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The Government will consult widely over the next five to six weeks on how to ensure public access for all New Zealanders to the seabed and foreshore while also acknowledging Māori customary rights.
The Government is keen to hear from Māori and is putting on 11 hui across the country, which will be facilitated by Wira Gardiner and attended by senior Ministers and local MPs.
The closest to Wairarapa will be on Friday, September 12, at Omahu Marae in Hastings.
As a general seat MP I am hosting three meetings within the Wairarapa electorate:
- Dannevirke, 3pm Saturday, September 6, at the Barraud St Centre;
- Martinborough, 3pm Sunday, September 7, at Martinborough Town Hall;
- Masterton, 7.30pm Monday, September 8, at Masterton Town Hall.
Feedback must be received by Friday, October 3. Written submissions can be sent to Foreshore and Seabed Submissions, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, PO Box 55, Wellington or made online at http:///www.beehive.govt.nz/foreshore.
While on the subject of access to land, the Land Access Reference Group report has been made public and I hope many people will read it carefully.
There will be a four-month consultation period, during which time anyone can tell the Government their views on access to land, and this will be co-ordinated by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.
As part of that consultation process, public meetings are expected to be held around New Zealand. Some members of the Land Access Reference Group, including chairman John Acland, will attend the meetings to explain the group's findings.
The Land Access Reference Group has found that there are increasing difficulties and conflict around access to the outdoors and says the current law and institutional arrangements for access are inadequate to meet public expectations for access in a changing society.
The report proposes the formation of a Land Access Strategy, with five objectives, which would:
- strengthen leadership, to provide direction for, and co-ordination of, access arrangements nationwide;
- provide greater clarity and certainty of access by locating and publicising what is acceptable and where it may occur;
- affirm the validity and embrace the ethos of the Queen's Chain by providing mechanisms for its promotion and enhancement;
- encourage negotiated solutions for access across private land; and
- find ways to improve current legislation provisions for access.
The issues involved were extremely complex and will not be resolved quickly.
Although the Land Access Reference Group report is an important document that will inform the debate considerably, it is not the last word on this issue and does not set out Government policy.
There is a lot at stake for future generations in getting access right.
When we think of New Zealand, we think of scenic beauty, wide-open spaces, and the ability to walk along mountains, rivers, and beaches enjoying that beauty and those wide-open spaces. Our tourism promotion is all built around those images, for example.
Only a few years ago, it seemed that everyone had rural relatives and would spend some time on farms, learning the rules of proper conduct on farmland, and enjoying access to the outdoors. But these days, our population is overwhelmingly urban, with about 85 percent of the population in cities and towns. Few people have that sort of experience on farms anymore, and often don't know how to act responsibly on farms, which are after all workplaces.
This can cause tension between rural people and urban people.
The report finds little support for any "right to roam" policy which some countries have, where people can wander at will over private land as of right.
We have a special situation in New Zealand, with a legacy from our past in the form of Queen Victoria's instructions to the authorities at the time of our nation's birth. It is important for us to find an indigenous solution that meets our needs as a country, rather than just adopt someone else's rules.
Copies of the Land Access Reference Group will be available on the MAF website or in printed form from Sharon.Thurlow@maf.govt.nz
Voluntary funding from the agriculture sector for research into agricultural greenhouse gas emissions remains the Government's first preference.
For about two years the agriculture sector has been asked to provide funding for research into reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
The sector is being exempted from emissions charges on agricultural methane and nitrous oxide emissions on condition that it provides this funding.
The Government reserved the option of introducing a levy to raise the necessary funds from the sector if it did not make its own arrangements to pay for the research.
To date the industry has committed $800,000 through the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium, less than a tenth of the $8.4 million an independent scientific panel has recommended.
The Government has therefore begun preparing legislation for a levy. If the agriculture sector decides to make its own arrangements to deliver the necessary funding, the legislation will be unnecessary.
The bottom line for the Government has always been that the agriculture sector provides the additional funding required. Taxpayers already provide almost $5 million a year and will continue to do so.
I'm sure all our thoughts are with Napier MP Russell Fairbrother and his family, some of whom live in Wairarapa, following their tragic loss last week.
I wish Catriona Williams and her family all the best in their search for new treatment and my congratulations to Rathkeale College on securing the Bracewell cricket academy.
Any feedback on any matters raised in this column or other issues you might feel strongly about can be sent to me through email gbeyer@wise.net.nz or post to PO Box 913, Masterton.
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