Shirley Ken: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Shirley Ken: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:615;Page:11220] 
9.  
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (Deputy Leader—ACT) 
 to the  
Minister for the Environment 
: Does she support the application of the Resource Management Act to all New Zealanders regardless of race and do councils who are confronted with flagrant lawbreaking have her Government’s full support to uphold the law? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 Yes and yes. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: In view of the Minister’s response what actions if any will she and her Government take following East Cape’s Potaka Marae’s rejection of Crown sovereignty and flagrant breach of the law by building an aquacultural research centre without any Resource Management Act consent and claiming that the construction of the buildings and taking of shellfish can be carried out under traditional authority without consents or permit? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: I would like to make two points on that question. First of all the Gisborne District Council is at present establishing what is happening on the site. There may or may not be a need for a land-use consent. There may or may not be a need to take or discharge water. There are definitely issues around the Building Act and there may also need to be issues around a freshwater fish - farming licence. However the Gisborne District Council has written today to assure me that it administers its plans under the Resource Management Act uniformly and irrespective of the race or origin of resource uses. The Gisborne District Council will take appropriate enforcement action in all cases where its plans are not adhered to. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question to the Minister specifically asked what action would she or her Government take. We could infer from the response that there would be no action but she should at least have addressed that part of the question. 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: The action I have taken is that I have already been in contact with the Gisborne District Council to give my clear support for the work it is currently doing. 
David Parker 
: Has the Minister seen any reports about the operation of the Resource Management Act? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: Yes last Saturday’s  
New Zealand Herald 
 reported that councils charged with enforcing the Resource Management Act say that stonewalling over resource consents is rare and tends to occur only when consultation goes awry. Graham Ridley who is the consents and compliance manager for the Auckland Regional Council says that issues can usually be resolved by negotiation. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: Will the Minister undertake a review of the Act to remove the references to the unclear and uncertain principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and the extensive special consultation provisions for Maori so as to ensure that the Act meets the test that all New Zealanders are treated equally under the law? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: I do not accept the proposition in the member’s question that people are treated unequally under the Resource Management Act. I do accept that under the Act all applicants consult appropriately with whoever is affected by their proposal. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Could the Minister confirm the facts—and she may wish to outline them—that the Resource Management Act was passed by the National Party in respect of that provision which followed a provision in the 1997 Town and Country Planning Act review that was brought in at the time by the Muldoon Government a provision that National also supported? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: Yes. 
Metiria Turei 
: Has the Minister done anything to challenge regional and district councils that have failed to take action when contrary to the Resource Management Act totara trees have been felled in Northland when the Morecow company has felled native vegetation in the Buller and when farmers have done the same near Wairoa; if not why not? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: In one of those particular cases I have taken a series of actions and they are to do with the Morecow application. With regard to that particular application the Ministry for the Environment at my behest has carried out an examination with the particular councils concerned. I have also had the Mayor of the Tasman District Council in my room before Christmas. 
Rodney Hide 
: Will the Minister give the public of New Zealand an absolute assurance that there are not two standards of enforcement—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: There is only one warning a day. That is it. The next member will leave the Chamber. Will the member please start again. 
Rodney Hide 
: Will the Minister give her assurance to New Zealanders that there are not two standards of enforcement of the Resource Management Act between Maori and non-Maori and what action would she take if such instances were brought to her attention? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: I am having slight trouble with the terminology being used. I absolutely and categorically agree that there is only one standard of enforcement regardless of ethnicity or whatever. I presume the member is referring to enforcements of consents that have been given by councils. Therefore that applies to those councils and I absolutely support it. 
Gerrard Eckhoff 
: What is the Minister’s view of the special provisions for Maori in both the Resource Management Act and the Local Government Act and will she explain why the actions of the Potaka Marae are not the inevitable consequence of legislation that allows for privileged treatment based on race? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: If Potaka Marae has ignored the Resource Management Act processes and broken rules to do with the district plan or a building then I am assured by the Gisborne District Council that it will prosecute and proceed with that. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is the Minister aware of any issues of racial privilege that saw a boatshed application end up being a full home; if so what are the details and which part of the Treaty of Waitangi did that affect? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: I am not aware of the particular case although people are hinting to me that there may be one that affects a member in this House. 
Stephen Franks 
: What assurances can the Minister give the Gisborne District Council that it will not be left like the Wanganui District Council or the Gisborne District Council previously—in relation to the occupation of Moutoa Gardens and Young Nick’s Head respectively—festering with the active encouragement of her colleagues Tariana Turia and Parekura Horomia respectively? 
Hon MARIAN HOBBS 
: That is drawing a long bow from the Resource Management Act but that Act is the law of this country I am responsible for it and I give councils every encouragement to ensure that it is enacted correctly.