Groser Tim: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Groser Tim: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2455] 
Hon TIM GROSER (Minister of Conservation) 
: 
 It is a great privilege to be involved with the Department of Conservation—I say “Conservation” because the speaking order has me listed down as the “Minister for Conversation”. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: That’s true too. 
Hon TIM GROSER 
: Yes but I would like to reassure the member there is no truth that I am thinking of trying to become the “Minister of Silly Walks” as well. 
The conservation estate is a very considerable part of New Zealand’s heritage and we look at it across a whole variety of issues. The member who has just spoken Metiria Turei raised some of the most important issues and I acknowledge many of the points that she made. The conservation estate is a work in progress and there will always be issues that require us to address them. The tenure review which has just been published today requires very serious consideration by the Government and I absolutely take that member’s concerns on board. I will be working through some of those recommendations from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment over the coming months. 
The issue of biodiversity is a massive responsibility for New Zealand as I have learnt from becoming the Minister of Conservation and getting excellent advice from the department. We have a unique country. The reason that New Zealand has this amazing biodiversity although so much has been lost since the intervention of people and the mammals that came with them is the unique circumstance whereby New Zealand became separated 80 millions years ago and floated away from Gondwanaland before the rise of mammals in large numbers. The result is that 25 percent of the remaining birds in New Zealand are not found anywhere else in the world. It is a great responsibility for us to manage but it is also a major economic advantage for us. 
We should not just see the country just in terms of promoting it for its own sake. It is also the infrastructure behind New Zealand’s most important industry and that is tourism. Tourism employs one in 10 New Zealanders. When I went on a familiarisation tour—much of it by helicopter I would like to remind members— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: There’s tomorrow’s question. 
Hon TIM GROSER 
: Absolutely! I would like to remind the member that even on Friday Mr Finlayson the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and I were up in a helicopter above the Ureweras. Now members understand that being rugged outdoorsmen we did think about walking through the Ureweras and asking for leave from Parliament until about mid-2010. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I would’ve given that! 
Hon TIM GROSER 
: I know the member would have but we were not sure that the Prime Minister would have granted us leave for about 18 months. So we took a helicopter to look over Te Urewera National Park a magnificent dark and mysterious part of New Zealand. It is another aspect of the whole responsibility that goes with the conservation lands held in perpetuity for our ancestors to come. 
The marine environment is something that needs closer attention. I think it is now pretty much an accepted consensus in New Zealand society—and it is certainly a view shared by all political parties—that we have to maintain conservation values on the estate. It is always going to be a struggle to manage essentially one-third of the country on a budget of around $300 million. Imagine if one was maintaining property with the equivalent asset value on $300 million! But the financial reporters do an excellent job they have been doing an unqualified audit and I think that we are very privileged to have New Zealanders who are dedicated to this. 
It is not just the people who work permanently for the department. I recall from the briefing for incoming Ministers which I studied pretty carefully that there were 1858 full-time equivalent employees in the Department of Conservation. Volunteers are also important and that is the point the previous speaker made. There are something like 7000 volunteers across the country so there is huge buy-in to the work of the department from our communities. I think that together they do a pretty good job but there are great challenges ahead. 
I have been told that the estimate of the cost of fixing up Lake Taupo and the Rotorua Lakes is $223 million. I do not know how much flexibility there is around the estimate but that is the figure I have been given. Yet against that I have another estimate which is that the value from the trout fisheries to the Tongariro-Taupo area is $80 million a year. I think it puts into perspective the sums of money involved and it reminds us that we should look at this in terms of it being a great economic asset to New Zealand. 
When I went down to the South Island to try to get a better handle on the issues and visited the Fox Glacier after the tragedy of the two Australian people of Indian ethnic descent I found that— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: “Minister of Conversation”! 
Hon TIM GROSER 
: —yes the “Minister of Conversation” is continuing—650000 people of whom the Department of Conservation believe 75 percent were probably foreign tourists visited the Fox Glacier and the Franz Joseph Glacier. The Milford Sound had 440000 visitors of whom 96 percent were estimated to be foreign tourists. That gives some idea of the huge economic investment that we have as well as other responsibilities we will have in the future. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: We look forward to the Budget Minister. 
Hon TIM GROSER 
: Indeed. 
Thank you very much for the opportunity to make some initial comments on the department. I look forward to working with it in the next year. 
Report noted.