Sage Eugenie; Parker DavidHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green): Thank you. The Green Party won't be supporting that Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) either because it is the mixed housing suburban rather than the urban one and so it goes completely against getting more intensification. But in Part 2 Schedule 2 which inserts a new Schedule 3B it amends the National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020. I would be interested if the Minister as Minister for the Environment as someone who has always recognised that the economy depends on the environment—why the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPSUD) primary objective one is about well-functioning urban environments that enable all people and communities to provide for their social economic and cultural wellbeing and their health and safety now and into the future and there is no mention of environmental wellbeing. For healthy cities where people have clean water to drink clean air to breathe space to exercise get the mental wellbeing from being out in nature what is the Minister's response to Supplementary Order Paper 114 which seeks to insert in objective one of the National Policy Statement (NPS) on Urban Development a reference to environmental wellbeing as well as social and economic wellbeing. New Schedule 3B in the Minister's SOP inserts a number of other policies into the NPS on Urban Development. What the Green Party is concerned about is that there is only passing reference to nature in the existing NPSUD. It was something we brought up last June when it was being developed and so we're seeking through this Supplementary Order Paper a new policy that encourages an increase in urban tree cover both through the retention of existing trees and also ensuring that there's easy public access to natural areas as well as open space. The only reference at the moment in the NPS is to having good accessibility for all people to natural spaces. There's nothing about encouraging nature within the urban environment and yet sustainable development is all about integrating nature not exceeding nature's capacity. So if we are not to have cities that are just hard surfaces and expanses of concrete is the Minister considering any future amendments to the National Policy Statement for Urban Development to better recognise nature? First question.Then the other issue is there's another Supplementary Order Paper in my name SOP 109 which is all about development bonuses for developers if they meet certain site factors and they relate to things like water-sensitive design an ability to have solar panels on roofs and encouraging more energy-efficient buildings which of course will help our housing stock reduce energy use and contribute to reduction of emissions. Development bonuses aren't something that the bill encourages. And yet the Government through Kāinga Ora has an urban design statement which is the simple guide to urban design and development that Housing New Zealand put out. It's got a lot of principles in there about environmental design about encouraging good stormwater management making the best use of existing natural environments three waters management sustainable use of resources—things like energy-efficient design. We have heard from officials that things like that are best done through the building code. We know that the building code is inadequate. This bill with the standards for medium density in Schedule 3 makes a number of provisions about building envelopes and the like. What proposals does the Minister have to use both the Resource Management Act and to encourage his colleagues around the Building Act to really improve our standards if as my other SOPs have failed I suspect this one will as well? But it's the principle of ensuring that our building stock is more efficient that it doesn't increase stormwater runoff. We had a lot of submissions to select committee about increased stormwater flows and houses having to have increased capacity with tanks to avoid or to mitigate the peak flows. We are doing nothing through this bill to really encourage sustainable design. We are encouraging more intensification but not well-designed houses in terms of energy efficiency minimising water runoff and ensuring that there's an increased capacity for things like solar. Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): Thank you Madam Chair. Yes the member's right that we won't be supporting that Supplementary Order Paper. And the member addressed one of the reasons why in her own contribution. We think that the system would get very gummed up if we effectively imposed the building code or Building Act issues relating to the quality of building materials into the planning code. If you want more energy-efficient building materials as a required minimum there were arguments for that through the building code but we don't think that we should be imposing it through this legislation.