Carter David: Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Carter David: Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:616;Page:11744] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 I think it is of some significance to Parliament to note that on the Resource Management (Aquaculture Moratorium Extension) Amendment Bill the Government takes the opportunity to bring the Minister for Small Business the Hon John Tamihere from his parliamentary Beehive office to speak about this industry. And that is exactly what is happening with this legislation. There are some sizable companies throughout New Zealand significantly those based in areas like Banks Peninsula the Marlborough Sounds and right up around the Northland area. These are large businesses but because of the continual imposition of a moratorium that stops them from expanding we will see them become small businesses and therefore come under the control and responsibility of that Minister the Minister for Small Business. The industry needs to note that it is Mr John Tamihere who has been asked to make a contribution in the debate on this bill today. 
I want to start my debate by noting that this legislation is now in the name of the new Minister of Fisheries the Hon David Benson-Pope. I realise it is unlikely that in time to come historians will bother to study the parliamentary career of the Hon David Benson-Pope but if they are so inclined I want them to note that the very first legislation this Minister passed into law after becoming the Minister of Fisheries was not legislation to help fishing but to stop it. So the proud record of the Hon David Benson-Pope will be that his first legislation through the House was legislation that stopped an industry from expanding. 
For 5 long years now we have heard this Government pay lip service to the need for economic growth. We know that the Prime Minister stood in this House and spoke about the need to lift New Zealand back into the top half of the OECD. At the time she had a time frame of 10 years and half of that time has now expired. During the Committee stage I asked the Hon David Benson-Pope whether he would rise and explain how this bill in any way at all helped New Zealand lift its growth rate. 
John Carter 
: What did he say? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The Minister sat silent. He had not actually thought about that and the officials had not briefed him. But deep down he must know that this legislation did nothing to help New Zealand’s growth. In fact it does completely the opposite: it inhibits a very vital industry. 
We heard in the earlier stages of the bill’s passage through the House that aquaculture had the potential to be a billion-dollar industry. The green-lipped mussel is particular to New Zealand. Currently it is worth over $200 million in exports to this country which puts it on the same footing as the New Zealand wine industry. We know the reputation and success the New Zealand wine industry has had. Our wine products are in demand all around the world and here we have another industry the green-lipped mussel industry which is just as valuable to this country. The industry wants to expand. We are experts at growing green-lipped mussels. We have the ability to expand. We have the ability to lift our export earnings from this particular species. So what does the Government do to assist? It throws on a further moratorium saying there are a lot of problems around issues to do with the seabed and foreshore and therefore it is imposing a moratorium to stop people from progressing and expanding their businesses if they are involved in aquaculture. 
The job of any Government is to govern. That is the fundamental job a Government should do. Problems and concerns will come along and present a challenge to a Government and the very thing that should not be done is what the previous Minister of Fisheries did. He has now been fired so at least we have his scalp and soon we will be looking for the next one—that of David Benson-Pope. But the previous Minister the great Labour Party strategist said: “We don’t know how to handle the issue. We’ll impose a moratorium.” But he did one further thing when imposing that moratorium. He gave a cast-iron guarantee to Parliament that under no circumstances would that moratorium due to expire on 25 March be required to be extended. Here we are on 17 March—1 week before the expiry of the current moratorium that Pete Hodgson guaranteed under no circumstances would require extension—rushing more legislation through that extends the moratorium for a further 4 months. That man Pete Hodgson has a huge amount of apologising to do to the fishing industry. The industry is delighted that he has been sacked as the Minister because he was hopeless. He will go down in history— 
Hon John Tamihere 
: Ha ha! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: John Tamihere laughs! That man Pete Hodgson was the man who thought up the flatulence tax. It was his idea. Does Mr Tamihere remember that? We had 2000 farmers protest on the steps of Parliament and under that sort of pressure Mr Pete Hodgson had to do another U-turn and acknowledge that taxing every sheep and cow in New Zealand was a rather silly idea. I see that Mr Tamihere agrees with that and he should also agree with the other point I am about to make—that is to impose a moratorium on a potential $1 billion industry is also a very silly idea. 
However I want to go back to my point about the requirement for an extension of the moratorium. Shortly I will discuss why it is happening but I want to state on record that the current bill we are debating today extends the moratorium for a further 9 months and we have had guarantees from the Government that a further extension beyond 31 December this calendar year will not be required. I say to Government members that I bet they do not have a solution to the issues around aquaculture and its expansion by the end of this calendar year. 
Jim Peters 
: I hope the member is wrong. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I certainly hope that I am wrong too but I guarantee that I am not. Before the end of this calendar year the Government’s solution will be to rush a further moratorium extension bill into the House and further delay this industry. 
During the submission process some tremendous submissions were presented to us but one that I remember—and I want the Government to take note of this one—was from a man called Mr Brad Govan who manages Pacifica Seafoods. He came along to the select committee and said that he was desperate to expand his business. He had worked all his life in aquaculture so he had a huge amount of knowledge and managerial skill. He told the select committee that he had offers from both South America and Australia to take his skills off shore and establish aquaculture there. That did not seem to ring a chord with Labour members around the select committee but it did with me. Why do we encourage capable wealth-creating New Zealanders to consider taking their enterprises offshore? That is nuts. Those people should have the ability to operate in New Zealand and this moratorium does not achieve that. 
I want to conclude by saying that until the Labour Government sorts out the seabed and foreshore issues there will be no resolution to the issues around aquaculture. Mr Phil Heatley used the words about the race for space fast becoming a space for race. Some of the Maori members have taken exception to that but that is exactly the issue. 
Mahara Okeroa 
: No it’s not the issue. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Mr Mahara Okeroa disagrees. He appears in Parliament so infrequently it is sometimes difficult to remember his name. Mr Okeroa says that it is not about that issue. The Government should resolve the seabed and foreshore issue because until that is done it will not progress aquaculture in this country.