Hayes John: Aquaculture Legislation Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Hayes John: Aquaculture Legislation Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
[Volume:650;Page:19239] 
JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa) 
: 
 My colleague Colin King comes from the top end of the South Island where aquaculture was introduced. By my recollection that was more than 30 years ago in about 1971 and the formation of mussel farms caused a huge row. Subsequently the industry has become very well-established both in Queen Charlotte Sound and in Pelorus Sound. Salmon have now also been introduced. They swim happily in a number of locations in the sounds and New Zealanders traversing Tory Channel on the ferries can see them. 
I rise to support the Aquaculture Legislation Amendment Bill (No 2). I move from the oily calm waters of the Marlborough Sounds to the rather wild waters of my electorate that stretch from Turakirae Head in the southern North Island right through Palliser Bay past Ngawi and almost to Cape Kidnappers. One might feel that this area does not have the potential for aquaculture. But I promise Mr Mallard that I have had constituents approach me over the last 3 years of this Government to express their concern. They say that the Minister of Aquaculture Jim Anderton has delivered nothing for 3 whole years. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: He is not the Minister of aquaculture. 
JOHN HAYES 
: He is the Minister of Fisheries. The people in my electorate have the technology to grow paua. There is now the technology in my electorate to fatten kina. People have developed a feed formula that doubles the weight of kina roe in 30 days or less. That is hugely significant because kina roe command a very very high price on the Japanese market. 
It is for these reasons that I rise in support of this legislation. The bill provides for the facilitation and the creation of new aquaculture management areas. I hope that that will allow my constituents to unlock the potential of the Wairarapa electorate—particularly its coastline—and to establish new industries that will provide employment processing and foreign exchange. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I am sure Denise would have knocked on the Minister’s door by now. 
JOHN HAYES 
: Well she might have knocked on it last time but she did not succeed did she I say to Mr Mallard. Nevertheless the people in my electorate have faith in me to represent their views and that is why I am supporting this legislation. I want to make sure that in the first 100 days of the next Government we will amend the Resource Management Act. One of the reasons that there have been no new aquaculture proposals is the complications of the Resource Management Act which is totally stymying aquaculture experimentation and research activity and the establishment of an aquaculture industry in my electorate. 
I am also pleased that this bill will provide for transitional processes under the old fisheries legislation because the whole arrangement has been deadlocked for the past 3 years. My constituents have endeavoured to establish aquaculture projects under one piece of legislation and they will now be confronted with this new bill which is very complex. In fact the whole fishing legislation is totally complicated I say to Mr Mallard. Progress in creating new marine-farming space has been incredibly slow and Mr Mallard should stand up and take a bow for inactivity. I do not quite know why the Minister has collected his salary for the last 3½ years. His inactivity has held up the settlement to hand over to Maori 20 percent settlement of all new space. Maori communities—and there are plenty in my electorate—have been stymied by his inactivity as well. 
Both these pieces of legislation simply secure the current status of the existing legislation but we have to see them as interim measures only. As my colleague Phil Heatley has said the legislation is only a sticking plaster a temporary solution to consolidate some mechanism for moving forward. 
Colin King 
: We cannot make something crooked straight. 
JOHN HAYES 
: No we cannot and when the Government changes in about 7 weeks’ time we will certainly be busy addressing those problems and unlocking the economic potential of our coastal areas. I would like to finish by simply saying that this bill will have a big impact in my electorate once it has been modified by a new Government. 
Bill read a first time.  
Bill referred to the Primary Production Committee.