Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. I am very pleased to support the Immigration (International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy) Amendment Bill. This is part of this Government's joined-up thinking in contrast to the ideology of the Opposition which is prepared to promote growth but not in a coherent way and is not prepared to fund the costs of growth. So this bill is about ensuring that our tourism grows in a strategic way. As the Hon Kelvin Davis said it's about a much more active and deliberate involvement by this Government with the tourism industry that is set out in the New Zealand Aotearoa Tourism Strategy which we launched recently. It's about being active and about being coordinated so that sustainability is a core value of the industry and we mitigate—[Interruption] ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! I'd like to hear the member's contribution please. Hon EUGENIE SAGE: —thank you Madam Assistant Speaker—the industry's impacts. Because we know that local infrastructure in tourism hotspots around Aotearoa is creaking. Who is bearing the costs of that? Local communities ratepayers and taxpayers. What this bill does is ensure that for a very small cost $35 visitors who are paying thousands to come here and spend time here contribute to the costs of the facilities and the infrastructure that they enjoy and as importantly they contribute to the costs of protecting the natural areas and the landscapes that brings them here and that they come to see.Fifty-two percent of international visitors who were surveyed earlier this year said that our landscapes and our scenery were what stimulated their interest in visiting Aotearoa New Zealand and that was the top reason by a very large margin. At the moment they are not directly contributing to the costs of protecting those areas. So that is why this bill is so important and the levy that it establishes—through a very efficient administrative mechanism of the electronic travel authority at the border where it can be collected without long queues without a big bureaucracy collected very efficiently and then ensured that it is split fifty-fifty between conservation and tourism.In Budget 2018 we delivered the biggest increase in conservation funding to the Department of Conservation (DOC) in 16 years. In Budget 2019 with this legislation we will also be delivering an extra $181 million over four years to the Department of Conservation. That is critically needed because we have a crisis in terms of threatened species and because the department has been investing significantly in visitor facilities. In Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park—which hit a million visitors for the first time this year—since 2010 DOC has spent $16.5 million in visitor facilities there improving the track up the Hooker Valley so that people get a stunning view of the glacial lake and of Aoraki / Mount Cook. Those costs are being borne by taxpayers. This bill and this levy will mean that visitors can contribute to that infrastructure.I was intrigued by the opposition of Sarah Dowie because of course it was Eric Roy in 2012 that introduced through a member's bill a $5 fee to go to Stewart Island / Rakiura that has meant that Stewart Island has benefited from over $700000 from that fee. So similarly here our landscapes and our precious species will benefit from the revenue that international visitors provide. It's them investing in nature them investing in the facilities that they come to enjoy.The Green Party is really proud to support this bill because it implements a policy commitment that we launched and campaigned on in 2017. It is about ensuring that we spread the load that everybody contributes to sustaining nature and ensuring a quality visitor experience which ensures that tourism is sustainable—joined-up thinking where everyone contributes.