Smith Nick: Resource Management (Restricted Coastal  Activities) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Smith Nick: Resource Management (Restricted Coastal  Activities) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:635;Page:6758] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 I have just come from the Engineering Excellence Awards where the Prime Minister and a number of Ministers of the Crown are talking about the engineering infrastructure that New Zealand needs. The words on the lips of every one of the engineers there are about the problems associated with the Resource Management Act. I have just had a conversation with a very senior engineer from Beca Carter who pointed out to me that it generally takes six times as long to get a resource consent for an infrastructure project as it takes to build it. That is why members of the National Party say that we must reform the Resource Management Act so that we can get timely decisions on the way that we manage our environment and resources. 
I thank members from United Future and from the New Zealand First Party for their thoughtful contributions to this debate. They have made a clear point about how they have been offended as New Zealanders by what has happened to the people of Whangamata. 
I challenge the members of the Maori Party. The Maori Party was formed out of a gut-wrenching debate amongst Maori when Parliament overrode the courts in respect of the foreshore and seabed. I ask why it is then that on that principle—which has some soundness—Maori Party members say on this bill that they support the decisions of the court only sometimes when those decisions are in their favour and that they are not prepared to back the independence of the judiciary in respect of the Environment Court’s decision on Whangamata. I say to Maori Party members that their logic is lost. By not supporting this legislation they water down the very principle on which they came to Parliament. 
But the ultimate double standard has been shown by Labour. Right now as we speak Labour is proposing to completely overrule the resource management process for a 60000-seat stadium on the waterfront of Auckland. I ask Labour members what is different about a stadium in Auckland as compared with a marina at Whangamata. The poor people of Whangamata have been through a resource consent process that has taken 14 years. Twenty days of evidence were heard in the Environment Court. This Government says it is OK for the Minister of Conservation to break the law not just once but—according to the High Court—three times in the decision over the Whangamata marina. I say to Government members that it is a complete double standard to give speeches on this bill that defend the resource management process and then to say that it does not apply to them when they want to build a stadium. That is not good enough. The public will reject the Government and throw its members out when they adopt that sort of principle of one rule for everybody else but a different rule for themselves. 
I put forward the argument that there is no need for a ministerial veto to be in the Resource Management Act. The Minister of Conservation approves the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement and regional coastal policy statements. He has the capacity to appoint the person who hears a resource consent application as occurred with regard to Whangamata. He also has the capacity to appeal a decision. He does not need to have the veto power and as the High Court rightly concluded the power is so narrow it is worthless. It only adds to the delays and frustration of the resource management process. 
I thank members for their contributions to this debate. This is a testing time. The debate about the Minister of Conservation’s power of veto has been so polluted by Chris Carter’s irresponsible decision that even if that power does not go through the passage of this bill it will go eventually. This bill is good law. It goes to the heart of the sorts of changes we need to make to the Resource Management Act in order to make it fair and for the process to have integrity. I encourage this House to send this bill to a select committee so that not only the people of Whangamata but all New Zealanders may be able to have some integrity restored to the resource management process.