resources and our select committee and our party look forward
tody baiting this issue further.
and our party look forward tody
forward to debating this issue further. It has been an
interesting debate. I want to
thank members from across the House for their
This is, as I said, in my introduction to the bill,
a small bill. It is a very
small change to an old principal act that dates back
to 1979. No one, least of all me,
would pretend that it is anything
remotely close to being
a silver bullet in terms of
solving the litter issues that confront our
nation but it is a step in
the right direction. So I commend
members of the Green Party and the
Labour Party for supporting
for supporting it through to select committee and I'm sure that when we
get to select committee, we'll have
a good discussion. I
was particularly heartened
particularly heartened by the contribution of the Hon Nanaia
Mahuta who indicated that indicated
Mahuta who indicated that indicated
that select committee could
be a place for a wider discussion
about litter and litter issues. That is
a very good thing. I am happy for
that discussion to take place. What did
disappoint me was the
contribution from the select committee chair. She
is new to this house, Deborah
Russell, has potential, I think as
an MP but she will soon realise
that ah chasm
an MP but she will soon realise that
of the sort she gave tonight is a very poor
very poor substitute for substance. That if she is to make progress in
her parliamentary career
in this House, then she would do
well to have a little look at legislation,
consider it carefully, and not
revert to mere sarcasm as a way of
debating in the Chamber or, indeed,
actually leading the select
committee. Labour have come late to
this discussion
this discussion on litter and they are making up for
lost time. What we didn't hear in the debate was a
didn't
didn't hear in the debate was a commitment at all from the lead
party in the coalition Government
about their commitment
to reducing litter. We heard talk about waste
minimisation and that's
fine, no one would object to waste minimisation
proposals. In fact, the previous
proposals. In fact, the previous
National Government made great strides and did more than
National Government made great Government in the history
of New Zealand in terms of providing
for our natural resources and
our natural spaces. So that's a very
proud record. Labour come to
this debate about litter particularly
debate about litter particularly
There was an obscure member whose There was an obscure member
whose name I don't remember but I think
he came from Hamilton somewhere. He
clearly has much to learn. My
colleagues at some stage
will probably tell me what his name was
but he needs to go back to
Hamilton where he comes from. He spoke a lot
about Christchurch and for someone
who comes from Hamilton that struck
who comes from Hamilton that struck
me as very, very strange. Angie
contribution and what Angie
immediately prior to me coming to this House I was chief executive
of a children ice charity, Make a Wish.
We also ran shops of
the short she described. I am very familiar with
the situation and very au
fait with it. Certainly on the
Labour side of the House they don't
have any monopoly on that kind of
background or history. So this is a
small bill, it is a bill that will be discussed
in detail by the select committee.
I'm looking forward to
submissions from around the country. I hope that
local Government will take
the opportunity to submit because there
are a range of levels of
enforcement for litter, many local
territorial authorities have their own regimes,
authorities have their own regimes,
their own structures and ways of
authorities have their own regimes, authorities
authorities have their own regimes, dealing with litter but in my
part of the world, in the Coromandel and
of the world, in the Coromandel and
the Western Bay of
Plenty it is an issue as it is in many other
parts of the country.
So, Mr Speaker, this bill is a good bill. It is not a
silver bullet but it is a step in the right
direction. It is a bill that will,
I think, help send a message
It is a bill that will, I think,
New Zealanders that this parliament New Zealanders that this parliament
takes litter seriously, that we
have a real challenge in terms of
changing our cultural approach as
New Zealanders to litter and
actually just not dropping litter.
So I want to
conclude my contribution on first reading by
just going back to my original call
to support this legislation, to
remember those slogans that we
knew when we were growing up in the
70s and 80s of Doing the Right Thing,
Being a Tidy Kiwi, and that Only
Lazy People Litter. I am very happy
that this bill appears to have
enough support to go
to select committee and I endorse
it to the House. is that the
motion be agreed to. Those of that opinion will say
aye. To the contrary no. The Ayes
have it. Party vote has
been called for. I will ask the Clerk to conduct
the party vote. New Zealand
National. 55 votes in favour. New
Zealand Labour. 46 votes
in favour. New Zealand First. Nine votes
opposed. Green
New Zealand First. Nine votes