Whaitiri MekaWILDLIFE (POWERS) AMENDMENT BILLIn CommitteeParts 1 and 2 and clauses 1 to 3MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Chair otirā ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Chair but acknowledgments to all you members of this House at the same time.]I would like to take a call on the Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill. Labour supports this. The bill attempts to amend the Wildlife Act of 1953. The bill aims to reduce offending against particular wildlife by increasing the powers available to rangers. The new powers aim to help rangers effectively detect and investigate offences and apprehend offenders.Can I just acknowledge the Local Government and Environment Committee for the work it has done. I am a member of this select committee but I vacated it for a more knowledgable member of Labour the Hon Nanaia Mahuta our conservation spokesperson. But I do note in the report back that seven submissions were provided to the select committee and of course four made submissions orally. I thought it might be useful for the House—because obviously our Department of Conservation (DOC) estate is very very important to New Zealand. Just like the previous speakers said of the previous bill the Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) Registration Amendment Bill this bill not only attempts to protect our wildlife but is very critical to the New Zealand Inc." brand and so like I said Labour will be supporting it.I would like to share with the House that the select committee actually asked the Department of Conservation about the extent of smuggling that currently happens in New Zealand. It did ask the Department of Conservation to provide the committee with statistics on the extent of wildlife smuggling: how many incidents occur how many people are involved and the amount of harm that is occurring. I thought it might be useful to share the response the committee received from DOC. I found it quite interesting reading the report in terms of the extent of the problem.What I have gleaned from the report provided by the Department of Conservation is that native geckos are the main target for wildlife poaching and illegal export. New Zealand geckos are sought after by international dealers and collectors as they are colourful and attractive and very long-living compared with other geckos. Again a recent pair fetched up to $13500 on trade sites. Commercial values drive a demand for the illegal taking of species that are rarer and hence more valuable. Lizard poaching—again I found this quite interesting. The height of lizard poaching in this country occurs from now until April and May when lizards are most active. Also the point that officials shared with the select committee is that commercial poaching activities are getting more and more sophisticated with different people acting as purchasers researchers hunters and couriers.The other piece of information that I found interesting was that since 2009 the Department of Conservation has brought four successful prosecutions against seven foreign nationals for capturing and attempting to smuggle 68 absolutely protected native lizards out of New Zealand. That is four prosecutions against seven international individuals with a combined total of 68 native lizards. By my own calculations that is roughly 10 native lizards per international smuggler and we had a prosecution rate of four out of seven. So again it is just interesting that with more resourcing which this bill is attempting to address hopefully we can get prosecutions not only at a higher rate than four out of seven but also to protect those 68 native lizards that seem to leave our country.I will now just turn to the bill. I particularly want to focus on clause 5. Clause 5 not only talks about the rangers whom this particular bill is giving extra powers to but clearly identifies the rangers who are not receiving these powers. I want to make note of them. In new section 39AA inserted by clause 5 in Part 1 clearly this does not apply to certain rangers—so this is the section that says these additional powers do not apply to fish and game rangers or rangers appointed under section 38(2) of the Wildlife Act or any honorary fishery officers within the meaning given in section 2 (1) of the Fisheries Act 1996.Then we move to subsection (2) of new section 39AA where it talks about the rangers whom this section applies to in terms of the powers that are conferred on these rangers. I just want to highlight a couple of them and then make reference to a particular submitter who submitted to the select committee. That power is in new section 39A inserted by clause 5—"Power to seize evidential material". The section there talks about "A ranger to whom section 39AA applies may seize any evidential material (as defined in section 3(1) of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012) that he or she reasonably believes relates to the investigation of a suspected offence against this Act or any regulations made under this Act."I am glad Minister Barry has taken the chair because I just want to reference the submission provided by the New Zealand Law Society where it actually talks about the power to seize evidential material. It talked about "The express incorporation of the meaning of 'evidential material' from the S&S Act creates an inconsistency. Under proposed section 39A the evidential material must 'relate' to the investigation of an offence against the Act. But the S&S Act definition of 'evidential material' uses slightly different phrasing:". The phrasing that the Law Society refers to is "in relation to an offence or a suspected offence means evidence of the offence or any other item tangible or intangible of relevance to the investigation of the offence." Perhaps it is just a question to the Minister of whether we have covered off that particular issue that the Law Society raised in relation to section 39A inserted by clause 5 around the use of evidential material.I am going to leave it there because I know lots of my other colleagues have got contributions they will make and I would like to make one a little later in the debate. Kia ora tātou."