Smith Nick: Game Animal Council Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSmith Nick: Game Animal Council Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 November 2013. Volume:695;Page:14842. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Conservation): I moveThat the Game Animal Council Bill be now read a second time. This bill is an important step in both improving the management of game animals and also recognising the recreational passion that many New Zealanders have—in fact I think that includes the Deputy Speaker—for recreational hunting. Although those who tramp those who mountaineer and those who go fishing for salmon and trout are given a direct voice in their recreation the hunters of deer of pig of chamois and of tahr are effectively not included in the statutory way in which their recreation is managed.I want to acknowledge the leader of the United Future party Peter Dunne who as part of our confidence and supply agreement has been a champion for hunters and for the recognition that the Game Animal Council will give to providing a voice for that group of recreationists. I commend the work of the Local Government and Environment Committee ably chaired by Christchurch Central MP Nicky Wagner. The committee worked effectively in considering the many issues that were raised by submitters and has suggested a number of constructive changes to the bill and I thank all the members of the committee for the work that they have done.There were 664 submissions from interested groups and individuals which is a bit of a signal as to just how many people have a passion for hunting. The committee heard 39 oral submissions. It had hearings both in Wellington and in Christchurch. Many submitters supported the creation of the Game Animal Council as a whole-of-sector council. We need to acknowledge that there are tensions between some who have commercial aerial trophy-hunting businesses and the purely recreational sector and I think that there is real merit in having a Game Animal Council which is pretty consistent with this Government’s view of getting those parties round the table and directly engaging in their recreation and their businesses in order to come to a sensible way forward to manage.The vast majority of submissions supported the intent of the bill but there is a range of changes. For instance the committee has recommended that we clearly define “public conservation land” so that it is quite plain that it does not include privately owned land or land that has been vested back with iwi as part of a Treaty settlement. There have also been amendments around the definitions of “regional council” and “game trophy” that are also constructive. The select committee has made changes to the bill to ensure that the Game Animal Council itself has the right mix of expertise to be able to make sound decisions that strengthen the voice of iwi and Māori. It has also made provision for ensuring that scientific knowledge is properly respected. And we need to acknowledge in this area that there is a real tension between the interests of recreational hunters who wish there to be good populations of deer chamois and tahrso that it is an easy hunt and the reality from a conservation perspective that those numbers need to be kept down and need to be kept limited. Therefore we are serious about the sustainability of the forests in which they exist.I do note in the debate on this bill that there is the polarised view that these animals must be defined either as pests and every last one hunted to the ends of the Earth or as valued animals. I come from the perspective a pragmatic perspective that it depends where they are and in what numbers. That is it is true that these animals if in high concentrations or in the wrong place can do irreversible conservation harm. Equally so it is true that they provide a huge amount of enjoyment and recreation for many New Zealanders and that providing that is properly managed it is possible for us to have the best of both worlds.I announced yesterday changes in respect of the role of the Game Animal Council. During the Committee stage I will be introducing Supplementary Order Paper 395 to deal quite specifically with the tension between aerial trophy hunters and recreational hunters around hunters in helicopters shooting animals from the helicopter of herding animals into a hunter—a practice known as hazing where effectively a helicopter is able to chase an animal to exhaustion and then make it an easy pot-shot for a hunter. It is intended that the Game Animal Council will be responsible for developing a code of practice to ensure that there is tighter regulation of those activities. That is a specific commitment that the Government made to Peter Dunne and the United Future party and we intend to address it in that way.This bill is a significant step forward. For my entire period in Parliament there has been concern from recreational hunters that they are locked out from having an effective voice in the management of their recreation. This bill is a good bill which enables those hunters to be able to be directly engaged in their sport. My experience with other bodies such as the Fish and Game Council is that when participants are included in the decision-making process they are very responsible and they engage very constructively. That is why fundamentally this is a bill that the House should support.