Shirley Ken: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Shirley Ken: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:610;Page:7833] 
12.  
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (Deputy Leader—ACT NZ) 
 to the  
Minister for Rural Affairs 
: With regard to the Acland report will he give an unqualified and a clear assurance that the Government will not in any way diminish private landowners’ rights to control access to their land; if not can he assure property owners that they will be fully compensated for any restrictions imposed on their property rights for public access? 
Hon JIM SUTTON (Minister for Rural Affairs) 
: 
 The member seems to have confused the land access reference group’s report with Government policy. It is not. It is out for public consultation which landowners can be involved in and no decisions have been made. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Given that the Acland report observes: “The property rights ethos predominates in New Zealand. It cannot realistically be expected that this will change quickly to accommodate access pressures” and also in the light of the recommendation in the executive summary to provide mechanisms for its promotion and enhancement can the Minister tell the House what sorts of mechanisms he has in mind? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: The member should read the report with both eyes. The group also found overwhelming support for the retention extension and completion of the Queen’s Chain. 
Georgina Beyer 
: Notwithstanding the answers to previous questions could the Minister reiterate what the Government is doing with this report? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: The report is now available for people to read and make their views known on. The Government is consulting with people until the end of November. We are not prejudging the result of that consultation. No decisions have yet been made on this issue. 
Dail Jones 
: In the light of the Minister’s earlier answer is he now denying that this report arose out of the Labour Party’s manifesto which contained promises to clarify public rights of access to rivers lakes the seashore and public land? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: The Labour Party manifesto certainly undertook that work would be done on this issue and that is exactly what we are doing. 
Gerrard Eckhoff 
: Will the landowner in the Tekapo area of the South Island high country who refused access to the Prime Minister—after which the access issue suddenly became important—still be able to refuse the Prime Minister access in the future if he chooses not to negotiate access or indeed to receive compensation for that access? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: I am not aware of any such incident. I note that the member is the same member who last night likened me to Robert Mugabe. When he gets his head on straight I will be prepared to engage seriously with him on these issues. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I ask you to reflect on the answers we are successively hearing to questions in this House. We have seen three Ministers today and Ministers on a number of other occasions abuse the questioner and consider that to be an answer. The question is in order. To tell an MP to get his head screwed on before the Minister may bother to answer the question certainly cannot be accepted in this House by you as addressing the question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think that the very last comment made by the Minister—about a member and his head—should be withdrawn and apologised for. 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Is it the Government’s current view that the public does have a right of access over private land; if it is not what is the Government’s current view on these matters? 
Hon JIM SUTTON 
: If I heard the question correctly I can confirm to the member that yes there are numerous situations in New Zealand where the public does have a legal right of access to private land. If he is asking me the Government’s view on that matter the view is that that is correct but that the tradition in New Zealand of free and open access along all the water’s edge—as embodied in the concept of the Queen’s Chain—is under threat and we have increasing numbers of occasions when private landowners block access to public land and public waters. That is unacceptable to a great body of New Zealand public opinion.