Clendon David: Marine Legislation Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Clendon David: Marine Legislation Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8758. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID CLENDON (Green) 
: 
 I am also pleased to take a brief call to reiterate our support for this bill the Marine Legislation Bill albeit our somewhat qualified support. It is a good bill. It could have been a great bill. It could have done a great deal more. It could have gone further towards protecting both our economic and our environmental interests in the marine environment particularly in the exclusive economic zone. 
I think perhaps that we tend to take for granted as New Zealanders our uniqueness and that we are literally in the middle of a water hemisphere. We have one of the largest exclusive economic zones of any country in the world a coastline of some 15000 kilometres long. It is a remarkable asset to us. It is something extraordinary which does shape our culture and of course does have a significant economic influence as well. To the extent that we have that extraordinary asset—all this enormous exclusive economic zone; we have control over such a large area of the marine environment—it perhaps equally carries with it a responsibility to protect to enhance and to do the very very best we can to ensure that our human activities our exportation and our transit across that marine environment do not cause it harm. It must be said that that is where this bill does somewhat fall short of what it could have been. 
It was interesting to see the pleasure some of the National members took in getting general support for this legislation. I would have to say that to have that happen more regularly more routinely the answer is in their hands really. It is simply to present bills that give us economic sustainability that enhance and protect our environment and that are socially responsible. Give us legislation bills that are fit for use in the 21st century and we will be very happy to support them as I am sure our Labour colleagues would too. 
But having said that we will support the bill it is worth reiterating also some of the shortcomings of this legislation. It does leave us exposed financially to future maritime disasters on the scale of the  
Rena 
 or lesser or greater. The numbers that my colleague mentioned are compelling. The cost of the Gulf of Mexico disaster was some $40 billion; we are covered in New Zealand to the tune of some $30 million. At the same time it looks as though this Government will allow despite all the evidence and contrary advice deep-sea drilling. If we are going to start drilling for oil in some of the deepest water on the planet if we are going to be drilling for oil in some of the most exposed dynamic seas anywhere in the world one would think even from an economic position that you would protect yourself against almost inevitable disasters and failures of equipment or people that inevitably will have a massive environmental impact as well as an economic one. So it is unfortunate that this bill does not go further towards protecting our economic interests as well as our environmental responsibilities. 
It is interesting that we now have legislation that will recognise that alcohol impairs the behaviour and the performance of seafarers. It was fascinating that just today in the Law and Order Committee in another context we read the Auditor-General’s report on the police performance in terms of monitoring and enforcing drink-driving law in New Zealand. The short story is that they are doing a very good job albeit in the face of a ridiculously high alcohol limit. A Labour speaker mentioned the Government’s excuse for not lowering the alcohol limit on our roads to be lack of research. I encourage the National Party to read the Auditor-General’s report which spells out very clearly the clinical the medical and the behavioural effects on people who are within the existing alcohol limit and the danger to the rest of us imposed by that. So it is a good thing that at least the seafarers in future will be subject to prosecution if they are found to be operating vessels or behaving in a way under the influence of alcohol. 
I will leave it there. As I say there are some good parts to this bill; it could have been a great deal better. We look forward to a future time when we will have the opportunity to make it better legislation that will protect our economic and our environmental responsibilities much more. Kia ora.