Wagner NickyHon NICKY WAGNER (National): Thank you very much Mr Assistant Speaker. I'm very pleased to take a call on this Conservation (Infringement System) Bill in its second reading. I want to make it very clear that National opposes this bill which is really rather unfortunate and even a little bit sad because the original bill was introduced in February 2017 by the then Minister of Conservation the Hon Maggie Barry. I remember the work on this bill because I was her Associate Minister at the time and we worked hard to find a way that was balanced and that would give a tool to Department of Conservation (DOC) rangers with conservation offences.The purpose of course was to create an infringement and fine system and it was to enable Department of Conservation rangers to deal with the less serious conservation offences efficiently and effectively. It's a worthy purpose and National supported it because we are committed to supporting the protection of our nature but we also identified the need for Department of Conservation rangers to have those further powers so that they could carry out their jobs better. DOC rangers of course are part of the Department of Conservation and that is a well-established well-respected experienced compliance and enforcement agency. National believes that the department has the credibility and the accountability and the administration systems to operate a fair and objective infringement system for New Zealanders. We supported the original bill because it really would have helped the Department of Conservation protect and conserve our nature.The bill was designed as an alternative mechanism to address the offences that fell between a very wide gap of a warning which was a light sort of touch and a court action which sometimes was appropriate for more serious offences but was overkill for some of the lesser ones. In the past incidents have required more than just a warning but were not serious enough to require court action leaving rangers in a real state of limbo without any effective tools to respond and that weakened the department's response. Warnings can be an adequate response to some offences but sometimes they're inadequate and prosecutions can be too severe for others. This infringement and fine system would provide that flexibility of response to give rangers more teeth where necessary and to enforce rules without giving people a criminal record. Overall it would allow a much more nuanced response to conservation offences and would I think improve outcomes in terms of protection and conservation. But the use of this infringement regime will be the most appropriate response to a wide range of minor conservation offences.National believed that the powers in the original bill were appropriate they were useful and they would have allowed experienced qualified and accountable Department of Conservation rangers to do their jobs better. So far so good. However during the select committee process an amendment to clause 9 introduced a clause that empowers the director of New Zealand Fish & Game Council a non-Government agency to warrant Fish & Game employees to use the system and to issue these infringement notices and this sets a dangerous precedent as it extends significant powers to an organisation outside the State sector.National does not support an organisation that is not directly accountable to the public of New Zealand to have these powers. We believe that extending the powers beyond DOC rangers who are State sector employees has serious ramifications to the credibility accountability and administration of the system and we believe that it would ultimately undermine the Department of Conservation's ability to operate what they need—a fair and objective system. And with that the confidence of New Zealanders the confidence they have in the department and the work that the ranges do to protect and conserve our environment would be undermined. Whereas the original bill would have been of benefit to the Department of Conservation and our nature National believes that this bill will absolutely undermine DOC and their work. The amended bill is not good for nature it's not good for our environment and it's not good for the DOC rangers who do such good work to protect it. So National opposes this bill. Kia ora.