Pugh MaureenCROWN MINERALS (PROTECTION OF WORLD HERITAGE SITES) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingDebate resumed.MAUREEN PUGH (National): I have pleasure in standing and speaking to the Crown Minerals (Protection of World Heritage Sites) Amendment Bill tonight in its first and hopefully last reading. What an honour it is for me to take a lead call on behalf of the Government on behalf of the people of Westland—the people of Westland—who did not have a voice in the preparation of this bill. As my colleague across the House said this bill does send a signal. Well I have got a signal for the other side of the House from the West Coast and it says: Hands off." The purpose of this bill is to take World Heritage status land and place it into schedule 4.I have no problem with the Tongariro National Park; it is already a national park. It is 796 square kilometres. In the Subantarctic Islands it is 764 square kilometres—I have no problem with that. Where I do have a problem is Te Wāhipounamu - South West New Zealand World Heritage Area—26000 square kilometres and that area is made up of a large part of Fiordland and Westland. It is already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). It is already protected by the Conservation Act. It has huge guardianship and we respect that. But these areas in Westland are where I have the greatest concern. There are currently 30 mining licences active on this land or that overlap this land. Of those 25 are currently being worked. The bulk of those—the bulk of them—are below the mean high-water mark. At high tide all evidence of them is gone.This is a lazy piece of legislation. It inserts seven words—seven words—into the Crown Minerals Act of 1991. I doubt the member who proposed this bill has even thought about the impacts. There are a couple of operations in South Westland that clearly have not been considered. Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio has a proposal to retrieve Aotea stone—very special to them—known as Hine Aotea. She is a very special healing stone and it presents an opportunity for Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio in South Westland. There is 170 hectares of their land that overlaps into this proposal. They also have a proposal for a goldmining operation down there. Very little else is on the horizon for Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio.This Government has faith in the potential of the West Coast. It has invested in the development of its regional growth study. There are major economic developments that exist within the tourism sector and there are a whole lot of packages being worked on now. We have been working on this for over a year. A big part of tourism is about being able to get there and for those people who may not appreciate it it can rain on the West Coast and when it does we have our rivers and roads under threat. But thanks to the Minister of Transport he does keep our highways open. But if we cannot guarantee access we are struggling to encourage the investment that we need in the built infrastructure and in the places for people to do things and stay. But that only matters if they can get there. One of the problems that we have got with this bill is it ceases all ability for quarrying and for gravel extraction. So when you want to maintain a road or a river I am sorry but now on the West Coast you have got a 350-kilometre round trip to cart a truckload of rock. How many times are you going to need to do that to make any significant work on a piece of road or a river?Under this proposal gravel extraction and quarrying ceases. All active mining permits are stopped. Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio—I am sorry but all of your plans are now in the bin. The growing schist business that has been developing over years—sorry that is all stopped. Industrial and building rock business—sorry it is all over. Everything you have invested in that business—sorry it is all over. Intergenerational farms—we have got a family who for five generations have had grazing licences in South Westland; sorry guys Ruth wants those.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order!Dr Megan Woods: Come on show some respect. How long have you been in this House?The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): I am now going to ask the member on my left who is trying to assist me I am sure—if she really wants an answer it is 33 years. But I am now going to ask the member to call members by appropriate names.MAUREEN PUGH: I appreciate that Mr Assistant Speaker. I am sorry but Miss Dyson wants your land West Coasters.There is no grandfather clause built into this bill. That means that the day after Royal assent all of that activity ceases and there is no compensation. So DOC if you want to maintain your tracks or protect a hut sorry there is no material. You have got to go all the way to Whataroa to get it.This issue cuts to the heart of all that is dear to those who live on the West Coast and it is an insult. Who are you to tell us that all we have maintained and protected for generations is overnight out of bounds locked up and untouchable? It is bureaucrats and do-gooders who do not even live on the Coast who have probably never spent any time there or even been there who are always trying to tell us how to treat our land. We have kept our native forest intact. Where is yours I ask those who live in your clear-felled concrete jungles. This is theft. If you want to rob us of the right to live by and on the land that we have managed for generations then this bill is going to do it.But nobody talked to anyone on the West Coast. The proposer of this bill did not talk to local iwi and did not even talk to the mayor of the district. The mayor of Westland district has 13 percent of available land—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I am now going to ask Mr Bayly to go and sit in his seat because his interjections are coming through the microphone system and it is causing complaints at least from me. I am slightly deaf and it is getting very loud. [Interruption] Your seat.MAUREEN PUGH: As I said no one has talked to anyone on the West Coast about the impact of this bill. Well I have talked to them and I can tell you that they are not happy—they are not happy. If there was ever an example of how the Green virus is infesting the Labour Party then this is it. We have heard Forest & Bird recently talking about the slow creep of land going for mining. Well what about the sprint that is under way to confiscate land that is potentially productive? I am talking about land in the Buller—45000 hectares about to go into national parks. We are just asking to keep doing what we have been doing for generations as guardians of the land on the West Coast.Hon Jacqui Dean: Where's Damien O'Connor?MAUREEN PUGH: And where is the electorate MP for West Coast - Tasman? Nowhere to be seen. In fact—Dr Megan Woods: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is not appropriate for a member in the House to question the whereabouts of a member.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): It is certainly a convention that members do not and I am sure this member will not repeat that.MAUREEN PUGH: You can be sure Mr Assistant Speaker.The "Green-Labour Party" does not care about jobs. The National Government does care about jobs. We will take the pragmatic sensible approach because we understand that humans can live work and play in our environment and still care for it. We will oppose this bill—vehemently oppose this bill. I am at a loss to know why some members from the other side would even be considering this when there is so much opportunity over there and so much land available and when other cities and towns have clear-felled their native forests and we have not and now those members have become the conscience for the rest of New Zealand. It is totally inappropriate and I am so pleased to be sitting on this side of the House where we can take a pragmatic approach and look after people and their futures. I certainly oppose this bill.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): I am just going to indicate now that that mike is turned off. Mr Bayly can return if he wishes from the wilderness."