Sitting date: 7 Oct 2025

HAURAKI GULF / TĪKAPA MOANA MARINE PROTECTION BILL

Third Reading

Hon TAMA POTAKA (Minister of Conservation): I present a legislative statement on the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

Hon TAMA POTAKA: I move, That the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill be now read a third time.

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I just wanted to acknowledge a variety of places, waterways, oceans, islands—what we call motu—that adorn and populate the spectacular pātaka kai or food basket of Tīkapa Moana and the great ocean of Toitehuatahi who came to these islands on his waka

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many, many moons ago.

The purpose of this bill is to contribute to the restoration of the health, the mauri, the wellbeing of the Hauraki Gulf and to acknowledge customary rights within various areas. It provides modern marine protection tools that reflect the needs of both the taiao—the environment—and the people.

Tīkapa Moana, or the gulf, is an iconic, a majestic, an epic place. A place of enormous significance both to the customary realm but also to the current and the future realms of our great country Aotearoa New Zealand, and particularly those living in those wondrous places like Orakei and Mahurangi and Tāmaki Makaurau, and out on the Coromandel Peninsula, and through the Firth of Thames.

Shanan Halbert: Te Raki Paewhenua.

Hon TAMA POTAKA: And Te Raki Paewhenua.

Hon member: Mahurangi.

Hon TAMA POTAKA: Name any name. It is surrounded by many electorates. Many electorates: Te Tai Tokerau and Hauraki-Waikato, but also Northland, East Coast Bays, Whangaparāoa, Tāmaki, Auckland Central, Epsom, Upper Harbour—apparently, but also through the Tāmaki River out through Panmure and Ōtāhuhu and other places. It is the home to many beautiful beaches: Waiarohe, Bucklands, out at Te Naupata, all the beaches, Te Whanganui-A-Hei out there at Mautohe in Cathedral Cove. All those wondrous and splendid places that many of us, including those in the pews, call home or a great place that we have lived in our lives.

This is a great day. It's a beautiful day. It's an epic day for me to stand on behalf of the moana, on behalf of the Government, and on behalf of many millions of New Zealanders to progress this bill into legislation.

I want to acknowledge the many people who have been working on this bill and relevant matters over many, many years. Some of them are here today. Members of the Hauraki Gulf Forum, Nicola and others; former members of the Hauraki Gulf Forum, Alex Rogers and others. Members of the nation, the Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki nation, past, present, and future, Billy Brown, and of course the matua himself, gone but not forgotten; the man, the myth, the legend, James Brown. A man who, alongside his Ngāi Tai relatives, Laurie, Honey and others—Lucy—who enabled me to experience but also feel the wairua and the tupuna that live within the waters of the Hauraki Gulf.

There are others; I can't name them all, but I wanted to pay tribute to people like Nikki Kaye, people like Rob Fenwick and others who flew the flag not only for the Hauraki Gulf but for the environment over many, many years. I should not go without saying there are a number of organisations: the Motutapu Restoration Trust, Live Ocean Trust—Jono Ridler swum from Aotea, 100 kilometres into town, a whanaunga; Moana and Donna Tamaariki and others from up on boot hill and throughout the Tamaki Isthmus. Those with that aspiration to elevate the protection of the Hauraki Gulf legacy, but also who are willing to actually progress, sometimes in a pragmatic way, but always in a deliberate and intentional way to ensure that the gulf is given more support. It's given more manaaki and tiaki—it's given more aroha by members of Parliament, but importantly by two—nay—five and a half million Aotearoa New Zealanders who get to enjoy this wonderful place.

There is no doubt that the gulf is in trouble. Sedimentation, pollution, kina barrens, and a whole range of other initiatives. But when things are in trouble, warriors turn up. There are warriors in many shapes and forms: Neal and Annette Plowman of the NEXT Foundation, who are proposing to invest again in the health and wellbeing of the gulf. It didn't just stop at Rotoroa, it didn't just stop at

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or Pakatoa, but it goes into the wai and into the waters to remove the kina that are contributing to serious degradation of our sea floor.

There are a number of efforts that have been taken in the past. Sometimes they've been successful, sometimes they haven't been, but there's a serious and significant intention to make sure that this special place is further supported. There are 19 marine protection areas that have been created and there is further investment of putea, time, effort, and energy that will be announced in short course.

Some changes have been made; some of them practical, some of them pragmatic. For example, removing the ability for the bill to regulate customary non-commercial fishing, something that other parties were willing to preserve. But I, as a Māori, am not willing to enable the department or others to dictate to iwi and Māori what customary rights happen to be.

The bill represents the culmination of more than a decade of mahi—of decades of mahi—and mana whenua in and around Tīkapa Moana have been absolutely instrumental in giving their time, their generous advice, and guidance on how to do this in an enduring way, in a sustainable way, in a way that will give light and hope not only for the Hauraki Gulf but also for other places like Te Manukanuka a Hoturoa, the Manukau Harbour.

This is a start. It's a great start. It's a beautiful start. It's a positive start for the future of Te Pataka kai o Tikapa Moana Te Moananui ā Toi. I thank my colleagues and of course, young Catherine Wedd here in the select committee.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want to begin my contribution with the words of a global icon, who dedicated so much of her life to conservation and who passed away just last week: Dame Jane Goodall. She said, and I quote, "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. You have the power to make a difference." I want to begin by acknowledging all those who chose to use their power to make a positive difference. I want to particularly acknowledge mana whenua, whānau, hapū, and iwi, whose enduring connection, leadership, and kaitiakitanga remain central to the health and the mauri and the future of the gulf. Their wisdom and commitment to enhancing the health of these waters have guided us to this point and will continue to shape the path ahead.

I also want to acknowledge the many people over the many years whose passion, dedication, and vision has led us to this point today—that is environmental advocates, scientists, past and present members of the Hauraki Gulf Forum, those involved in the Sea Change - Tai Timu Tai Pari, local government leaders, community members, public servants, members of the ministerial advisory committee, and my own colleagues, the Hon Willow-Jean Prime, who was the conservation Minister who introduced this bill to this House, and also our previous Minister of Conservation and Minister for Oceans and Fisheries who worked on this bill.

Finally, I acknowledge everyone who has played a role along the way, some of whom are here with us today in the gallery, some of whom are no longer with us today. I thank them all for their time, their expertise, their vision, and their hope towards advancing protection and the restoration of this taonga.

As an Aucklander, and a member of Parliament based in Tāmaki-makau-rau, I know how important the gulf is to us. In fact, so much of the Kiwi experience of growing up is linked to the ocean: trips to the beach, fishing, swimming, diving. Te taiao—the environment—is, in fact, an integral part of the New Zealand identity and plays a crucial role in Kiwi culture. Our oceans are essential to our way of life.

Tangata whenua have a long, enduring relationship with Tīkapa Moana, Te Moana-a-Toi and, through mātauranga passed down over centuries, have developed a deep understanding of its ebbs and flows. The ocean is also essential as a traditional source of food, and a vital part of our economy. In fact, New Zealand's clean-and-green image is a key driver of the value of our goods and services in the international marketplace. For all these reasons and more, the onus is on us, collectively, to protect te taiao, including our oceans. Yet successive State of the Gulf reports tell us that this is an ecosystem that is on the brink of collapse. Overfishing, habitat loss, pollution, sedimentation, and the effects of poorly planned urban development have led to what we see today in the gulf: a 57 percent decline in key fish stocks in the Hauraki Gulf, a 67 percent decline in seabirds, and a 97 percent decline in whales and dolphins. In fact, crayfish and scallop populations are now functionally extinct in parts of the gulf. We've known for some time now that sustained action is needed to prevent the ongoing decline, and that marine protection plays a key role in this.

With all of that work, over so many years, by so many people, we've come to today, where we debate for the final time a bill that will create 12 new high protection areas (HPAs), five new seafloor protection areas, and will extend to marine reserves in this area. It introduces two entirely new types of marine protection: the seafloor protection areas will restrict activities that impact the seafloor, and the HPAs—the 12 HPAs created by this bill—are meant to enable protection of biodiversity while allowing for the customary practices of tangata whenua. These areas were meant to be no-take zones. The HPAs were meant to provide crucial protection to some of the gulf's most biologically important ecosystems. But sadly, despite the Environment Committee unanimously recommending to this House that the bill be passed with no substantive change, at the eleventh hour, because of some active lobbying of the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, we saw this Government cave to that pressure, and they have chosen to water-down the protections in the original bill.

While this bill is a step in the right direction, it is no thanks to the current Government, even though the Minister responsible—Minister Potaka—has, in the past, continuously tried to take credit for it. All he and his Government have contributed to, with regard to this bill, is the considerable delay of its passage—

Jenny Marcroft: Should have done it yourself, then.

Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: We introduced the bill. We shepherded it through to this point, and what has this Government done? Delayed it to this point. Delayed it to this point, passed eleventh-hour amendments that enable some commercial ring-net fishing in two of the high protection areas, which weakens the intent of this bill and has alarmed environmentalists and recreational fishers alike.

In fact, the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council and the environmental group LegaSea wrote to Ministers Potaka and Jones, and they, basically, alluded to the fact, and said, that their behaviour—both those Ministers—is, quite frankly, embarrassing, that they are deeply disappointed in their lack of judgment, in permitting gillnetting within two of the HPAs in the gulf, and then went on to say that their lack of common sense and good judgment will be remembered.

Experts have also talked about the amendments that have weakened the protections in this bill and have rightly questioned whether adequate economic or ecological analysis has been carried out. It was quite clear during the committee stage that it had not, and that the Minister had no clear rationale for the changes that were made All they have done is to also remove all reference to whānau and hapū in this bill, although both play a significant role in the restoration work of the gulf, and, again, they have been sidelined, although they have led much of that restoration as well.

So, given that more than 30,000 people signed an open letter to the Prime Minister, urging this Government to reverse this particular change which allows ring-net fishing in the high protection areas, and more than 5,000 emails were sent by concerned members of the public to the relevant Ministers, and they—this Government—have chosen not to make those changes, Labour, in Government, will reverse the change that allows ring-net fishing in those HPAs. It was clear the Minister could provide no clear rationale for it. His own Cabinet paper stated, quite clearly, that that fishing could occur elsewhere in the gulf, but he chose to ignore that, sadly.

Grant McCallum: That is not true.

Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: Read the Cabinet paper—it is true; and we've traversed this at the committee stage quite extensively as well.

But sadly, as we've mentioned many times on the side of the House, all this Government chose to do, when they had the power to make the right changes, to make positive changes, to make changes that would continue or further the intent that many members on the side of the House and many members of Auckland hold—and I would say across New Zealand hold—the intent to protect the health and the mauri of the gulf—this Government has chosen not to do it.

So I want to end on a word of hope, despite all of the watering-down that we've seen by this Government. I end with a message of hope, again, by Jane Goodall, and she said, "I'm about to leave the world with all the mess, whereas young people have to grow up into it. If they succumb to the doom and gloom that's the end. If you don't hope you sink into apathy; hope is a crucial way to get through this."

Thank you to everyone who worked collaboratively for us to get to this point today, because, in doing so, you give us and generations to come hope—hope that change is indeed possible, and we need that hope because there is so much more work that we need to do to protect our oceans.

CHLÖE SWARBRICK (Co-Leader—Green): E te Māngai, tēnā koe. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. Today is a big day. It is a huge step forward, and I know that it is something that the many who are represented in the gallery have been waiting for for such a long time. It has been years and years and years in the making to get through the Sea Change process and then to see that then represented in Government legislation and, then, of course, the raru that was addressed by the previous speaker, which I will get to shortly.

I have the immense privilege of being the MP for Auckland Central, and anybody that has the opportunity to spend a little bit of time with me talking about that privilege will know that I am a punisher when it comes to outlining exactly what that means in terms of what I take as my responsibility to represent Tīkapa Moana, our Hauraki Gulf—namely, particularly, my constituents on Aotea Great Barrier Island and also on Waiheke Island but then, of course, those in the city centre and surrounding suburbs.

Before I get into the substance of my speech, I did just want to make some acknowledgments. Here, I do think I need to note that this will take a little bit of time, but I think it is important to put on the public record the OG kaitiaki of Tīkapa Moana. That is mana whenua. This is those who are listed in the Sea Change report. The mana whenua of Hauraki, Tāmaki-makau-rau, and Mahurangi includes Ngāti Whātua, its hapū Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, and Te Uri-o-Hau, whose combined rohe extends from the Kaipara Harbour to Mahurangi and into central Auckland. The combined rohe of Te Kawerau ā Maki, Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua, Ngāti Tamaoho, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Te Ahiwaru, and Te Ākitai Waiohua extends from the Waikato river-mouth to the western beaches north of Auckland and across the Auckland isthmus and the inner gulf islands and back to the northern coastline.

The rohe of Ngātiwai and its two hapū, Ngāti Manuhiri and Ngāti Rehua, extends from around Whangārei in the north and Aotea Great Barrier, Te Hauturu-o-Toi / Little Barrier Island, and back to Warkworth. The Marutūahu confederation consists of Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Whanaunga and aligns Te Patukirikiri. The Marutūahu rohe is almost the same area as the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, although it extends south towards Tauranga.

Waikato-Tainui has interest in Tāmaki-makau-rau, of course. Ngāi Tai also has lands in Hauraki, along with Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Hei, Ngāti Porou ki Hauraki, Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu, and Ngāti Tara Tokanui. This list may not be complete, and many of these iwi, of course, have multiple hapū within these ancestral lands, but it is important to acknowledge them and to lay that down on the record today.

I also want to acknowledge members of the Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust. I want to acknowledge Geoff Keey and Bianca Ranson, not only members of my local board on Waiheke but also from Forest and Bird; Citizen Scientist Shaun Lee; Sue and the Neureuter family from The Noises; Mandy Kupenga from Heal the Hauraki; Katina, obviously the CE now of the Hauraki Gulf Forum. I acknowledge there is a number of people here who have changed a lot of seats in the process that it's taken to get us to this point now: Nicola MacDonald, Warren Maher, and Moana Tamaariki-Pohie, and, of course, your sister Donna. I also want to acknowledge Alex Rogers, and Frances Dickinson from Benthics Below. I note there are so many other people, and this is always the danger of starting to acknowledge people who may be left off this list, but, of course, their wairua is carried in the steps that we are marking out today.

As I acknowledged in my opening remarks, it's taken a long time—a heck of a long time—to get here. Even the process that was landed at in 2017, in that Sea Change report, required a heck of a lot of compromise, collaboration, and work to get to that point. As many mana whenua and activists and advocates made the point, even when that finally ended up manifesting in the legislation of Government, even that was whistled down. Unfortunately, we do have to acknowledge, today, that while we are making steps, finally, towards greater protection in Tīkapa Moana, what we have is still watered down even yet from that point of the initial Government legislation.

Just to take a step back and to reflect on the very core purpose ostensibly of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act, which is 20-odd years old now at this point, what that did was establish an entity that has the power to report on the health of the Hauraki every three years yet did not meaningfully give that entity the teeth to enforce the protections that communities so desperately wanted and deserved for our ocean, for our moana. What that meant, in reality, is that, every three years, we were presented with yet another report which documented the decline of Tīkapa Moana, of the Hauraki Gulf. It was maddening to watch as politicians received these reports, said that things were getting worse, and then denied their own power to do anything about improving that situation. Again, I acknowledge that while we've ended up with a whittled-down process here, none the less, we are making progress.

In the meantime, as successive Governments and politicians did unfortunately sit on their hands, I also want to acknowledge that there was immense work that was undertaken locally by community, by mana whenua, and by conservationists to actually start to do some pretty awesome and innovative things, the likes of rāhui, which then ended up being formally recognised by Governments. Particularly here, I can recognise—in my term and in my time, having the privilege to represent Auckland Central—that on Waiheke this looks like Ngāti Pāoa and the community coming together and, on Aotea, it of course looks like Ngāti Rehua Ngātiwai ki Aotea.

Any kōrero about Tīkapa Moana, the Hauraki Gulf, today would be lacking if we did not mention the severe threat that is posed to the health of our moana by Caulerpa brachypus, an invasive seaweed that is decimating our ocean and the biodiversity within it and posing threats akin to, if not worse than, kina barrens. Here, I would implore this House to treat biodiversity threats and threats to our biology across this country the same, if they are occurring underneath our seas and underneath the glistening waters, as we do the threats that are posed to the likes of our agricultural livestock. Here, I would just make the comparison that we have seen when we have seen threats to our livestock, and we have seen Governments pour in close to a billion dollars to try and prevent the spread of Mycoplasma bovis but nowhere near the equivalent when it comes to eradicating the threat that is Caulerpa brachypus.

It would also be remiss of me not to acknowledge, unfortunately, the carve-outs that we have today. While we have ended up with a situation that is far better than the status quo and we can and should celebrate the consensus that this House has come to with increasing protection to 6 percent. It is nowhere near the 30 percent that is necessary, that scientists tell us is necessary, but more so that our communities so desperately want, nor does it even touch the sides on the need to ban bottom trawling, for which we have so much evidence and which research tells us releases immense amounts of carbon and poses serious risks, therefore, for us with regard to climate changing emissions.

The amendment bill that was dropped at the eleventh hour, as Priyanca Radhakrishnan puts it so aptly to this Chamber. These were carve-outs for ring-net fishers, which Ministers justified as supposedly allowing for cheaper or more affordable fish for whānau in South Auckland. We interrogated this abject ridiculousness at the committee of the whole House stage, and the Minister could not provide us with any evidence whatsoever for those fundamentally baseless assertions, nor was the Minister willing to engage in the many amendments that we put forward as members of the Opposition to try and actually work with—if we were to take in good faith—the rationale from the Minister to protect high-protected areas—to do what it says on the tin. You're kind of undermining those so-called high-protected areas if you are providing for, explicitly, in legislation carve-outs. That sets a seriously dangerous precedent. We did not need New Zealand First's support to pass this legislation. We could have passed it in its original format with members of the Opposition. None the less, we must celebrate today, and I want to mihi to everybody who is in the gallery and to everybody who has fought for us to get here.

SIMON COURT (ACT): I'm proud to stand here as an ACT member of Parliament, as an Aucklander, somebody who did my PADI diving ticket in the Hauraki Gulf, sailed there for decades and decades, have fished and dived, that today, this House is going to pass legislation to restore hope for all of those who love the Hauraki Gulf and want to see a return to abundance.

I want to acknowledge all of those environmental groups and individuals who helped me understand all the work that had gone on through the Sea Change process and what could be improved about this legislation, but in the end, what we must take away so we can make those first steps toward restoring the Hauraki Gulf.

Some of the members who've spoken before me have talked about the problems with the gulf that I've seen with my own eyes, having grown up and lived around this beautiful harbour and this coastline, which actually stretches from southern Northland, from north of Kawau Bay in Auckland, right down to the east coast of the Coromandel, past Tairua and Whangamatā.

What have we seen? A decline in seabirds and whales and dolphins in these areas. Crayfish and scallops have become functionally extinct. Reefs and rocky structures have been stripped by overfishing, by scallop dredging and other harmful practices, and then they become infested with a scourge of kina, a species that some people value and actually like to eat. A native species, but when nature goes rogue and kina do not have the natural predators and controls that they need, they destroy reefs. They turn reefs into kina barrens by eating all of the kelp and seaweed, leaving no ecosystem to sustain life.

This bill starts the process of healing the gulf, but there is much, much more work to be done in order to realise the aspirations of all of those people who form part of the Sea Change organisation, the regional councils, recreational fishers, commercial fishers, iwi and, of course, all of those people who live on islands around the gulf, like Rakino, like Kawau, and like the Noises, and Waiheke, of course.

There are around 2 million - odd people who live in the area around where the Hauraki Gulf marine protected areas are going to be established, in Auckland, Waikato, and the Bay of Plenty. What we heard from them—from conservation groups, recreational fishers, iwi—is that they want to see a return to abundance. All of them had a different view—not entirely different, not widely different on how to achieve that, but there were some differences. Recreational fishers of course were keen to see their access to various seamounts and reefs and coastal areas—that they continue to have that access. But, of course, here are the tough trade-offs: to continue to fish right over those places, those rocky reefs and other places which have been smashed and wiped out, they're never going to recover. Fishers will only ever be fighting for scraps.

Then when we heard from the commercial fishers, particularly those operators of smaller vessels which aren't able to operate in the open waters and the big swells outside the Hauraki Gulf, they wanted an opportunity to continue their trade, because for many of us, we don't get out fishing on the weekend, we don't own boats, and we get our fish from the supermarket. So it makes sense that local commercial vessels can continue to fish in a sustainable way under the fisheries regulations and supply the people with good quality and affordable food.

We heard from iwi keen to have access to their customary rights retained and maintained, and also quite prepared to answer the concerns of groups who said, "We worry that allowing iwi mana whenua groups with customary rights to have access to carry out fishing practices in the Hauraki Gulf in some of these protected areas will undermine the protection status and create a two-tier society." What was really interesting when I asked iwi representatives, "What do you have to say to that?"—because we did have a large number of submissions at select committee about this matter and people were still expressing concerns to me about this at public meetings—what I was heartened by was the iwi representatives who said, "Look, when we have a group come to us for a hui, for a tangi, it's wonderful to be able to say there's a crayfish on the table that we obtained from an area where our people have lived for over 1,000 years. But it's just one, because that's all that we can legitimately and honestly take if we really want to protect the environment. The rest of them, we get shipped up from our mates in Kaikōura in a styrofoam box and they taste just as good, but our mana is protected and enhanced by being able to put one on the table that we've collected ourselves." I thought, I hadn't heard that before. I hadn't heard that story. I don't think a lot of Kiwis who are concerned about that had heard that story. That's why I'm relaying it here today, because there will still be people concerned about that as we go into the implementation stage of the protections.

I just want to talk about these protected areas, a number of different types of protected areas. This is a development from marine reserves, which are no take for scientific purposes, like Goat Island, where I did some diving for my PADI diving course that I've already mentioned, and course, Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel, marine reserves that are, essentially, 100 percent protected: you can't do anything. You actually can't even kill Caulerpa or treat pests and other invasive species in a marine reserve. You're not allowed to do anything. That doesn't seem to make much sense when we're thinking about how we increase protection and improve the abundance of the Hauraki Gulf. So the high protection areas and the seafloor protection areas allow for the kind of more active management, more active involvement, and actually restoring the environment and—dare I say as an engineer—engineering its recovery that you can't do in a marine reserve.

I think that is a really good improvement. I think it points the way for how New Zealanders feel about their environment and they actually want to get involved in enhancing and protecting it and not just having to leave it to nature to heal itself, because quite often it's degraded to a point where it can't heal itself without human helping hands. That's why I'm proud of the provisions of this bill that allow for much more active management of these areas that need restoration.

Now, the bill sets some time frames: 25 years will be the milestone where the first comprehensive assessment of biodiversity and improvement in the gulf will be carried out. But I'm proud that the select committee that I sat on also set some other markers, which, to his credit, the Minister has taken up, so that every five years there will be additional periodical reviews available should the Department of Conservation and the Minister consider it necessary. I personally think it is necessary, and, speaking on behalf of ACT, I would say you can't manage what you don't measure. It's very important that as soon as is practical we establish a biodiversity baseline for these places we intend to protect in the gulf and that there is regular monitoring and reporting back, so all of those who doubt whether this is going to work can actually have their fears and concerns addressed. If it turns out there's more we could be doing, we can then do more. If there's things we need to change about the way we are managing these highly protected areas and seafloor protected areas, then we can change and adapt our management approach. That sounds entirely practical to the ACT Party.

What do I expect to see? Well, I don't go diving as much as I used to, and these days I find it absolutely freezing, even in summer, but when I do go diving in the gulf again—and I'd like to say I'll still be diving in 20 or 25 years' time—I would expect to see these marine protected areas on the seafloor and in those areas above these reefs and rocky structures teeming with life, with kelp, with coral, all types of fishes, with scallops hopping around on sandy seafloors, and with crayfish peeking out from their rocky hollows tempting me—but that's all I'll be doing, because I won't be able to take them because we've protected the places where they live so that when they might unfortunately wander out of the marine protected area, then we can snaffle them up. That is what we expect: abundance; that these structures, these protected areas will actually allow the gulf to be restored to a place where if we do want to go for a fish, if we want to go and catch a crayfish or collect some scallops outside these areas, they'll be available to all of us. I commend this bill to the House.

JENNY MARCROFT (NZ First): Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is a pleasure to rise on behalf of New Zealand First in support of this bill. This is an important bill and it is a real pleasure that today in the House we can all sing in unison about how important it is, the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill today now in its third and final reading.

I begin my contribution—I live up in the Mahurangi region and we had a well-known kaumātua in the area who was the guardian and the originator of the first marine protection area. His name is Laly Haddon, and I'd like to begin my contribution today by acknowledging the work he did and, therefore, the legacy. It was in 1975 that Cape Rodney-Okakari Point was set up as a marine reserve, so this year we celebrate 50 years of this marine reserve, and I would be very pleased to receive an invitation from Ngāti Manuhiri as they conduct the celebrations in November. I'll turn up anyway.

But yes, it'll be a really great occasion that we celebrate the legacy of Laly Haddon. He's a very important kaumātua in our region. I'd like to begin with his quote that we all have to protect it and to be the kaitiaki. We all have to be the guardians of it, because the pressures are here. Now, he said that over 50 years ago, and those pressures have now mounted to such a great level, but it is good that we have this particular bill in front of the House in its third and final reading today.

This bill is all about the restoration and the health, the mauri of the Hauraki Gulf, and members who have already spoken have traversed the many ways that this bill will protect the area, so I will be taking a short call today. It'll expand the protected area from currently 6.7 percent to over 18 percent of the gulf. I think that's a great increase, and it will mark a significant step forward in creating a really robust network of marine reserves, high protection areas, and seafloor protection areas.

The two new marine reserves, the extensions to Cape Rodney-Okakari Point and to Whanga-nui-a-Hei Cathedral Cove will be managed under the Marine Reserves Act 1971. That is, as has been mentioned, a strictly no-take area. Five seafloor protection areas to restore benthic habitats by protecting harmful practices. Twelve high-protection areas to enhance biodiversity.

The Government has already noted, and I note Matua Shane, Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, the Hon Shane Jones, has already taken steps to help protect the Hauraki Gulf and restore its mauri by having special permits available to go and smash up the kina. While people might talk about how some like to eat the kina, these kina barrens are really very small. There's not much meat inside them, so you don't really want to have them for a feed, unless they grow bigger, but we need to really smash them up. So that has been done, and $15 million has already been put forward to deal with Caulerpa, which is that exotic invasive species which is causing a great concern right around the gulf and also up into Northland and down into the top of the Coromandel as well. So we have already taken practical steps to not just demonstrate but actually do something practical to deal with some of the issues facing the Hauraki Gulf.

Today, I'd like to mention a couple of beaches. Yes, I'm in the Mahurangi and I want to speak a little bit more about that in just a moment, but today I'd like to mention Orakei Basin, Hobson Bay, Judges Bay, Herne Bay, Home Bay, Island Bay, Milford Beach, and Milford Beach South. Now, why have I mentioned those? Today, eight of those beaches are currently closed due to waste-water overflows. So we have a problem with Watercare and the waste-water overflows that are going into the Hauraki Gulf. If I just go back a few months to 11 May, 64 beaches were either black or red flagged for waste contamination. Now, if we want to protect the gulf, and all in this House want to do that, we need to call out what Watercare is doing, because they are spilling into our beautiful harbour.

Grant McCallum: Not acceptable.

JENNY MARCROFT: Absolutely, totally unacceptable. Watercare has a comprehensive waste-water discharge permit. In 2022, the Auckland Council approved an alternative discharge frequency—ADF, it's titled. That was a new consent. Now, what that did is it provided for the number of discharges into the Mahurangi River. They were normally around two per annum and they're now up to 200 discharges that Watercare can make into the Mahurangi River. That flows out into the ocean, into the harbour, the Mahurangi Harbour, and so far just this year alone, the Mahurangi oyster farmers have had closures for 158 days due to sewage contamination being spilled by Watercare—a total of 4 million litres of sewage contamination being spilled into the Mahurangi River. That's outrageous. The most recent spill was 50 cubic metres on 24 September. That was after they made the temporary fix of the pipe that was spilling.

So we have a long way to go if we want to ensure our gulf is cleaned up. We need to take a look, and Watercare absolutely must take a look at their practices, because the degradation of the water quality due to Watercare's infrastructure failures is unacceptable and totally objectionable, and it's happening all around the Hauraki Gulf. Every member of Parliament who resides around the Hauraki Gulf needs to take this issue up with Watercare. That way we can eliminate some of the spills of sewage that are contaminating our beautiful water. We all have a job to play in this.

So I'd like to finish, once again, and remind the House of the words of Laly Haddon, that we all have to protect it to be the kaitiaki. We all have to be the guardian of it, because the pressures are here. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

HANA-RAWHITI MAIPI-CLARKE (Te Pāti Māori—Hauraki-Waikato): Tēnā rā koe e te Pīka, otirā tēnā rā tātou e te Whare.

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The purpose of this bill is to contribute to the restoration of the health and mauri of the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana. The bill intends to do this by introducing high protection areas and seafloor protection areas.

In the early stages of this bill, Te Pāti Māori took particular note of the discussions and concerns raised through the Hauraki Gulf Forum, a statutory board responsible for promoting conservation management on the moana. Te Pāti Māori continues to share concerns raised by the forum's co-chair Nicola MacDonald, who noted—I quote—"Years of collaboration with successive Governments with iwi, communities, and industries have been undermined."

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regarding existing Treaty settlement arrangements during the committee of the whole House indicated that Te Ohu Kaimoana were "broadly" in support of the bill's direction of travel. However, it is difficult to understand what broad support can be given to a bill which, in their own words, "prohibits … and inappropriately imperils [those] customary rights … affirmed to Iwi/Māori, (and … poses a [significant] threat … to customary rights recognition and protection [across] all Aotearoa)."

The Hauraki Māori Trust Board iwi management plan and other tools should be brought to bear upon any discussions regarding restoration of Hauraki / Tīkapa Moana, including tools set out under the Fisheries Act. These are existing statutory tools and arrangements which, for the most part, only seem to matter to iwi when, in fact, the tool is provided to support central, regional, and local authorities in understanding the role and position of mana whenua on environmental management.

We acknowledge that other iwi of Hauraki / Tīkapa Moana support the elements of this bill. During the committee of the whole House, Te Pāti Māori tabled amendments aimed at ensuring that there is a mandatory consultation process when giving permits, ensuring that the process requires consultation with mana whenua. Te Pāti Māori knows for a fact that whānau who go for a dive or fish to gather kai or kai moana for kai for tangihanga—they will be the ones who will be criminalised and fined, rather than the big corporate commercial fishing companies who exploit our taonga and kai.

Our amendments were designed to ensure that mana whenua have input into these applications for permits to undergo fishing and diving throughout the moana, and there is a need to ensure that the new breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi do not occur against iwi of Hauraki and Tīkapa Moana. Without these amendments, how can Parliament guarantee a sustainable management of the moana that is consistent with tikanga and kaitiakitanga?

We support the Hauraki Māori Trust Board's statement that placing further limitations on the exercise of tino rangatiratanga by Hauraki / Tīkapa Moana iwi over their taonga and territories—which has never been extinguished or annihilated—is counter-productive to achieving the purpose of this bill. Te Pāti Māori supports aspiration to the protection and restoration of Hauraki / Tīkapa Moana. Tēnā rā koe e te Pīka.

LAN PHAM (Green): Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. I want to reflect that there's this absolutely magic feeling when bills pass through this Chamber. It's been a rare occurrence under this Government, unfortunately. Mostly, it's the magic we feel when we have things like iwi settlement bills, but also times like when my colleague Teanau Tuiono's Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Bill passed, because they're pieces of legislation that actually move us forward as a country. It feels magic when truly good things happen in this Chamber.

We could have had that today because this is a bill that is borne from the grassroots, from a response to all the signs that Tīkapa Moana Hauraki Gulf was and is in ecological freefall. Community and iwi and hapū actually took action over years and years, and partnered with local government to eventually get to this place. I want to join, first and foremost, my colleagues in acknowledging all of those who contributed in so many ways to this bill passing today, and to the many iwi and hapū who hold mana whenua across Tīkapa Moana, and to every individual and collective who actually submitted on or was part of the process in getting to today. I'm so glad that my co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick actually took the time to spell out who those people are and who holds mana whenua and how they're connected to today.

It was an absolute pleasure for myself as a very new MP at the time to be on the Environment Committee for the public hearings on this bill. It was chaired by the then chair David MacLeod. I want to do a big thankyou to all of those who took the time to actually speak in person to their submission, because it was there that we heard, time and time again, of simultaneously the love for the gulf but also the immense loss that people have seen in their lifetimes. Māori, Pākehā, tauiwi—we had conservationists, fishers, tourism operators, local government, families, anyone you can imagine who has been captivated by a love of the gulf, its seabirds, its dolphins, its whales, its seals, its kingfish, its kahawai. We heard so many stories of people's direct experiences of the species and the diversity of the ecosystems present in the gulf, far from the mud-stained bottom that some had so inaccurately described it as.

So, yeah, there's a bit of disappointment today, but what is really clear, despite that disappointment, is that what we have here is a dedication and magic of community actually coming together to make real change. The outline of that was in Sea Change – Tai Timu Tai Pari. It's literally in the name. It's that hard work, hard conversations, and consensus in wanting to actually make real change and gift something real and meaningful to younger and future generations, and that magic remains. It can't be taken away no matter how reckless some of these last-minute changes have been to actually threaten all of that mahi.

There's been a lot of talk about compromise, with this bill, and I do want to challenge that because, quite frankly, it's a load of fishmeal. When you have an ocean, any part of ocean that is 99 percent exploited, compromise does not look like protecting six percent and still allowing commercial fishing in the high-protection areas. It's pitiful and insulting to the community process that actually spawned this. Barely protecting 6 percent, and allowing commercial fishing and exploitation, is not compromise; it is simply compromised. We know that those clear ecological outcomes where we're trying to get to are going to be threatened by these changes which have come in.

We know that we can protect 30 percent of our oceans. We know we can ban bottom trawling. These are key ways that we can actually achieve the visions that were set out in this. Thank you.

CATHERINE WEDD (National—Tukituki): Today is a significant win for the environment and the Hauraki Gulf. As we all agree across this House, it's a very precious area that needs protecting for our future generations, and it does show a commitment by our Government to conservation.

I would just like to acknowledge our Minister of Conservation, Tama Potaka, for progressing this here today. But I'd also like to acknowledge some people who haven't been acknowledged here today: Ngāti Pāoa and Herearoha Skipper, thank you for your mahi on this journey. Also, to the Environmental Defence Society and Raewyn Peart.

Everyone can be proud of the huge environmental achievement where we see this bill delivering the highest ever level of protection for the Hauraki Gulf, nearly tripling the protected area in the Hauraki Gulf, establishing high-protection areas for 800 square kilometres of the gulf. This bill is a win for our environment and the Hauraki Gulf. I commend it to the House.

HELEN WHITE (Labour—Mt Albert): Mr Speaker, thank you. I wanted to try and do what we often don't do in these debates and that is actually reflect the consensus of the room and talk a little bit about this in an actual debating style, so deal with some of the things that have been raised. The first is that I've heard a lot from this House about abundance. It's going to become a bit of a catchphrase, I suggest, because there's a very famous book out about that. But at the core of that book is the idea that we stop talking in terms of scarcity and provide to our communities what they need.

My community is the one in Mount Albert, so it has a shoreline, but a lot of it is actually quite landbound. I grew up in Freemans Bay and my parents, they weren't rich, so they didn't have a boat, was the way that we saw it. But we used the ferries and we went out to islands like Rākino and Motutapu, and they were a big part of our lives. As my children grew up in Auckland, I took them up to Goat Island rather a lot and they swam in these beautiful waters with these blue maomao and it was an incredible experience for them. They also went to Tāwharanui, which was another marine reserve, and they actually got to see fish life in that form.

But I know—and it's been one of the privileges of being an MP—how much erosion there has been of what they could have experienced. It has not been over a few minutes; it's been actually over 100 years or more that it has been eroded. I saw a report from the Ministry for Primary Industries which talked about the erosion between 1769 and 1950, and people were calling and calling out for some more protection of this area so that it could actually give to its people, the people of Auckland, what was necessary. That was very, very prescient and it was there right back then and we were ignoring the signs.

So we have a situation where we know that the gulf was lined with mussels. We know that they fed the fish in that gulf. We allowed that erosion to happen because as governors in this country, we didn't take note of what that environment needed and what was a priority for our community. That is really something that I hope a little step has been taken towards changing the mentality of, and that we're looking more for a view of our role as providing abundance rather than scarcity to the things that actually matter in our society. What matters to our people in Auckland is that the Hauraki Gulf actually meets the needs of people there.

Now, I am absolutely impressed by the work of the Hauraki Gulf Forum in this setting because what I have seen happen is people take this issue and come together as community members and collaborate in an incredible way, really. It's something that really makes me realise that it's not really where Parliament sits but it's where the community sits that will make a difference long term. Because people got together and they created a movement and they created collaboration. It was one based on a partnership and the Treaty. It was one that responded to the needs of the diverse people in Auckland and the tangata whenua in the Hauraki Gulf.

I had the privilege of going to Ōrākei Marae and it was a discussion about the re-seeding of the inner harbour with, potentially, some mussel beds. I hope that experiment is tried because it would be an incredible thing. One of the things that was sad about it was that people talked about how what they really like to do would be to be able to fish for their families in that harbour. Yet even when we were talking about re-seeding some of those areas with mussel beds, there was no hope on the horizon that they would be able to eat the mussels because of the pollutants in the water. Those mussels will act as a filter. It'll be the start of a process, if it happens, but we're a long way off from what we need, which is to actually rebuild this environment to one that's teeming with fish, to one that looks a little bit like Goat Island and actually is a place of abundance for our population to the point where that's possible.

I am sad to see some of the amendments to this legislation come in late. They don't look very rational. They look like they may set us back again in those processes. I had to look up what ring-net fishing was and I was worried about what I saw in terms of catching a particular amount of fish and a particular type of fish and that it might not be a very good move. I've had, again, the privilege in this job of going to the Noises and seeing the kina barrens and what they look like when that happens. I know how vital it is that we take these very practical steps to protect this area if we're going to rebuild it.

I promised that I would talk about other people's points, and I'd like to just comment on the point about the effluent going into the Mahurangi Harbour. I was lucky enough to have a bach at Scotts Landing, which is a very beautiful part of the Mahurangi Harbour. This was a decade or so ago. People were already talking about the effluent in that area and the problems with that effluent and the risk it put to our oyster farmers a very long time ago. It's not like it's just happened. There was already overflow from Warkworth and we didn't do enough about it. It's not about apportioning blame, but those are the kinds of things that could upset this plan.

We're creating a plan for protecting this area and we're going to have to put our money where our mouth is, and I don't know whether I accept that it's all on Watercare. I think we stretch these services to the point of breaking and then we blame the organisations when things break. If we're going to have industries like oysters in that area, which bring fish which would allow a lot of the things we are wanting, we're going to have to accept that Government's got a role there, that we need to look after those places, that we need to know the effluent's going in because we've pushed and pushed and pushed on people's resources. We need to sometimes step up and foster an industry like that, make sure that people can, in a place of certainty, develop an industry like oysters which gives so much to the harbour and to the people of New Zealand.

So I take the point that the member who raised that issue is totally genuine about it, but I'd like to see this particular piece of legislation be one that fosters a real interest in Government getting in, boots and all, and looking after places like the Hauraki Gulf, looking at the connected issues of things like effluent coming into the sea.

Now, I'd like to just talk for a minute about the area around where I'm privileged to represent, and that's the Mount Albert area. We have, of course, a line which goes through Point Chevalier and through Westmere. These are quite delicate environments that I have learnt a lot more about. They have things like dotterels in them. They've changed over time, but they've also had the issues of effluent. There has been a lot of sand brought in to make the beaches actually places where people can recreate, which is a fantastic thing, and it's worked well. But these are also areas which are really high demand in Auckland and they've got more use than they ever have had and they're really important.

Recently, we've had a real dispute go on about the use of helicopters by private people in those areas and the impact that somebody using a helicopter for their personal use has on things like the beaches in the Waitematā Harbour and the quiet enjoyment of those areas by everybody. The commons, I call them. They're the commons in the skies. I think this is another area where we need to connect the dots. We're protecting this harbour. Hopefully we're doing it really well. I might have misgivings about some of the pieces that are missing in this, but what I'm most worried about is when we join all the dots. We are going to have an Auckland that is growing. My area is going to grow more than most because a lot of the building is going to happen in those areas. It's going to be really important to the children of Mount Albert that they can go to the beach—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The member's time has expired.

GRANT McCALLUM (National—Northland): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's a great privilege to rise to speak in the third reading of the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill. As co-chair of the Bluegreens, I know there are many people involved in our organisation who've fought very hard for this. I first want to acknowledge all the people up here in the gallery, who have worked tirelessly over many years to achieve what so many in Auckland want, and that is to protect and enhance our beautiful gulf, the Hauraki Gulf. I'd like to acknowledge all the relevant iwi who take residence in Tāmaki-makau-rau.

I'd particularly also like to acknowledge three people who've worked very hard within the Bluegreens: one of the co-founders, Sir Rob Fenwick, somebody who committed so much of his life to these sorts of causes, a truly remarkable New Zealander; the Hon Nikki Kaye, a former member of Parliament for Auckland Central and a much-loved member of Parliament for Auckland Central, who was very dedicated to the health and wellbeing of the Hauraki Gulf; and I'd also like to acknowledge a good friend of mine who has been involved for a long time with the Bluegreens: Chris Severne. Chris worked really hard for this cause, and I think he did a great job. One final acknowledgment is for our great Minister of Conservation, the Hon Tama Potaka, for finally passing this bill. Thank you, Tama—what you have done is much appreciated. I commend this bill to the House.

RACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is a real pleasure to stand and take a call in the House this afternoon on the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill. I take this call as Labour's spokesperson for oceans and fisheries, and it is a real pleasure to be able to see the passage of a bill that protects the health of our oceans.

Can I begin first of all by acknowledging all of those who have worked so hard to get us to this point over such a long period of time. Many of those people are sitting in the gallery today, and I acknowledge that many of you will be watching online, participating in this debate from your homes and from your offices, and watching the debate and listening to it on the radio. This has been a labour of love for many, many people from across the political divide for many, many years. In particular, can I acknowledge the work of the Hauraki Gulf Forum, who have led the way on behalf of the people of Tāmaki-makau-rau to get us here today.

Can I also acknowledge the process, which other speakers have mentioned, and which took a good 10 years or so: the Sea Change plan. That actually set the wheels in motion to, again, get us to this point, alongside many local government leaders, community members, public servants, and of course—and, I'd say, most importantly—mana whenua: whānau, hapū, and iwi, who understand the Hauraki Gulf like no others do. For your leadership on this, we thank you for everything you have done to get us to this point.

Also, just a personal thanks: it's always a little bit dangerous to mention people by name, and we've been advised not to do that, but I do want to pay a particular tribute to Bianca Ranson, who showed me around Waiheke Island. I took on this portfolio recently, so thank you very much for spending the day with me, as a new portfolio holder, and for briefing me and for all of your work, both as a local board member and on behalf of Forest & Bird—thank you, Bianca.

Many speakers have already mentioned why this bill is so good. What it does is create high protection areas across the Hauraki Gulf, which, as a society, we need to do more of. We need to do more to protect the health of our oceans.

For too long, we've looked at our oceans and have often only seen what's on the surface. We see a beautiful blue sea—and, in Nelson, I know this very well—but we don't always look at the health of the ocean or at what is happening underneath: what is happening on the seafloor of our ocean and what is happening to the fisheries. It takes real leadership to get us to a point where we can introduce a law like this that sets apart large parts of the Hauraki Gulf to be protected from commercial fishing, and that is a good thing.

We will see the health of the ocean improve, and I'm looking forward to having visits in future years where we can actually point to real examples of where we are seeing fishery stocks grow back again in abundance. It is our kai, but it is more than just our kai—the health of the ocean and how every species interacts with each other is very, very important. It's all of the coral and it's all of the sea grass and it's all of the fishery stocks and everything that interacts together—it's how it all works together that actually builds the health of our ocean, which, in these days, is just so very important for climate change, for environmental protection, and to ensure that we can have a sustainable ocean for future generations.

But can I just make one final comment in my final minute about what does disappoint me so much about this bill. This is a day to celebrate, and the focus today should be on the hard work and the celebration, but, at the eleventh hour, after the Environment Committee reported back unanimously, changes were made. Now, those changes actually stipulated in the Minister of Conservation's very own words, in his own Cabinet paper, that the ring-net fishers, who will still be able to fish in two of the high protection areas, could have fished in other parts, with minimal impact on them. Despite the Minister's own Cabinet paper saying that, unfortunately, the Government has chosen to proceed with amendments that will undermine and weaken this bill. They promised to accelerate it; instead, it has sat here on the Order Paper for two years while eleventh hour changes were made.

We in the Labour Party are very clear today that we will pass this bill, and we will vote for it. But we will repeal those changes because they were the wrong thing to do—and we will continue to say that—so that we can protect the Hauraki Gulf for generations and years to come. Kia ora.

RYAN HAMILTON (National—Hamilton East): It's a good day in the House. It's a small step for Parliament but a big step for Tīkapa Moana. I'd also like to acknowledge the Minister, the dark knight of Hamilton West, Minister Potaka, for bringing this bill to fruition. It sat still for too long, and, finally, we are advancing it.

I'd also like to acknowledge Ngāti Pāoa. My wife affiliates with Ngāti Pāoa and Ngāti Maniapoto, so I make a special acknowledgment there. I commend this bill to the House.

Hon RACHEL BROOKING (Labour—Dunedin): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Like the other speakers, I'm very happy to be speaking today. Normally, Mr Speaker, I would look at you, but I might just look at the gallery for a bit today, because, of course, I want to acknowledge that there are so many people in the gallery at the moment who have done so much work on this issue for so long. Of course, there have been people who have worked on this issue who are no longer with us, and there are people who have worked on this issue for so long who can't be with us today. Thank you to everybody who cares so deeply about this environment and has worked so hard to work with others to find compromises. There are a lot of compromises, and I want to talk a little bit about those.

You may wonder why the member of Parliament for Dunedin is speaking on this particular bill, so to explain myself a little bit: of course, I've been very lucky to grow up in the beautiful city of Ōtepoti, and I'm so pleased to represent it, but when I was a child, we used to go on long trips, up to the North Island, and go and visit my great aunt, who was a Brown Joe at Mission Bay, so of course, there, I got to see the beautiful gulf. Then, we would sometimes go further north as well, because my grandfather had started Mahurangi College, and my father lived in Warkworth for a time, and so I have many friends who live up in the North as well.

I do understand what an important part of Auckland and the North—both north and south of Auckland—this space is, and how important it's been to many people, particularly mana whenua, for, obviously, hundreds of years, in terms of the provision of mahinga kai, and that has continued through.

Obviously, we have other recreational users and, also, commercial users of the space. But we know, as my colleague Helen White was saying before, that there are so many different influences on the gulf that have led to its degradation. We know we've heard about wastewater flowing into the gulf. We've also heard about our sedimentation. We know that's an issue in both rural and urban environments, when we don't control the sediment, we don't stop it from flowing into our rivers and then into the moana. We know what that sedimentation does: it stops the plant life in our oceans, and that plant life is so important as nurseries for our juvenile fish and other species, so we know that's a problem as well. We know, in the gulf, we've heard about the kina barrens and the problems that they are. We've also heard about the Caulerpa and other different pest species that are there. We also know of overfishing, and we know of bottom trawling as well.

Before I was the member for Dunedin, I was a list member, and in April 2023, I was lucky to become the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, and this meant that I learned a lot more about the gulf and also about bottom trawling. I did know that there was this Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act from 2000, that there were State of the Gulf reports, and I did know about the Sea Change report and Revitalising the Gulf, because these are things that we discussed at the Environment Committee. But how we put into effect these plans was always an interesting issue.

Before I was the Minister—and I need to acknowledge at least two different Ministers for Oceans and Fisheries before me and all the conservation Ministers, as well, from different parties, who looked at this issue of, well, how do we protect the gulf? But let this mahinga kai issue—let people be able to still take the food that they need to eat. How do we do that with our different legislative instruments that we've got at the moment?

I've got here the regulatory impact statement from 2022. There was this question of, do we need bespoke legislation to implement what Sea Change was asking for, or can we use the existing Marine Reserves Act legislation or the existing Resource Management Act legislation? The answer was no, we can't use either of those different tools, and that is, in part, because the Marine Reserves Act 1971 is very much about protection and being very, very focused on that protection only, and these reports had identified that there needed to be more than protection. There needed to be some use, but also a whole lot of different activities as well. And there were difficulties with the Resource Management Act because that would have involved a great number of regional councils working together for one plan, so the idea was: well, we'll have this bespoke legislation.

I'd remind the House that a similar process was running down closer to my home with the South-East Marine Protection Forum. Whilst that wasn't necessarily requiring special legislation, there were a lot of ministerial decisions that needed to be made to protect those areas in the south-east of the South Island and, again, to come to special arrangements with Kāi Tahu, in particular, about how these areas would be managed. I want to remind the House, while the Minister is here, that, as far as I am aware, the Gazette notices to finalise that South-East Marine Protection areas has not yet been undertaken, and, and I hope that it is very soon. Because we know that protecting these marine areas works; we know that the fish will come back, and that is remarkable, given how degraded the environments are. But we know this will happen, if we have some protections.

This legislation, of course, when it was announced in 2023, when I was lucky to be the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, with the then Minister of Conservation, Willow-Jean Prime, was also announced with a fisheries plan for the gulf. That fisheries plan was looking at excluding from bottom trawling 74 percent to 89 percent of the gulf. Of course, we were near an election in 2023, and so we managed to introduce this bill in 2023 and also make some Fisheries Act changes to different plans and have some spatial planning go on, but also to start consultation on these areas of the gulf that would be excluded from bottom trawling, because we've heard from other speeches the impact that bottom trawling has. In May of this year, the current Minister for Oceans and Fisheries shelved those plans, and I want the other side of the House to really think about that, because we've heard in a number of these speeches and we see from all these reports that the Hauraki Gulf is protecting bits of the Hauraki Gulf. Whilst it will make an improvement and it is a good, important thing to do, more needs to be done.

We have to protect it from sedimentation, whether that's from urban environments, rural environments, or it's from the bottom trawling in the area as well. That work needs to happen, and this Government seems to be washing the hands of those other pieces of work. That's something that concerns me greatly and I will continue to raise, and it will, of course, be relevant to Resource Management Act reforms as well, where we've seen the history of this Government, all the changes to date—no, not all of the changes; there were some, recently, that that were bringing over some bits of the Natural and Built Environment Act, but most of the changes have been to enable more pollution. That hurts all of us, and that will hurt the gulf, so we will keep saying no to sediment pollution.

I want to also acknowledge, in my last 25 seconds, the select committee and everybody who was involved in that select committee process, all the local councils, all the scientists—of course, we've all talked about mana whenua before—but all the advocates who really care about this space. Thank you so much for taking the time, and thank you so much for getting back up again and again and again, even when you thought that we'd agreed on everything and yet—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The member's time has expired.

CAMERON BREWER (National—Upper Harbour): This has been a decade in the making—in fact, I would argue, at least 25 years in the making, when you reflect back on the landmark legislation that was the Haraki Gulf Marine Park Act 2000, which among other things created the Haraki Gulf Forum, of course affectionately known as the "Guardians of the Gulf". I want to acknowledge all their advocacy and their many reports that have got us here. This is a major win for the environment, a major win for Auckland, and it's this Government that's delivering the highest ever level of protection for the Hauraki Gulf. I commend the bill.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a third time.

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