Roy Eric: Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Roy Eric: Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2012. Volume:678;Page:1169. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
ERIC ROY (National—Invercargill) 
: 
 I move  
That the Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowering Bill be now read a third time 
. Can I say at the outset that I wish to acknowledge my thanks to the House for allowing us to move directly to the third reading. It certainly was a prudent thing to do given the time this bill spent in the Local Government and Environment Committee and the fact that it received unanimous support at its second reading. 
But before I speak about the bill I should acknowledge an event of some tragedy that has overtaken the communities of Bluff Rakiura / Stewart Island and Invercargill: the sinking of the  
Easy Rider 
. This is the first opportunity I have had and I inform the House that tomorrow there will be a large funeral for the four people whose bodies have been recovered. It will be held at Rugby Park Stadium in Southland and I will be attending. I am sure the House would wish me to convey to all the friends and families of the people who lost their lives our very best wishes. We understand their grief we feel some of their pain and our prayers and thoughts are actually with them. I think we would also want those families who do not have their loved ones back to know that we are thinking of them. I think perhaps at this time we should also acknowledge Dallas Reedy the survivor. In the annals of human survival 18 hours in Foveaux Strait is a feat that is rarely matched anywhere in the history of humankind. We just wish Dallas well as he adjusts to actually surviving and losing his mates and finding a purpose for his life from this point on. So I think the House should do that and I will certainly take the good wishes and our thoughts to the families and friends tomorrow. 
This bill has certainly had an interesting passage and it is great to get to the third reading. I think at earlier stages in the process of this bill I said that I first became aware of the problem in 1994 when I was the member for Awarua. The pressures that visitors created for the small community of Stewart Island was a significant issue. For a number of years we had tried to put in place a voluntary scheme; for various reasons that was not able to be achieved. A bill was drafted. It was sent back for further consultation I think twice before we were able to table it and meet all the expectations and criteria set out in the Standing Orders. The bill then received two extensions in the select committee as we worked through some issues which perturbed the then Minister of Local Government the Hon Rodney Hide and probably perturbed his officials even more. But we have come through that and I feel a little bit like uttering the comment that Edmund Hillary related to John Hunt after he had achieved a milestone on Everest. However I do know that that is probably unparliamentary. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I think so! 
ERIC ROY 
: I think that comment will be used more than once in the South Sea Hotel in Oban after today when I expect that the House will again generously support this Stewart Island visitor levy bill. 
Can I also at this stage thank those members of the select committee. During the course of this process I note that 18 people have been on the select committee and every single one contributed to trying to find solutions to those issues that needed some resolution. I think sometimes members’ bills and local bills are when Parliament is seen at its finest. There are no political divides. People genuinely try to find solutions and at the end of it there are small communities or individuals quite frequently for whom we do make a difference. 
Stewart Island is one of those communities that as I said has been under a significant amount of pressure. As we have gone through the process here members have extolled the uniqueness and the beauty of Stewart Island. I think it is appropriate at this third reading that I also amplify a little bit about the pressures of living on Stewart Island in the way that their cost structure is just so much higher than certainly all mainland communities and probably higher than many of the island communities around New Zealand as well. Of course there is the transport component in every single thing that happens across one of the wildest stretches of water in the world which we have just referenced a little bit earlier. Even things like construction have a very high cost. There is no really good quality aggregate on the island for building roads or making concrete. So every single thing that is used on the island virtually has to be transported on to it. 
And add to that the difficulties of for example power generation where currently the residents and consumers on Stewart Island are paying 58c a unit for power generation. The last time I was on Stewart Island was about 4 weeks ago at a symposium that was looking at the various options from running a cable across to Stewart Island to hydroelectric to wind to wave to current—just about every alternative that one could imagine was analysed and some direction was able to be found going forward. 
On top of that because of the high costs the very nature of the community of Stewart Island has changed. I did say at the outset that it is a community that has been under some pressure. We have seen for example the fishing industry which was one of the bigger parts of the island in recent years shift itself to Bluff for perhaps two reasons. The first is the cost of processing on the island. The second is that for reasons of sustainability some of the quota management areas have been subdivided. For example in the paua fishery it was very easy to spend one’s time in and around Stewart Island and deplete the areas immediately adjacent. So that has been separated out and we have a more spread harvest which has taken some of the activity away from Stewart Island. 
Currently I guess the two significant industries on Stewart Island are aquaculture where there is a large mussel production base some salmon production and more recently farmed oysters as well. But the big earner and the big change in Stewart Island has been catering to tourists and especially since the Rakiura National Park was established this has gained some momentum. I think in an earlier speech I talked about cruise ships. It was a rare thing a decade ago to see a cruise ship arrive at Stewart Island. Last year in total there were 13 that visited the island. This year so far I think the number is 19 different cruise ships that have come. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: What do the islanders think of the pink shirt? 
ERIC ROY 
: The islanders are people of impeccable taste and they love their MP. Can I just say to any member who has any doubt whatsoever that if they are on Stewart Island hospitality will be afforded to any member of this House who goes and says: “I supported Eric’s levy bill.” And treats such as kina roe blue cod and all those delicacies which I have not yet spoken of will be available to any member who uses that secret password on Stewart Island. 
It is just great that we have solved a bit of an issue. One of the last points of concern I would like to make has been that this bill might set some sort of precedent. I guess in answer to that the House does set precedents in what it is doing but I have made the point in previous speeches in this House in relation to this bill that the situation on Stewart Island is so unique with the very small population catering for tens of thousands of people that it is not likely that the exact circumstances will be replicated. People go to Stewart Island for all sorts of reasons. There are trampers fishers birdwatchers or people who just want to get away and enjoy the serenity while there is some very poor cellphone coverage and they are able to just chill out. I just again thank the House for its participation in this process. I look forward to the conclusion of this matter with the passing of the third reading. I thank all members for their efforts.