Ardern Shane: Resource Management Amendment Bill (No 2) — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Ardern Shane: Resource Management Amendment Bill (No 2) — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:608;Page:5490] 
SHANE ARDERN (NZ National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is with some regret that I find myself having to stand to speak in opposition to this bill and I say that sincerely. There is an expectation out there amongst New Zealanders that this legislation will bring about the change that they have desperately been asking for. I suggest that we look back at some of the old clichés that have been said about socialist Governments over a long time. One of them is that if business is moving tax it and regulate it; if it keeps moving tax it and regulate it a bit more; and if it stops moving subsidise it and regulate it to get it moving again. That would be a very good title for this bill—“If it’s moving tax it and regulate it if it keeps moving tax it and regulate it a bit more and if it stops moving subsidise it and regulate it to get it moving again.” 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: When it dies hit it for death duties! 
SHANE ARDERN 
: That would be absolutely right as an appendix to the end of that title. I suggest that an amendment along those lines would be very suitable in terms of naming this bill. 
This is serious legislation. It was with some fascination that I noted the Minister described the bill as beautifully written and beautifully balanced. If we look at the bill we see that it initially had 18 parts which have now been reduced to two and the general policy statement is in a subpart. We can only conclude that the Minister is right. The bill is beautifully written and beautifully crafted. That is the only way one could describe it. She is right. 
I suggest that never in the history of the New Zealand Parliament has there been such ingenuity in terms of the way that the Government has been able to truncate the debate and bring the legislation down from 18 parts to two parts. So in that sense the Minister is absolutely right. 
Hon John Tamihere 
: What about innovation strategy? 
SHANE ARDERN 
: I have some questions for John Tamihere and other members of the Committee and in particular for the Minister. I hope the Minister will take a call. I know that this Minister has spent some years over two Parliaments promising these amendments. At every campaign meeting she has ever been to in her life somebody has raised the Resource Management Act as a major barrier to growth in this country. I am sure of that because that is what happens at every campaign meeting I have ever been to. I know that Wellington Central people are just as concerned about growth and development in New Zealand as anybody else is. I know that the Minister will have been exposed to that. 
I ask the Minister why it is that after the 400 submissions were presented she turned down absolutely the 16 recommended changes that were brought forward by the original Simon Upton bill. Why did she turn those down? After a long period of consultation with a wide community in particular those who were involved in environmental and development issues why is it that this Minister absolutely in an arbitrary way put a red pen through each and every one of those recommendations? Only under political pressure from the Government’s new-found friends over here—the Christians who have been fed to the lions—did she capitulate on one particular item and then only half-heartedly and not in a way that will bring about the changes that are necessary. In a half-hearted way she actually backed down on one of those things and changed it. 
The Minister might care to take a call to explain to us why that is so. She might also explain to the business community out there why this legislation which was described as important legislation by many Ministers in the current Government sat on the Order Paper for over 100 weeks. This legislation was described by the Government as significant and as very important by this Minister. She assured people that it was important to them and that the Government would do what it could to bring about the changes they were asking for but it sat on the Order Paper for 100 weeks.