Woolerton R Doug: Aquaculture Reform Bill — First Reading 
Woolerton R Doug: Aquaculture Reform Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:619;Page:15115] 
R DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First) 
: 
 New Zealand First will be supporting the Aquaculture Reform Bill and in doing so we welcome the pending end of the moratorium. I agree with Mr Phil Heatley in one regard and that is that the aquaculture industry has been extremely patient. A moratorium has been imposed on it over past years and that has been extremely frustrating. We know that the industry is grumpy about it. We also know and are concerned about the fact that the industry has been losing market share in markets—particularly for green-lipped mussels—that it had forged at great cost to itself. New Zealand First supports in all its forms an export-led economy. We believe that the aquaculture industry is perfect for New Zealand. We support the ability for the industry to get on with the job. 
We all know in our heart of hearts although we do not say too much about it in this House that our seas and oceans are being overfished. We know that from the evidence that comes before us. We know that from the multitude of overseas speakers who come to our land to speak about it. We know that many of the seas in the Northern Hemisphere are producing far far less than they have done in times past. For the first time in our history we have the technology and the capacity to make species in our ocean extinct. While we can admire the efficiencies of the technology and while the technology drives down food prices there is no question that we are to use a crude term raping our oceans. Admittedly the aquaculture industry is a small start but it is a start to farming the foreshore—a widely heard term nowadays—in anticipation of our moving further afield and farming our oceans. The technology is not here to farm our oceans at this point but we certainly have the technology to farm in the form of aquaculture and we are doing that. I and New Zealand First believe that New Zealand is uniquely suited to this industry because of our huge shoreline per capita of population. We will uniquely gain large benefit from the aquaculture industry. 
As I said at the beginning we welcome the fact that this legislation will end the moratorium on the moratorium. We look forward to this industry being able to march forward with more certainty. It is simply not fair that a stop has been put on an expanding industry. This industry has expected and has planned to extend its exports—and I do not apologise for talking a lot about exports—from the current level of approximately $300 million per year to in excess of $1 billion by the year 2020. That is the target the industry has laid out publicly and we have no reason to believe that it will not achieve it. Unfortunately with the moratorium one would have to say that that plan has been put back 3 years but my faith in this industry is such that I believe that it will make that time up and will in fact achieve that target. That is good not just for the participants in this industry but for our whole country and it is something that I believe quite frankly is good for our oceans as well. 
Unlike the National Party we welcome the participation of Maori in this industry. I am not talking about the 20 percent quota necessarily; I am talking about the high percentage of Maori who are already though their own endeavours and their own businesses participating in this industry. We praise them for their foresight and we praise their effort and their enterprise. So we are certainly not going to go around knocking the participation of Maori. In fact New Zealand First does not believe that we should be in the business of differentiating between Maori and anybody else in New Zealand. Everybody should be helped to contribute to our wealth and our exports. 
My colleague Jim Peters will speak on a large aspect of this bill that touches on the Resource Management Act and local government. It is regional government that will be allocating public space for this industry to take place in and he will be speaking about that. But I say to the House that we have had the moratorium for a reason and that was to allow local government to get up to speed to put in place aquaculture management areas to do the planning and to get ready for what was called when the moratorium was put in place a gold rush for those people who want to involve themselves in this industry. 
It is perhaps sad but true that everybody wants this industry but nobody wants it outside his or her kitchen window. To use an extreme example I suggest to members that if space were allocated in Oriental Bay here in Wellington outside the million-dollar apartments there would be huge controversy and it would not be in the main controversy caused by Maori. Aquaculture would be an inappropriate use of that particular part of our foreshore. So it is important and it will be an ongoing concern of local government to make sure that this industry is extended and proceeds in sympathy with our environment. We are for growth but we are not for growth that ruins the environment either in the way of despoiling the shoreline or in the way of visual pollution. As I said aquaculture is certainly not something people want to see outside their kitchen window in their favourite little bay. But we do not believe that that needs to be the case. We believe there are plenty of areas around our country for this activity. We are blessed with a large shoreline. We believe there are plenty of places where this activity can take place for the benefit of us all and to the detriment of virtually nobody. 
We look to the regional councils doing that sympathetically. It is their responsibility. They have the local knowledge. They are the closest to the people. They are the people who are on the job and we look forward to their doing that. I would have liked to see all regional councils in a position to have aquaculture management areas in place and clearly defined. I think it is unfortunate that that is not yet the case. I guess there is some sympathy for the fact that they have been unwilling to move in many cases for fear of litigation. But we would like to have seen them have these aquaculture management areas in place before the moratorium was lifted. I hope on behalf of New Zealand First that as this bill goes through the select committee process the councils will see some finality for the moratorium and that that will encourage them to stop mucking around and to get the job on the road because this industry needs certainty so that it can get on with doing what it does best and that is exporting and earning money.