and some people love them to death. They are little creatures and if they sit still enough they sit on your hand. They really are the most beautiful little things. They are emerald green with yellow and white diamond markings—and each marking is unique so that when they are photographed they can be traced if they have been smuggled. On the Otago Peninsula some populations of those jewelled gecko have been smuggled recovered at the border and returned to that habitat but sadly that same smuggler has returned the next season and smuggled them again. How do we know that? Because we can identify their markings when they turn up in Europe at the large trade fairs for animals. Quite a bit is known about the smuggling of jewelled geckos which are pretty remarkable creatures. 
So the message through this bill—the clearest message for those who profit from our most precious creatures—is that we are on to you. And the message to the Department of Conservation and to those personnel in the Customs Service and the Ministry for Primary Industries who hold the line against this smuggling is that we back you. We value the work of the Wildlife Enforcement Group. We will give you the teeth when you through your investigation through your— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
JACQUI DEAN 
: Oh I do beg your pardon Mr Assistant Speaker. 
We will give them the teeth when they through their investigation their observation their connections their intuition and their sheer hard graft apprehend the lowlifes who seek to smuggle our precious creatures and ship them off to offshore markets. 
To those Swiss German and Russian smugglers who come to New Zealand posing as tourists well just do not bother. We not only have the personnel watching you but also when our Department of Conservation Customs Service and Ministry for Primary Industries personnel catch you it just will not be worth it. It would not be days in jail—no under this bill should it be enacted by this Parliament it will be up to 3 years. The penalties will be increased for a number of other offences where wildlife has been endangered or protected where natural habitats have been damaged. So the penalty for example for releasing a noxious animal in a national park will increase as will milling a stand of trees or converting a portion of national park into pasture. So there are a number of aspects to this bill. 
I want to thank members for the debate tonight. I think it has been extremely interesting. I look forward to the process that the Local Government and Environment Committee will go through. I want to thank members for their support of this bill. I would be surprised given that we are all New Zealanders if it were otherwise. Finally I am very proud to be a member of National’s blue-green team and proud to bring this Conservation (Natural Heritage Protection) Bill to the House. 
Bill read a first time.  
Bill referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee.