9. BRENDON BURNS (Labour—Christchurch Central) Link to this
to the Minister for the Environment
What is he doing to stop new water allocations increasing what he acknowledges are already serious issues with water quality in some parts of the country, given that, on receiving the final Land and Water Forum report, which advocates for tougher rules to improve fresh water quality, he said this “will take … realistically several years to implement”?
Hon DAVID CARTER (Minister of Agriculture) Link to this
The Government has been clear that it wished the Land and Water Forum to complete its work before any decisions were made. A report was received from the Land and Water Forum last week, following its extensive public consultation process, and officials are now working through the 53 recommendations. I can confirm that it is the Government’s hope to proceed with a national policy statement on fresh water, which will require local authorities to consider limiting water takes and discharges as appropriate.
Is it acceptable that many New Zealanders will face further deterioration in drinking and swimming water quality due to further water allocations made under the currently lax rules, when he sat on the draft national policy statement on fresh water for nearly 2½ years and now says improvements are several years away?
This Government picked up a problem that was not addressed by the previous Labour Government for approximately a decade. The previous Labour Government established the Sustainable Water Programme of Action, which its own, non-political officials came to call the “Sustainable Water Programme of Inaction”. This Government will make progress; the Labour Government did not.
Hon David ParkerI seek leave to table the draft national policy statement on water quality that was produced under the governance of the previous Labour Government, and that the National Government has sat on for 2½ years.
Mr SPEAKERDoes the Minister agree with Graeme Sutton, the chair of Irrigation New Zealand, who commented on the Land and Water Forum’s report, saying that water quality in Canterbury is good, except for Lake Ellesmere?
I admire the work done by Graeme Sutton as a member of the Land and Water Forum. What this Government has established is a collaborative process for sorting out these difficult issues. It is a process that we will give time to, having established goodwill between those stakeholders.
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I suggest that the Minister was asked a specific question about comments from a gentleman, and he did not respond to that question.
I will let the member repeat his question, because, I have to confess, I did not get the gist of it.
Does the Minister agree with Graeme Sutton, the chair of Irrigation New Zealand, who commented on the Land and Water Forum’s report, saying that water quality in Canterbury is good, except for Lake Ellesmere?
I would have to see the context in which Mr Sutton made those comments. I do respect the work that Mr Sutton has done as a member of the Land and Water Forum. This Government intends to take a collaborative approach and finally make decisions. That is far more than the previous Labour Government did over 9 years.
Will the doubling of production at Synlait’s milk plant at Dunsandel and the building of a new Fonterra plant at Darfield improve the quality of rivers, lakes, and streams in the Canterbury region before new controls on water quality are introduced in several years?
The answer to that will depend on the initiatives and the final decisions made by the Government after considering the 53 recommendations of the Land and Water Forum.