O'Connor Damien: Walking Access Bill — First Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Walking Access Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:646;Page:15639] 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Minister for Rural Affairs) 
: 
 I move  
That the Walking Access Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be considered by the Local Government and Environment Committee and that the committee report finally to the House on or before 31 July 2008. 
The bill establishes a Walking Access Commission and defines its powers and functions. The need for such an organisation has been well established from the public concern that has been expressed about the availability of public walking access to the outdoors especially access around the coast around lakes and along rivers. The bill is one of the measures that this Government has initiated to reflect the importance of preserving in perpetuity access to and enjoyment of the great outdoors that is so important for our national identity. 
We have already secured the public right of access over our beaches through the Foreshore and Seabed Act and concerns about the impact of overseas purchases of rural land on outdoor recreational activities are dealt with in the new Overseas Investment Act. My colleague the Minister for Land Information has made significant changes in the implementation of the 10-year review process under the Crown Pastoral Land Act to ensure that the public interest in the iconic South Island high country is not compromised. This bill is part of that wider vision for the preservation of the heritage of all New Zealanders. 
There has been a popular conception that there is a public reservation along water margins—known as the Queen’s Chain. Although there are many public reservations of this kind they are by no means universal and frequently their precise location is not well known or easy to locate. It has been estimated that water margin reservations around the coast may amount to perhaps 70 percent of the available coastline and for rivers and lakes the reservations probably amount to about only 50 percent. In addition the practical availability of much of this reserved land has been affected by erosion. 
Of course access over our beaches has already been secured but access along the coast above the foreshore can still be an issue. In addition to concerns about public access along water margins there is also concern about public access to water margins and access to other public land such as national parks. One of the widely expressed concerns about access to the countryside has been the lack of clear and authoritative information about the location of existing access especially water margin reservations and unformed legal roads. Although most of this information is in the records held by Land Information New Zealand it is not readily available to the public in a form useful for walking access purposes. An important function of the commission will be to enable information useful for walking access to be made available to the public in a user-friendly form. 
The bill implements recommendations made by the Walking Access Consultation Panel in its report to me of February 2007. The panel was set up following the Government’s decision in 2005 that it would not proceed with legislation providing for deemed water margin access. That proposal was strongly opposed by farming and other landowning interests on the grounds that it interfered unjustifiably with property rights. The Government heard those concerns. In response the panel was charged with finding a consensus among stakeholder groups on walking access issues. It consulted widely with stakeholder groups and the public about walking access to rural New Zealand. I acknowledge the hard work and expertise of members on the panel who considered various stakeholder interests. I was especially grateful for the work of the chair of the panel John Acland. The panel was set a very difficult task—that is to find a way forward in a highly complex area. 
The one thing that can be learnt from any issue that polarises people is that there is usually wisdom on both sides. Walking access is one such issue. There is no easy answer. The public expects access to significant areas of the coast and to rivers lakes and other public land that is surrounded by private land and landowners naturally expect to be able to decide for themselves who comes on to their property. The issue brings into focus two fundamental values that underpin our New Zealand character and lifestyle: access to our many natural recreational resources and having our very own piece of dirt. We have to work to solve any incompatibility between these two important values. There is need for a degree of public education on both relevant objectives. Such education would include imparting information about the incomplete and inconsistent nature of the Queen’s Chain the lack of clarity about existing public access rights and the need for standards of conduct when members of the public have been granted access to private land. 
Among the issues identified by the panel which this bill seeks to remedy are the problems of access across country to and along water margins and other public land and the lack of authoritative and readily available information about the location of public access arrangements and voluntary access arrangements which lack endurance and certainty. 
The panel conducted a very open and lengthy consultation process. The key findings of the panel which this bill reflects were the need for an independent organisation to lead and coordinate walking access issues the need for the provision of information about access the need for the promotion of a code of responsible conduct and that need for new access over private land that should be achieved either by existing statutory mechanisms or by negotiation and agreement with the landholders. The panel also found that the functions of the New Zealand Walkways Act 1990 should transfer from the Department of Conservation to the new organisation. 
The Walking Access Bill reflects the recommendations of the panel and in summary it creates a new Crown entity the New Zealand Walking Access Commission. The bill defines the functions of the commission and transfers responsibility for the creation of walkways and the overall supervision of existing walkways to the commission by amending the New Zealand Walkways Act 1990. 
The bill does not go as far as some recreational interests propose. They wanted to confer on the commission a power to impose access across private land to public resources—such as for sporting and fishing—that do not have practical or convenient public access. The majority of the panel rejected this approach as it would have amounted to an unjustifiable interference with private property rights. I fully support the view of the majority of the panel on this point. On this particular issue I recall and commend the wonderful tradition in this country of rural landholders allowing and in many instances encouraging access to their land for recreational purposes on a purely voluntary basis. It is a tradition that should be encouraged preserved and of course respected. I also accept however that traditions and attitudes change and that this reality needs to be recognised and the consequences addressed. I believe that this bill will achieve a proper balance between the rights and aspirations of the public in terms of access to the countryside the property rights of landowners and the practical needs of farmers and other land users to carry out their business without undue hindrance. 
This bill is a fairly short and focused bill and apart from the provisions relating to the proposed new agency it largely re-enacts the New Zealand Walkways Act 1990. I reiterate that the bill does not undermine private property rights. Public access to private land including Maori land remains subject to negotiation and agreement with landholders. For this reason alone I expect that the bill will receive favourable consideration by the committee. I note that the panel’s report received widespread public comment and was welcomed by many stakeholders including parties in this House Federated Farmers and recreational groups. The New Zealand Walkways Act has had a long history having been first enacted in 1975 with support from the farming community local government and recreational groups. In one sense this bill seeks to rebuild and renew the close links relationships and respect between stakeholders that was the foundation of the original legislation. The Government has also agreed that the monitoring department for the commission will be the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. 
This bill reflects the Government’s goal of national identity. It further demonstrates this Government’s commitment to rebuilding the connections between urban and rural New Zealand.