Twyford Phil: Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 28 January 2014. Volume:696;Page:15588. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū): Labour is of course supporting the Subantarctic Islands Marine Reserves Bill as my colleagues have pointed out. We support the inclusion of these three areas in marine reserves. They are a treasure that belongs to this country. They are part of the World Heritage network and it is the right thing that they are included as part of the marine reserves. We congratulate the work of the Minister of Conservation on getting the legislation to this point.I want to make just a few comments about the general state of the marine reserves legislation and note that this bill basically uses special legislation to achieve marine reserve status for the Subantarctic Islands. The reserves are not being set up under the law that currently exists for the creation of marine reserves which is the Marine Reserves Act 1971. That legislation now 40 years old is cumbersome. It was ahead of its time when it was passed and highly rated but no longer. That legislation has been left behind by international best practice. Unfortunately I think and in spite of the fact that many New Zealanders applaud the goal of achieving 10 percent of our waters being declared marine reserves this has been a very difficult issue over the last couple of decades.I think the Minister would probably agree that that primary legislation is in dire need of an overhaul. I think that most parties in this House would agree that work needs to be done to find a mechanism that can work in the kinds of political and social realities of New Zealand conservation policy today. It was difficult I think during the time of thelast Labour Government when efforts were made to revamp that law and reform it. The numbers in this House were not there. There was not majority support to reform the marine reserves legislation and update it. I hope that now there is majority support for reforming that legislation because it is long overdue.The regulatory impact statement for this bill points out that the average time to establish a marine reserve under the Marine Reserves Act is about 12 years. It ranges between 1 and 23 years and that clearly is not good enough. The Environmental Defence Society released a publication last year that I thought made some very good points. It argued for the need to overhaul the legislation and produce a Marine Reserves Act that allows for the efficient promulgation of marine reserves for the creation of a network of different types of marine protected areas all the way from no-take areas right through to full protected reserves. I believe that we need that kind of legislation.I spent much of last week kayaking around the Waitematā Harbour in the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland looking at conservation issues and talking to many of the movers and shakers within the Hauraki Gulf Forum. That forum is a collaborative governance model set up to advance the agenda of preserving the Hauraki Gulf for future generations—cleaning it up addressing issues of water quality and protecting biodiversity. The establishment of marine reserves—in fact establishing the 10 percent of the Hauraki Gulf earmarked as marine reserves—is one of the key elements in that agenda allowing crayfish snapper and other species to regenerate beyond current stock levels so that the ecosystems can be restored and repaired and the gulf protected for future generations.Marine reserves are one of the really big challenges that we have. I hope that the Hauraki Gulf Forum can achieve something like 10 percent of the Hauraki Gulf set aside. It is a big ask and I hope that as well as establishing reformed marine reserve legislation in this House we actually see real practical progress on the ground in places like the Subantarctic Islands and places like the Hauraki Gulf. Thank you.