Dowie SarahSARAH DOWIE (National—Invercargill): Thank you Mr Speaker. Well not only is our leader Simon Bridges under attack and not only are National Party members under attack for not being cheery enough but again our recreators our hunters and gatherers are under assault from this Labour - New Zealand First - Green Government. Minister Sage now has his sights set on whitebaiters. So the days of eating a whitebait fritter or whitebait patty if you're from the South Island—that debate of fritter versus patty still rages on this side of the House—are over and it is quite clear that Minister Sage is being very tricky when it comes to running two contiguous but separate processes in the conservation space.I asked questions of the Minister earlier today and she was very selective with her answers. At the moment she has introduced a bill to this House—the indigenous fish bill—and that is going through select committee. What it does as it was introduced is prohibit the fishing of indigenous species. At the same time she has run a contiguous process—a pseudo consultation process—set up a number of drop-in centres at the Department of Conservation and an online process for whitebait fishers to have their say about the future of whitebait.Now it's acknowledged that whitebaiting is a Kiwi tradition. It is something that regional New Zealanders partake in quite widely. It creates jobs it creates livelihoods it creates camaraderie as people congregate at their stands and enjoy nature as they fish for a good old feed of whitebait patties. But then the Minister has in her sights the fact that there cannot be a balance between conservation and sustainable fishing of that species. She seems to absolutely ignore and be quite obtuse when it comes to engaging a community in conservation. And we've seen that prior with respect to the tahr cull debacle that occurred earlier this year—Minister knows best." She wanted to cull tahr and not take into account the hunting fraternity and their views as to how that cull should go about as to how it should be managed and to involve them in this situation and conservation initiative themselves.Nobody's arguing that there shouldn't be balance that there shouldn't be pragmatic solutions to the conservation of our species but when you're looking at ripping the heart out of recreation in the conservation estate—the conservation estate is for all New Zealanders to enjoy—and when you're looking at ripping out the heart of certain Kiwi pastimes that have been in Kiwi tradition for generations it causes quite an angst especially when there are social and economic effects associated with it.So in my questioning it was quite clear that the Minister was being tricky. She was dodging the issue. She intends to in my opinion close that fishery. It's all very well to say that a summary of findings was published but her actual recommendations her actual intentions have not been published and they have not been appropriately fed into another process that will have bearing on what happens to the whitebait fishery moving forward. If that fishery is closed is there going to be a just transition for those regional New Zealanders that have invested in a stand—thousands of dollars in a stand—and will this fair and kind Government have a just transition for those people moving forward?Again we have a Minister that knows best. Again she will be taking it upon herself unilaterally to make decisions and the days of enjoying a whitebait fritter with lemon and salt and white bread are over."