Williams Andrew: Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Andrew: Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 30 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19781. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First):I take a call on behalf of New Zealand First on the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill. It is a great pleasure that the last speech I give in this session of Parliament will be on such a great piece of legislation.Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura marine group in Kaikōura and all those involved in Te Korowai are to be highly commended for the exceptional work they did as a community in helping to bring this all together. When we as the Local Government and Environment Committee sat and heard the submissions including the hearings in Kaikōura itself it was most impressive to see how that community had come together across so many different entities and groups including Ngāi Tahu and local iwi and hapū the cray fishermen the pāua divers the many involved in the tourist industries there and the many involved from the community including Forest and Bird and other environmental groups. So many organisations came together collegially to come up with this and then took it through the necessary legislative processes with our various ministries to get it to this point.I would like to acknowledge the excellent work that has been undertaken by the officials from so many of the different departments involved from the Department of Conservation the Ministry for Primary Industries the fisheries people our parliamentary counsel and others—whom I have not mentioned but they know who they are—who did a huge amount of work on this bill to bring it all together so well. We certainly enjoyed working on this bill. I think this was one of the most enjoyable pieces of legislation that the Local Government and Environment Committee worked on in the 3 years of this term. We knew that it would have such a great outcome.I would like to acknowledge the Minister of Conservation Nick Smith as well for his work on this and his commitment to marine reserves. Minister Smith I know how committed you have been to creating so many marine reserves.We also sat on the Subantarctic Islands marine reserves legislation which was a magnificent outcome for those outlying islands as we did on the legislation for the Akaroa marine reserve and others. Again it is something that all New Zealanders can be proud of because at the end of the day we are the guardians of our marine estate. Marine reserves depend on humans to ensure that we take care of them and we are the guardians of these incredible resources that we have out there. In that respect every one of these marine reserves just adds to the special nature of New Zealand and our geographical position in the world—our isolation as islands in the South Pacific—and the fact is that we do recognise the need to ensure that these marine reserves are put in place to protect the environment for future generations.It was interesting to learn about some of the aspects of this bill and to go to the likes of the fur seal colony and see how that beautiful coastline in Kaikōura exists. For the people of New Zealand to be able to see those fur seals so close to the main highway so close to the railway line—the fur seals are all there basking in the sun and lying around on the rocks and scratching themselves and having a jolly good old time and jumping off into the water and doing it all right in front of people—is just extraordinary.I say to any New Zealander who has not had the opportunity to do that if you are able to go down the Kaikōura Coast it certainly is well worth doing as is the visit to the small area that is the creche for the pups or the seal calves as they are known. It was amazing to see them in the pools of water there. The select committee went up to the pools of water and watched 50 or 60 of these young seals frolicking in the water. They stay there during the day. Apparently they go back to see mum and dad at night time. They get a bit of a feed—a bit of kai—from mum and dad and then the next day they go back up to the pools and have another play around. It was marvellous to see that and to see how they were in the natural environment. The fact that all this area will be protected as a result of this bill is excellent.In terms of the whale sanctuary and the canyon off the Kaikōura Coast it is a very significant canyon a very deep canyon and one that is quite unique as it has significant food resources for the whales. One of the reasons why they have had such a longstanding habitat there is that it is such a special place for the whales to exist. As a result it is wonderful that Ngāi Tahu with their whale-watching tourism venture were able to put in place the necessary infrastructure to allow people to go out and take part in the whale-watching there and see these majestic animals in their natural habitat. Again that is wonderful. The fact that we have this marine sanctuary will ensure that that is preserved and protected and that New Zealanders and international tourists can take benefit from it. That is marvellous.It was interesting when we heard about some of the more technical areas of this bill—when we looked at the maps and at how the area was all clearly defined with the borders and boundaries of the different sanctuaries involved here—that we were down to debating decimal places. The whole debate about whether it should be to two or three decimal places was interesting. We were told initially that “The system works to only two decimal places. That is how it is.” but as we all know in this modern generation computers can go out to as many decimal places as you like. We said that for the benefit of the environment we would have to go to whichever decimal place is required to ensure that the proper protections are put in place for these marine sanctuaries and it was very pleasing to see that the officials from Ministry for Primary Industries and the Department of Conservation recognised the fact that going to three decimal places would ensure greater certainty over that. That was a great thing. We hope that it applies elsewhere in New Zealand in future as well. That would be a good thing.In closing can I just say that I have enjoyed my 3 years on the Local Government and Environment Committee. It has been a very interesting committee. We have had a huge workload. It is a very busy committee. If you can imagine both the local government side of things plus all the environment side of things you know it should almost be two committees because the amount of work covers such a huge huge area.We have literally worked very hard and I commend all the members not only the present members but members who have been on it during these 3 years of this term. Everyone has contributed well. We have had some very very good outcomes. We have looked at submissions from the public from all over New Zealand on so many different subjects. As a result wherever possible we have ensured that best outcomes have come as a result of that. We do not always agree with the outcomes and New Zealand First has raised concerns in some areas but at the end of the day democracy is upheld and we are a better place for the fact that we have a system of select committees that gives thorough scrutiny to all these areas.I commend the Kaikōura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Bill to the House. New Zealand First is very proud to have been part of this process.