Hayes John: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
Hayes John: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:675;Page:14438] 
JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa) 
: 
 I rise to oppose the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill for these reasons. First of all I say to Mr Jones or is it Master Jones who is trying to interject that we all want to provide greater protection to the Waitakere Ranges which have high ecological and high landscape values. Anybody who has seen the film  
The Piano 
 can attest to that and I have visited the area myself. If we are to protect the ecological and landscape values of the area we need to be careful because there is something at stake. 
This Labour Government wants to involve itself in the private affairs of citizens who own private land in this country. That is what it wants to do. This bill effectively takes away private ownership rights and imposes central government rights. I think that is wrong. Extending the National Parks Act to include regional parks would be a very good idea but it will not address the particular issue that this bill is pursuing which is to include privately owned land. That is absolutely wrong. If the existing Resource Management Act and other legislation are not sufficient to enable the city and the regional council to provide appropriate legislation for this area—and none of us denies that that is required—then we need to change the legislation for the benefit of all the communities in this country. 
There is no point in having a special law for Auckland and ignoring the rest of this country. We have the same problems in many of our communities. We could look at the coastal development anywhere along the Wairarapa coast or in the foothills of the Tararua ranges or the Ruahines. Exactly the same law is impacting on people who are developing those areas. It is totally irrational I say to Mr Jones to be cosying up to and creating a special law for the people of Auckland and saying: “To hell with the rest of the country.” This bill is bad legislation and the Government is infringing on the property rights of existing owners. If the Government wants to change that then it must buy the land from them and then it can have its special cosy legal arrangement. 
This bill is nothing more than an attempt to circumvent citizens’ rights to be involved in planning and management. As my colleagues Paula Bennett and Tim Groser have said this bill adds yet another layer of bureaucracy to an already well-overladen bureaucratic slate. National stands against that. I think that if Waitakere City cannot stop rampant property development by using the existing legislation then almost every other local authority in the country must be in the same boat. It is exactly the situation in the Queenstown area where huge developments are happening around Lake Wakatipu. The Queenstown Lakes District Council has to operate under the same rules as the Auckland Regional Council the Auckland City Council and the collection of councils in the Auckland area. 
It seems to me that if the people living elsewhere in this country were to be given the same stronger powers that the Waitakere City Council is demanding then we have to do that for everybody. It seems to me that this area is no more important than the Crown Range down in Central Otago or any other range in New Zealand. Just because it is Auckland it does not make it any more special than if it were in Eketahuna in my electorate. 
Dail Jones 
: Give the land back to tangata whenua. 
JOHN HAYES 
: There is absolutely no difference I say to Mr Jones. This legislation is highly unsatisfactory. [ 
Interruption 
] I refer that member to the New Zealand Law Society’s submission to the Local Government and Environment Committee. The first section asks whether the bill is needed and states: “In many ways it duplicates other legislation.” If one were trying to make any sort of development in this country one is totally constrained by local body rules central government rules and regional council rules. The whole system is clogged up and nothing is happening.