SpeechSIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): As long as it's not a split personality on my behalf we'll be doing OK. We are very pleased to support this bill the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill. It's a good step forward. But there is already public debate on whether it goes far enough and this is the great thing about the select committee process which is about—well it won't happen this side of the election but the other side—a really important opportunity for people with a variety of views to be heard. That's the importance of this democratic process and the select committee that's about to start. I certainly encourage locals in my electorate of Tāmaki to submit on this bill because they represent a range of views. Obviously there are many many more people than simply my electorate but already as this bill's come before the House it doesn't matter if it's those with customary rights or even fishers and even some who have commercial interests—they are already writing to me with their thoughts. So my encouragement to them is to submit to the select committee process.I've referenced my electorate a couple of times and people know it. It's all the eastern bays in effect so everything from Okahu Bay right round to Karaka Bay and so forth. It touches obviously only a fraction a small part of the gulf but the gulf is such an important part of our electorate. I live in St Heliers and that's where I go to swim and to walk. It's a beautiful place. Mission Bay of course is one of the great places that people from all over—not only Auckland but New Zealand—come to visit and a big part of it is the Hauraki Gulf. But we also know—and it's the whole point of this bill—that the gulf is under enormous pressure and as the local MP there it's something I want to see change. I just realised that was a pun and also a reference to one of the lobby groups. There we go but we do want to see change. I suppose one of the elements is whether this bill is going far enough. I don't know. My own personal feeling is I would like to see the likes of bottom trawling and so forth go completely. However I also understand somewhat where the Government's coming from. It's the squeezed balloon concept. If you do stop it where does it go next? But I am confident that we are smart enough as a Parliament to address that. And one of the things I've often wondered about for a while is why we don't just buy out the quotas of those commercial fishers. I don't know how much it costs. I think it would be great to flush that out in select committee but it's well past time that we protect this incredible asset and as I say I'd like to see bottom trawling and the like go.But I think there are also some signs of hope. They are small and particular aspects and I want to be really clear to the House and those listening that I don't see these local examples as fixing the entire gulf by any means—there's just a small hint. I reference St Heliers where I live. If you go for a swim or you see the tide at low tide you will see the re-flourishing of the seagrasses and so forth. That's a positive sign. Now that again is not an argument to not do more but it's a positive sign of what can happen. But for me the most positive is actually Okahu Bay. One of the things when I got elected was that I was so keen to see all those boats moored there removed and that bay returned to the people and it's something that particularly Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei wanted. It would be wonderful to see that bay cleared but really importantly too through local iwi—I'm not sure what the right word is; it's not dumping. But they've placed hundreds of thousands of mussels back into the bay and already it's making a tremendous difference.So for me it's just a hint of what actually cooperation across all New Zealanders working with mana whenua and others can do. So perhaps it's not really a message of hope; it's just a hope of mine that we can take a little bit of inspiration from the good work that is already happening in our communities and we can have that flow through this piece of legislation to see our gulf protected fully and I know that will be a challenge to all parties across the House but it's something that we should be aiming for. With that I'm pleased to support this bill.