Marcroft JennyJENNY MARCROFT (NZ First): Kia ora and thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. It's my privilege to stand on behalf of New Zealand First and speak on the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Amendment Bill.I'd like to note my thanks to the Minister the Hon David Parker for his opening comments about fixing one of many many many mistakes in the original Act. This is an error in legislation—somewhat shambolic legislation. And noting too the Hon Scott Simpson who mentioned that it was in fact a minor drafting error and does not need to be in a bill of its own right; but actually we on this side of the House feel that it must. I'd also like to acknowledge the previous speaker for his training video.To this bill in hand: it will amend the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012 to ensure those that are applying for notifiable marine consents pay for the board of inquiry that considers their applications rather than the taxpayer picking up those costs. So New Zealand First believes that this in fact is a very sensible piece of housekeeping legislation.So what will the bill do—this small technical bill? It will amend the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012 and it will enable the Minister to recover from an applicant the actual and reasonable costs incurred in relation to a board of inquiry appointed under the Act—all those reasonable costs that will be incurred in relation to that board of inquiry appointed under the Act to decide an application for marine consent.This change will ensure that a process conferring a private benefit results in a private rather than a public cost. It's a very narrow scope—this bill. It relates only to that cost recovery for marine consents under section 20. Now what are those activities under section 20? They are the construction placement alteration extension removal or demolition of a structure on or under the seabed. Maybe it's a submarine pipeline on or under the seabed the abandonment of said submarine pipeline. It could in fact be the removal of that said submarine cable that's on or under the seabed; the removal of any non-living natural material from the seabed or subsoil; the disturbance of the seabed or the subsoil in a manner that's likely to have an adverse effect on the seabed or subsoil; also the deposit of anything or an organism in or on or under the seabed and the destruction damage or disturbance of the seabed or subsoil in a manner that's likely to have an adverse effect on marine species or their habitat. So yes it is a very important amendment to this piece of legislation.I'd just like to take a little pause for a moment and take our time back to those early days in the 1800s—the era after the Napoleonic Wars and when we had kauri forests. It was in hot demand for ships' spars. Now as the Australian colonies grew they also needed a lot of timber for their housing. So when the first Europeans came to New Zealand to the northern parts of the North Island Tai Tokerau in fact—the vast kauri forests and 1200000 hectares of this beautiful taonga. Now today barely 4000 hectares of the original forest remain. The rest was felled for timber or cleared for farms.Legislation like the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act is similarly important for our natural resources. Obviously times have changed and attitudes have changed towards the natural environment—but not for some National Party members. They still hold in fact the view that the natural environment is a resource that must be handed over to industry at no cost—take what you want; total pillage. Now you may remember in fact how full of enthusiasm the National Party was to gut the Resource Management Act. In fact that tragic coalition partner the Dancing Queen" from Epsom wanted to throw the whole thing out and indulge in a kind of colonial consumption of natural resources. It amazes me that this shell company is still existing today.In 2017 the National Government made a series of amendments to the Resource Management Act and the exclusive economic zone—so much for the revolution. Instead what we got was added complexity and costs being shifted on to the taxpayer. That's the crux of this matter. As we now know the main feature of the Key Government was to transfer as much of the taxpayer-generated wealth as it could from ordinary New Zealanders up to the big end of town.The first amendment the Government wants to make to the Resource Management Act is to shift those costs back to where they properly belong away from the taxpayer. So similarly taxpayers should not pick up the bill for marine consents. This is why New Zealand First absolutely supports the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Amendment Bill. It fits perfectly into our policy. This bill was introduced to ensure that those applying for these notifiable marine consents pay for them themselves rather than the taxpayer picking up the cost. This was a National Party mistake due to the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act not having cost recovery provisions for boards of inquiry. It takes brains and diligence though to sort this stuff out and we are doing just that right now—not the short-term sloganeering mentality of the previous Government. That is why this Government is taking a painstaking approach to getting it right and this bill is a prime example of how the previous Government didn't do the job properly. This Government is now spending time fixing it up.New Zealand First supports the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Amendment Bill as being a very sensible piece of legislation. We are proud to support it correcting a series of legislative mishaps and pointing towards more important work on the Resource Management Act which will come shortly. I commend this bill to the House. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa."