Baldock Larry: Fiordland (Te Moana o Atawhenua) Marine  Management Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Baldock Larry: Fiordland (Te Moana o Atawhenua) Marine  Management Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:625;Page:19887] 
LARRY BALDOCK (United Future) 
: 
 I rise to speak on Part 3 of the Fiordland (Te Moana o Atawhenua) Marine Management Bill and welcome the recommendation by the Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation Committee to change clause 14 so that when the Minister appoints the Fiordland Marine Guardians he or she needs to ensure that at least five members are ordinarily resident in the Otago or Southland regions whereas the original bill required only two. It is important that the focus is on the local area and I think the change will strengthen those provisions. 
Initially I think the Minister appointing the guardians is the necessary way forward. It is a process that began in the local area and those who first became involved were those who were willing to put up their hands and volunteer their time for what was going to be quite a long process—one that would require a considerable amount of self-sacrifice in terms of their time and energy to see it through. 
So we are comfortable for the Minister to continue with an appointment process after this bill is enacted but in the long term United Future would like to see communities choosing representatives in their area similar to the process we now have with our district health boards where we have elections for a number of the board members then the Minister can appoint a few others perhaps to fill in a few gaps where he or she sees that the board does not have representation. That would be a good step forward and perhaps with the implementation of clause 21 “Ministerial reviews” that recommendation may be made in the future as the guardians bed in and settle down. Perhaps in the years ahead communities will have an opportunity to elect their guardians’ representatives. We in United Future believe that would work very well for the New Zealand Conservation Authority and the 13 conservancies around the country that are at this stage ministerial appointments. We think there could be a balance between elections and ministerial appointments to fill in some gaps where there might be a lack in experience or representation of community interests. However at this stage United Future is comfortable with the appointment process and we will look forward to that review occurring in 15 years’ time. 
We also welcome clause 22A “Protocol between management agencies and Guardians” which we think will strengthen the important role of the guardians so that the process continues to be a locally-managed one that Government agencies must take account of work with and take note of the advice the guardians give. That was the whole genesis of this project anyway—working together with Government agencies but not being led by them and allowing local residents to take care of their own marine environment. We believe most residents are capable of doing so. We want to see it not just applied in Fiordland but also adopted in other regions around the country. I think that New Zealanders are conservation minded. They know how to take care of the environment and when engaged properly there can be a win-win situation both for Government agencies and for the community. United Future wishes to commend this part to the Committee and we will be supporting it. 
The question was put that the following amendment in the name of Metiria Turei to clause 12 be agreed to: 
to omit paragraph (e) of subclause (2).