5. Freshwater Management—Water Allocation Prioritisation and Commercial AccessMETIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for the EnvironmentFreshwater Management—Water Allocation Prioritisation and Commercial Access5. METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Does he agree with Environment Canterbury councillor Lan Pham that the way water is allocated does not always prioritise public use over private gain?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): The law gives priority to water use for domestic supplies for firefighting and for stock drinking water. These uses have preferential access over commercial users like irrigators industry or bottled water companies. Our Government has also strengthened the public good considerations in water allocation with New Zealand's first National Policy Statement for Fresh Water which requires regional councils to set minimum flows in our rivers for ecological and recreational purposes. We have further work under way on improving New Zealand's freshwater allocation system with a technical advisory group doing work right now on how we can further improve it. Metiria Turei: Does the Minister agree with Hurunui resident Colleen Johnson who has put up with a permanently E.coli-poisoned water supply and says: New Zealanders we should have first priority; the high-quality water should be coming to us."Hon Dr NICK SMITH: In respect of the quality of water supplies there is a job for councils to improve their performance in that regard. But I would caution the member against saying that as a consequence of water users taking water for irrigation and for other uses that are so important to the economy—that should not compromise in any way New Zealanders' access to good domestic water supplies. I remind the member that total extractive use of water in New Zealand is only 2 percent of the total resource New Zealand has. Metiria Turei: Does the Minister then think it is fair that private companies like water bottlers can access pristine fresh water while the public like Colleen Johnson and her family have to put up with E.coli contamination and dirty rivers?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Our law provides for any person being able to apply for a consent for New Zealand's water resources. That same law says that if there is ever a choice between domestic water supplies or essential uses like firefighting they take preference over commercial users and that is appropriate. I am not satisfied that our councils are doing an adequate job of managing New Zealand's freshwater resources. That is why our Government introduced the very first national policy statement providing clearer direction on the need for New Zealand to lift its game around freshwater management.Richard Prosser: Will he support New Zealand First's policy of any potential charge that is applied volumetrically to consented water takes being confined to a royalty only on the export only of water as water only; if not why not?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I have seen New Zealand First proposals for a 10c-per-litre charge on all commercial water users. That would cost our dairy industry $600 billion a year and effectively destroy New Zealand's largest export industry. Those facts just reinforce the fact that in the discussion around allocation and pricing of water we need to do it with a great deal of care and thought.Richard Prosser: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was: would the Minister support our policy of a charge being confined to a royalty on export only; not to some other policy that he claims to have seen which he has not because it does not exist.Mr SPEAKER: That is now very much a debating point. The member asked whether a New Zealand First policy would be supported by the Minister and the Minister has taken his opportunity in interpreting that policy the way he sees it. It becomes very much a debating point. The general debate follows shortly and I note that New Zealand First has the first opportunity to lead that debate.Metiria Turei: If the technical advisory group on water recommends putting a charge on its commercial use will he commit to supporting that recommendation?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No. The Government will consider the report on its merits. I would commend the editorial that was published in the New Zealand Herald this week which rightly said that any approach to charging of water does need to be done with care because for a very large portion of New Zealand's export industries a blunt approach like that—I have heard from the member's own party—would do very significant damage to the New Zealand economy. Metiria Turei: Does he then think it is right that water bottling company Antipodes pays only $99 a year for the right to bottle water but charges $7.67 per litre to its customers?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The member needs to be careful in making comparisons. For instance Auckland Council which has a very large consent to take water out of the Waikato River pays a bare administrative fee for a consent that is more than 10000 times larger than that. Too often people are confusing the cost of the pumping the filtration and the piping of water to the natural resource. All users currently are paying only for an infrastructure cost and not a cost for the natural resource. Metiria Turei: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was a clear question as to whether he thinks that is right or not; he did not answer that question.Mr SPEAKER: No. Can I just take the opportunity of asking members to look at two Speakers' rulings that might help them in formulating their supplementary question. The member asked: does the Minister think that it is fair? If the member now looks at Speaker's ruling 195/6 and 195/7 it acknowledges that we do allow opinion questions but the chances of getting an answer that is satisfactory to the member are very slight.Metiria Turei: Does the Minister think that it is right that water bottling companies tell their overseas clients that they can supply an infinite quantity of clean water while the New Zealand communities that they take that water from have to put up with boil notices and dirty rivers?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Anybody who claims that they have got a consent for an infinite amount of water clearly does not because every permit that is granted has some limit albeit I would draw the member's attention to the fact that water bottling companies make up such a small fraction of New Zealand's overall water take that if we want to have an intelligent discussion about improving New Zealand's water management it is those very substantive users like irrigators and industry that should be the focus of our attention."