Dyson Ruth: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDyson Ruth: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 11 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9290. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills) to theMinister of Conservation: Is he confident that the proposed new structure for the department reflects the priorities in the Conservation Act 1987?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Conservation): Yes the restructuring is about the Department of Conservation being more efficient by reducing the number of tiers of management from five to four. The restructuring is also about the department being more outward-looking and more able to effectively partner with iwi with the community and with business. Much has changed since the Department of Conservation was founded a generation ago. Business and communities are a lot more involved in conservation and that is welcomed and the Treaty settlement process means that the department needs to be more able to partner with iwi.Hon Ruth Dyson: How will the dual management structure with two positions of equal status—the chief ranger responsible for conservation and the relationship manager responsible for business relationships—ensure the delivery of these conservation priorities?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Because the conservation side of the work is being run by the rangers. What the Department of Conservation needs to do more effectively is workon how it runs its partnerships with iwi how it runs its partnerships with business—and we have got more of those happening and that is a good thing—and also how it partners with community. I can give the member examples in my own electorate of where the department can do better in working with community to look after our special places and ensure the survival of our native species.Hon Ruth Dyson: How will the insertion of a whole new layer of management with the establishment of an integration coordinator ensure the delivery of conservation priorities?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: There is not a whole new layer actually. Currently the department has five tiers of management. Under the new structure it will have four. It will have 120 fewer managers because it is this Government’s view that there is too much bureaucracy in the department and we need to be more focused on doing the biz rather than just talking about it.Maggie Barry: Does the Minister have any examples of where the Department of Conservation has been excessively bureaucratic?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Yes. In 1997 I wrote as Minister asking the department to open the Heaphy Track to mountain biking in winter. Both the Green Party and the Labour Party at the time came out strongly in support. Over 20 reports were written on this issue and it did not eventuate until 2010 on a trial basis. It is a good example of how the department could be more efficient.Hon Ruth Dyson: How will the reduction of trained rural firefighters in the department from 600 to 460 help protect our conservation estate?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I have been assured by Al Morrison that the changes around the operational features and the number of people who need to be skilled for rural fire fighting is adequate to manage the risks that the department has around the issues of fire risk across the conservation estate.Hon Ruth Dyson: How will the loss of 140 department jobs in the field and in regional centres and the addition of 29 new jobs in Wellington assist with delivery of on-the-ground conservation work and the collaboration with communities that he has been praising?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The mistake the member is making is in talking about only—Hon Annette King: Answer the question.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Give us half a chance Annette. The—Hon Annette King: Well get on with it.Mr SPEAKER: Answer the question. [Interruption] Order! That is an example of what happens when you get interjections. Would the Minister please continue his answer.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The restructuring has been in two phases. The first phase was done a year ago and resulted in very significant redundancies at head office and in the conservancy offices. In making the judgment about the new structure as compared with the old the member needs to consider both those phases together. The long and the short of it is this: the previous Government when it thought money grew on trees more than doubled the budget of the Department of Conservation. We are a Government that is committed to balancing the budget. That means that the department has to do its fair share in ensuring that this Government lives within its means.