Peters Winston: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) — In Committee 
Peters Winston: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) — In Committee 
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Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 The problem with this bill is that it has some very very serious mistakes in it and that is one of them. The problem with the Minister in the chair David Benson-Pope is that having just arrived in the job a few months ago he has very quickly become a prisoner of his staff. Whatever they say despite the fact that they were subject to two major inquiries—one by the State Services Commission and one by a select committee of Parliament itself—he has to agree with it. One of the most ridiculous things in this bill and one of the most ridiculous things I have heard is the argument now being made by the Minister. He says: “We must put the quota management system in control of spat because the moratorium is coming off.” That is what he said—that the moratorium is coming off; therefore mussel spat must be controlled under the quota management system. 
The first thing members should ask themselves is whether when we started the mussel farms in the late 1970s and the 1980s there was a quota management system controlling spat. No there was not. Is the only place in the world where one finds spat Ninety Mile Beach or up north near Kaitaia? Of course it is not. So why on earth are we giving nine people the enormous monopoly and privilege from now until perpetuity it would seem to have a giant influence on the future of an industry that has now been going for more than two decades? If the industry did not need it then why is it needed now? Where is the scientific evidence underscoring the Minister’s belief and the belief of his ministry that it should be— 
Brian Connell 
: There is none. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Of course there is none. Even his own colleagues on the select committee recognise that. Such is the clobbering machine of the “no conscience but ours”—the collective conscience. There is one rule—Helen’s rule. Government members are lions back in the electorate but lambs down in the caucus. Such is the persuasion and the coercion of the Government at the moment that no matter what makes sense it can be abandoned with the greatest of ease for something that is directed from on high. 
Now I do not know where the influence is in the matter and why the Government should be arguing this. But I come from a place called Whananaki. Whananaki has acres of spat—all over the beach and all over the pipis. In fact so much spat is probably killing the pipis. The reality is that the uniqueness of the resource complained of by the ministry simply is not true. I want to know why the Minister would ignore his select committee which is helping him as it is meant to do and ignore his colleagues while going along with his officials who have not made out any scientific case whatsoever. 
Shane Ardern 
: He’s a doormat to the officials. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: It is worse than that. The trouble with the fishing industry is that for far too long Minister after Minister has given it the most apathetic concern or interest of all their portfolios. Almost from the start that has been the case. They have regarded it as an ancillary matter in respect of their operations. They do not understand that a country like Norway—a very wealthy country whose per capita income is about 2½ times ours—receives 70 percent of its wealth from fishing and marine farming. That is the potential of this country as well. 
Mark Peck 
: What about Newfoundland? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: It is probably about 90 percent. 
Mark Peck 
: What about Newfoundland? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: What about Newfoundland apart from Newfoundland dogs which can swim under the water—the only dog in the world that can. 
Mark Peck 
: They used to have a fishing industry which no longer exists. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I appreciate that but the member cannot tell me that there is such a scarcity of spat around New Zealand’s coasts that we have to control it under the quota management system. It is a nonsense. It does not make sense. Anyone who has spent some time on New Zealand beaches knows what I am saying. Of course there is variable supply depending on the season and the year. Obviously that is the case. But why on earth before one knows what one is talking about and without the scientific evidence to make a judgment would one nevertheless make that judgment? In short the ministry has panicked the Minister into doing a most alarming thing and acting against the instincts and beliefs of his informed colleagues who spent months studying the matter purely to conform as a good Minister to his ministry.