Bennett Glen; Brownlee GerryGLEN BENNETT (Labour): Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed in 1840 and that is why I am able to stand in this House because I am welcome in this place. That is the reason that Dr Parmjeet Parmar the previous speaker is able to stand in this House and is welcome in this place and in this land. It is because of that agreement and because of the welcome of the indigenous people of this land. I just want to talk briefly about nature and nature is our national asset here. Nature though has the potential to be a train wreck. If we look at this Government's so-called Fast-track Approvals Bill it has the potential to take New Zealand backwards. We listen and look at the submissions coming through and there are the challenges that people are showing in terms of this attack on nature and on our natural environment. We on this side of the House are doing what we can and we did what we could in the previous Government to ensure that yes we can farm; yes we can look after; yes we can develop; and yes we can ensure that we have good quality infrastructure. But not at the cost of nature because when it's gone when we kill even one of those 4000 species of endangered flora and fauna it is gone for ever—for ever—and I'm not going to stand here and let that happen. This is about the choices that this Government is making to run roughshod over so many pieces of legislation that have been put in place over the years even taking it back to 1953 in terms of the Wildlife Act. It's just throwing caution into the wind for the sake of development. As we've heard today in this House—and we've looked at the report from the Auditor-General on the concerns around procurement and the concerns around some of the weaknesses and some of vital parts of transparency—we need to ensure that this House and this Government are squeaky clean. Currently there are challenges and there are cracks. We've heard that in question time today and we've seen that over recent weeks. Whether it's the procurement of mental health or whether it's text messages being sent to organise people to head up boards and infrastructure we need to make sure that we hold this Government to account in order to ensure that the voting public get what was on the box because at the moment I think what's in the tin isn't on the cover of the box. In our select committee process we have heard from less than 40 percent of individual submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill and I just say that that is a crass override of democracy. When we had more than 27000 submissions come in with thousands upon thousands of individuals wanting to have their voices heard in this democratic system less than 40 percent will have the opportunity to make an oral submission and that is outrageous and that is wrong. This Government is taking New Zealand backwards. This Government is making choices that are not around the protection of nature or our native species but they're making choices to disregard our endangered ecosystem. Whether it's Archey's frogs; whether it's our native kiwi which we're so proud of; or whether it's the hysteria" around climate change—a comment that a Minister in this Government threw out in this House—these comments are unhelpful and wrong. These comments are running roughshod over 2.7 million hectares of stewardship land that we want to protect because it is managed for its natural and historical purposes—and the Government members can laugh at that. They can laugh at the protection of native species. They can laugh at the historical importance of pā sites. They can laugh at the fact that they are running roughshod over things like wetlands. But we on this side of the House are fighting for nature. We are standing up for nature. We are making sure that our environment is protected and that the procurement systems and how that Government goes about doing its business—they're held accountable for that because we need to know that they are doing right by the voters. In closing we want to make a stand and we want to stand with the people of Aotearoa to make sure that we march for nature. On Saturday 8 June I'll be in Auckland supporting tens of thousands of New Zealanders many of whom weren't able to speak in the select committee process. I'll be protesting—yes on a Saturday—because we need to make sure that we march for nature. We need to ensure that we protect nature. The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.SPEAKER: I declare the House in committee for consideration of the McLean Institute (Trust Variation) Bill."