Simpson Scott: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 13 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10518. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (Chairperson of the Local Government and Environment Committee): It is a pleasure to be leading off the debate on the Environment Sector in the annual review debate because as chairman of the Local Government and Environment Committee I have got the privilege of leading a select committee through some of the most important legislative work that I think this Parliament will be doing in its term in the 51st Parliament. We are I think making wonderful progress as a Government on some very important material that will help enhance preserve and maintain our natural environment which is so important to all of us as New Zealanders.The select committee had an opportunity to conduct several reviews recently and I want to focus on just two of those: that of the Department of Conservation so ably led by the Minister of Conservation the Hon Maggie Barry and the Director-General of Conservation Lou Sanson and also that of the Ministry for the Environment led by my friend and colleague the Hon Nick Smith and Vicky Robertson as the chief executive. These are two of the most significant State agencies that are involved with ensuring that in years to come our natural environment will be in as good a condition—or hopefully in a better condition—than it is today.I want to just focus on a couple of the matters that were brought to our attention. High on that list of course are the further reforms to the resource management legislation currently before the select committee. I was delighted that both agencies focused on this during their submissions to us at the select committee and both gave the committee encouragement to pursue its work in this area because at the heart of the work that we do on the Local Government and Environment Committee is a distinct and realistic understanding that our natural environment is actually our greatest asset as a nation. We on the Government benches absolutely sincerely believe that a successful economic policy can go hand in hand—in fact it must go hand in hand—with a successful environmental policy and position. We know that when those two matters are connected and are in sync we will be able to achieve for all New Zealanders a cleaner brighter future.This is a Government that is providing real leadership on environmental issues—real leadership—and it is fair to say that this Government has done more to maintain protect and enhance New Zealand’s natural environment than any other Government in the history of New Zealand. I think as a Government member we can all be proud of that as parliamentarians but particularly Government members can take a lot of pleasure in that achievement. And there is more yet to come because at the heart of this is the Government’s Bluegreen environmental vision. It is an understanding that at the core of our quality of life our national identity and our competitive advantage lies our natural environment. Since becoming the Government our party has simplified resource management legislation. We have enhanced opportunities to ensure that the natural environment is protected.I have the privilege and honour of representing the Coromandel electorate and it is without doubt one of the most beautiful parts of the nation. The people in the Coromandel—[Interruption] The member for North Shore confirms that the beaches of the North Shore are not quite to the standard of the Coromandel and I am sure that that will be a debate that she will continue to be on the back foot on in years to come.However we have done an awful lot in a lot of areas. One area that was highlighted during the reviews was the announcement on the legislation that pertains to the creation of the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary. Notwithstanding issues that will be proceeding through the judicial system the select committee is continuing its good work on this piece of legislation. The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will be created—620000 square kilometres of no-take ocean reserve for the future of all New Zealanders and in fact for all citizens of the world. That is a land mass twice the size of New Zealand and about the same size as the footprint of France so this is deeply significant for us as a Parliament and also for us as citizens of the world.