O'Connor Greg; Simpson Scott; Brooking RachelPart 7 Coastal mattersCHAIRPERSON (Greg O'Connor): Members we come now to Part 7 debate on clauses 428 to 496 Coastal matters". The question is that Part 7 stand part.Hon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Thank you Mr Chair. We come now to an interesting part of the legislation relating to coastal matters. I know that members who represent electorates that have coastal boundaries such as my own in the beautiful Coromandel and my colleague Stuart Smith's in Kaikōura have particular interest in matters relating to this part of the proposed bill.What essentially this part does is to provide for rules regulations and statutory provisions for what is effectively the commercialisation of the marine space. It is a matter that is different to matters relating to "on the land" because in the marine space of course nobody owns the marine space but we accept as a nation and as a Parliament that it's fit and proper that there should be access to the resource that is provided in the marine space but that access should not be unfettered; it should be controlled and organised. So clause 428 essentially sets out that an allocation framework as defined in section 7 doesn't apply to any application activity or authorisation under this part. Then Subpart 1 goes on to talk about the occupation of common marine and coastal areas. So what I'm interested to know from the Minister in the chair—and I note that we actually have the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries in the chair at the moment so she'll be well placed to answer questions in this particular section—is how does this particular part differ from existing provisions in the current Resource Management Act and what changes has the Minister proposed that would make the administration of coastal matters easier less complicated less costly and more efficient in terms of providing for better outcomes for those individuals and entities that wish to use part of the coastal resources that we have available to us?New Zealand is a small nation at the bottom of the South Pacific. It's often said that we are surrounded by the largest moat on the planet and that's almost certainly true. But what it means is that we have actually a very extensive coastline very long coastline with differing needs and requirements in different parts of it. I'm interested particularly about the commercialisation of for instance aquaculture commercial fishing recreational fishing for instance charter fishing—all those sorts of things. I know that my colleague Stuart Smith will want to ask questions relating to the energy sector. So if the Minister could start off this debate on Part 7 by giving us an insight into what changes if any are made between this proposed Part 7 of the statute as opposed to the existing Resource Management Act; and if those changes have been made how do they benefit the environment that is our coastal environment; and what steps are in place to ensure a more easy simple and less complicated less costly process for those entities and people that want to use the marine space?Hon RACHEL BROOKING (Associate Minister for the Environment): At a high level in terms of the allocation and clause 428 that the member referred to of course the more substantive changes to the allocation frameworks are found in the other parts of the bill not this part of the bill. So largely what's happening in our coastal marine area isn't changing and the relationship with the fishing Act as well is also not changing."