Hughes Gareth: Game Animal Council Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hughes Gareth: Game Animal Council Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 01 March 2012. Volume:677;Page:793. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
GARETH HUGHES (Green) 
: 
 Kia ora. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. I am very happy to take a call on this Game Animal Council Bill because it is a bad bill. This is legislation at its worst. It is all about special interest. It is all about increasing the cost to the taxpayer. It is all about reducing that “clean green” brand which brings in $22 billion a year to this country and which this Government is prepared to throw out the door and throw down the drain with its “Drill it mine it kill it cut it and sell it.” approach to economic development.  
We have this bill only because the member for Ohariu Peter Dunne has put it in front of the Government. I stood in the Ohariu electorate with the honourable Minister and I did not hear him once tell the people of Ohariu which could be New Zealand’s most suburban electorate that he was going to be the casting vote for the unpopular asset sales that he was going to sell off our State assets—those assets that already belong to our mums and dads and everyday Kiwis—and that he was going to cut it sell it mine it and drill it but what was he going to give in return? What was he going to bring to Ohariu? The Game Animal Council Bill a special interest for those hunters in New Zealand. 
What we have seen under this Government is special interests flourishing. We have seen special deals for Warner Bros special deals for Skycity special deals for MediaWorks and now we are seeing special deals for hunters. The sad thing is that I do not think the people of Ohariu wanted the Minister to be using his casting vote and getting only this for the 30 pieces of silver. Ohariu is getting the Game Animal Council Bill.  
In all seriousness this is a bad bill. What it does is establish the council to improve the management of deer tahr chamois and wild pig; allow these herds of special interests; and introduce this game trophy export levy. I agree wholeheartedly with the regulatory impact statement of this bill that said quite simply that it is a solution in search of a problem. But I would go further; it is actually worse than that. It is a solution that is going to cause further problems. Actually it is a problem that is going to cause lots of problems—and I have got a huge list from our spokesperson on this bill. The first big problem is that it is going to cut across the Conservation Act. This Government is already cutting the Department of Conservation budget reducing its ability to work and reducing the focus of our country on marine protection which Kiwis love and value. It is going to cut across the Department of Conservation not for the benefit of all New Zealanders but for a few special interests.  
It is going to put those hunters in a privileged position. This new statutory body is going to be subsidised by the taxpayer by more than $100000. So at a time when fiscal austerity is the watchword this Government is prepared to fork out hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to support this special interest. And lastly where is the money coming from? It is not coming from the consolidated accounts it is not coming from the overblown borrowed $19 billion on transport; it is coming from the Department of Conservation—a vote that this Government has remorsefully cut despite its impact and benefits to our “clean green” brand and our economy. It is $100000 that Vote Conservation cannot afford.  
 The bill redefines or tries to redefine these animals—the tahr and whatever—from noxious pests to herds of special interest. It cannot be both; they cannot be noxious animal pests as they are at the moment and herds of special interest. It shows the contradiction; it shows the contradiction that this bill brings to our country.  
I guess lastly a big problem with this bill is that the new council will be advising the Minister of Conservation. The council has advisory functions but also has management functions. This is just like putting the wolf in the hen house.  
In summary it is a bad bill. The Greens are going to be opposing it we think there is going to be a tonne of select committee submissions opposing this bill and that this problem is simply going to cause problems. I guess to sum up this is our heritage we are talking about it is our conservation estate. This is a heritage of our forefathers. To put aside these wonderful areas—we cannot go splitting it up we cannot have separate hunting estates and conservation estates. Next we will be listening to the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand the oil and minerals lobby which is advocating for coal gold and minerals reserves in this country. What is next? This Government is going to keep on picking winners and it is bad for this country bad for our conservation estate and bad for our economy. Kia ora.