Kaye Nikki: Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Kaye Nikki: Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2012. Volume:678;Page:1175. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) 
: 
 I am delighted to take a call on this local bill the Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowering Bill. I want to start by acknowledging Eric Roy. I think what we are seeing in the House this evening is a fantastic example of a local member of Parliament working over a long period of time for his constituents. I understand that he has been working since 1994 to try to get what is I think access to better services for the people of Stewart Island and better infrastructure. 
Can I also as has already been acknowledged this evening send out my thoughts and prayers to the people of Southland. Obviously we know that they have been mourning with the  
Easy Rider 
 tragedy and I think all members of this House would be thinking of the people of Southland at this time. 
Can I also acknowledge some comments that Annette King made earlier in the House this evening. I am fortunate to represent not just the people of central Auckland but also many islands in the Hauraki Gulf. I represent Waiheke Island Great Barrier Island and a number of other islands and some of the issues that have been raised in this debate and also through the passage of this legislation are applicable to other islands. But what I would say is that what Mr Roy has done is win the argument through the select committee process to get good support for this bill to say that there are some unique things about Stewart Island—and I want to touch briefly on some of the unique things about this particular island. He is an example of an MP who has really fought for his local community in delivering this bill to the House. 
Some of the unique things about Stewart Island that I think we should all acknowledge this evening are that 85 percent of the island is in a national park. I think that Rakiura National Park is 10 years old now. As has also been mentioned by the Green Party we have a number of special New Zealand species on the island from the kakapo to the kiwi so it is a very important part of the conservation estate for New Zealand and I think we can acknowledge that many people want to visit the island. In fact my understanding is that there are around 40000 non-residents who visit the island a year. We estimate that the levy should raise about $160000. I think that is very very significant for a small community like the community on Stewart Island. 
The other core point that I want to make today is that the Local Government and Environment Committee did make a number of changes. We did have that discussion as to whether this was setting a precedent for other islands within New Zealand and whether this was a unique situation. I think the select committee process was very valuable because we did make a number of changes. For instance the new clause 3 to clarify that a levy could only be applied to visitors travelling to the island and not to all people travelling to the island was I think very significant. We also added a new clause 5—because we obviously heard about implementation issues—to allow the council to make bylaws to prescribe the rates of levies and the means of collecting them. We thought that was very important from an operational perspective. Then we deleted clauses 6 and 7 and inserted a new clause 6 which I think really was about consistency. 
The point that I would make and it has already been made by Annette King this evening is that by passing this legislation I think we are really helping the people of Stewart Island to be able to deliver the visitor infrastructure that it is very difficult for them to be able to pay for. The second thing we are doing is improving the viability of the island as a tourism destination. The third thing that I think we are all acknowledging here this evening is that this is a very good example of a local member doing a very good job over a significant period of time advocating for his community to deliver some legislation that will make a real difference to a small isolated community in New Zealand and there are many members in this House who represent communities like that. I commend this bill to the House and I commend Eric Roy for his long advocacy for the people of Stewart Island. Thank you.