Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): Thank you Madam Chair. I would like to rise above the negativity of the National Party and celebrate some of the things that the Department of Conservation (DOC) has done in the 2017-18 year. Today the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services came out with their global assessment of biodiversity yet the National Party objected to a motion in the House to recognise the seriousness of our biodiversity crisis. Yet in—Hon Scott Simpson: That's because the Minister didn't follow process.Hon EUGENIE SAGE: We did consult Mr Simpson. So in that report it highlighted that a million species are threatened with extinction; 4000 of those are in Aotearoa. It is pressures on habitat it is pests and weeds that are a major threat to them and we know from the work that the department presented to the Environment Committee that where the department invests in predator control it significantly improves the prospects for threatened species.So two of the things to celebrate in the 2017-18 year are the world's first successful eradication of a problem butterfly—the great white butterfly which DOC and a multi-agency team over three years succeeded in eradicating in the Nelson-Tasman area. That butterfly was a major threat to our native cress species—we've got 79 species of native cress and 57 of those are amongst those million species at risk of extinction. The eradication also helped the horticultural industry because the great white butterfly is a major threat to brassicas.Another area where the department was really successful in 2017-18 was the Million Dollar Mouse programme eradicating mice from the Antipodes Islands in the subantarctic. I was fortunate enough to go down there last February to see Reischek's parakeet to see the Antipodes parakeet and to see them flourishing in the absence of mice. That was a major investment in partnership with a number of organisations from the World Wildlife Fund to the Morgan Foundation the Jasmine foundation and others. It was a dedicated and committed team of DOC staff helicopter pilots and others that succeeded in what was a very complex island eradication project in a very challenging landscape.DOC is investing in conservation and this Government is investing in conservation. Unlike the National Party objecting to motions on biodiversity this Government in Budget 2018 gave the biggest increase in conservation funding in 16 years which is allowing the department to rebuild its capability and capacity. It's allowing the department to develop ever more partnership initiatives—totally disagree with the comments of Ms Dowie—and it was recently in the Mackenzie Basin. Te Manahuna Aoraki is a major partnership between 18 leaseholders DOC Land Information New Zealand Ngāi Tahu local councils and the New Zealand Defence Force. That ambitious project: over 300000 hectares investing in predator control broom control rowan control rabbit control research on how we better address threats in those high country environments because the department and I recognise that we need to mainstream conservation. The department cannot do it on its own. It has to work with other players it has to work with the community. Te Manahuna Aoraki and that vision for the Mackenzie Basin of reducing predators controlling them so that we can have species like kakī the black stilt and so that species like the robust grasshopper thrive is all about a partnership approach and it's all about a Government which recognises the seriousness of our biodiversity crisis and is investing in conservation.This May the department is implementing the biggest ever pest control initiative undertaken in mainland New Zealand in response to the mega mast year; $38 million being spent to control rats and stoats in response to the mast year. I do thank and congratulate the select committee for its unanimous support of 1080 as a tool to control predators. This is what was going to be totally necessary if we are to protect our bird species from going extinct regionally to protect insects like the giant land snail. The department over a million hectares 12 percent of the conservation estate—this Government has secured the funding for Tiakina Ngā Manu or Battle for our Birds; under the last National Government that was insecure year by year. So we recognise the seriousness of the biodiversity crisis and we're investing in a range of initiatives to tackle that. Thank you.