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Sage Says Changes To Wildlife Act Will Have To Wait On Wai 262 Decisions
First published in Energy and Environment on June 18, 2020.
The Government will not be reforming the Wildlife Act until it has finalised an “integrated approach to the Wai 262 recommendations”, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says.
The so-called ‘flora and fauna’ finding by the Waitangi Tribunal was handed down in 2011 after the initial claim was made in 1991. It was first ‘contemporary’ Treaty claim which covered who is entitled to make or participate in decisions affecting indigenous flora and fauna, the environment, Māori culture and the products of Māori culture. Ever since then governments have been pondering how to deal with the complex and politically difficult issues raised.
On Wednesday night the Government was forced to partly address this when a Member’s Bill, in the name of National’s Sarah Dowie, was debated on the regulation of shark cage diving.
Government parties voted it down with Sage saying it was an ad hoc approach to a wider problem which should not be dealt with in isolation.
Sage said the Bill did not address Treaty issues. “That is really important because sharks are a taonga species and because there was a comprehensive report by the Waitangi Tribunal making significant recommendations about how the Wildlife Act needs to be amended to provide that—no one owns wildlife, to provide for shared management of protected species in line with the principles of Treaty partnership.
“This Government has determined that we will adopt an integrated approach to the Wai 262 recommendations, and that means that any legislation which deals with sharks has to be based on that Treaty partnership.”
Sage said she was working with the Conservation Department to develop more comprehensive legislation.
Shark cage diving has become a controversial issue, particularly in Stewart Island with concerns the tourist activity of attracting great white sharks had normalised the creatures behaviour to associate boats and divers with food.
DoC had tried to regulate the activity under the Wildlife Act, but the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 the law did not give the department those powers. As a result it is an uncontrolled activity which Dowie’s Bill tried to address.
Sage said she wanted to protect sharks and people, and preferred the idea of a general prohibition. The Government had been waiting for the Supreme Court to rule and it was not until October 2019 it became clear there was no mechanism for this under the law.
The Tribunal recommended changes to the Crown’s laws, policies and practices relating to intellectual property, indigenous flora and fauna, resource management, conservation, the Māori language, arts and culture, heritage, science, education, health, and the making of international instruments.
There was consultation on the issue again last year with a Cabinet paper due in early 2020 seeking “confirmation of the Crown’s organisational approach to Wai 262”. It has yet to publicly emerge.
First published in Energy and Environment on June 18, 2020.
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