Wagner Nicky: General Debate 
Wagner Nicky: General Debate 
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NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 I watched the Rugby World Cup opening from the fanzone in Hagley Park in Christchurch and I was proud to be a New Zealander. But right now I will talk about National’s blue-green agenda and the significant environmental achievements we have made in the last 3 years. 
It was really interesting when last night we introduced the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill to protect and manage the seas around the New Zealand coast. The bill was supported right across the House by the Greens by the Maori Party by ACT and by United Future—everybody except Labour. That does not make any sense to me. It is that constant negativity. The exclusive economic zone right now has no protection and Labour does not want it to get any. That is totally irresponsible. 
A couple of weeks ago Labour voted against the Freedom Camping Bill. That legislation is to stop our beautiful pristine environment from being fouled and damaged. I do not get that Labour decision either. It seems that in Labour’s effort to try to differentiate itself from National it is happy to sacrifice the environment and that is not good enough. 
Dr Nick Smith and the Bluegreens have worked hard over the past 3 years to clean up our existing environmental problems and to give a new environmentally friendly agenda. We have had some good results. In 2010 we had the cleanest air ever recorded in New Zealand. That success is mostly due to the Clean Heat programme. In the last 3 years we have converted 26000 homes to clean-heating appliances. Labour converted only 800 in its 9 years—800. We have been working with the Greens on the Warm Up New Zealand insulation programme and have refitted 100000 homes. Labour refitted 5000 in its time. This insulation project has much wider benefits to health and well-being for New Zealand families right across the country. We are continuing that programme in Christchurch as we repair houses there. 
We are also cleaning up waterways and contaminated sites such as the Tui Mine which has been a blot on the Coromandel landscape and lakes and rivers all across the country. In these tough economic times we are spending nearly $100 million on clean-ups. That is five times as much as Labour spent in 9 long years when it was responsible for looking after our waterways. 
I was delighted to join Nick Smith recently when we signed up to the big clean-up of Lake Ellesmere Te Waihora. We are working together with Ngai Tahu Environment Canterbury and Fonterra so we have round the table all the people who can make this happen. It is a real step forward. 
We are also keen to see the collaborative model working across the country. It is what underpins the Land and Water Forum. Fifty-four stakeholders from all parts of our community are working together to develop a long-lasting framework to manage water quality and water quantity. That is another important milestone. 
We are making progress in Canterbury too by pushing forward the community-focused Canterbury Water Management Strategy and zone committees and they are doing very good work. 
Our moderated emissions trading scheme is also working well. We are on track to meeting our Kyoto Protocol targets which will save the country $470 billion. It is a sensible practical policy that is really delivering. Helen Clark talked a lot about being carbon neutral but during her time emissions increased by 23 percent. In the last 2 years without any fanfare under National emissions have dropped by 4 percent. Forestry is also important for managing carbon and during Labour’s last 3 years it chopped down 15 million trees— 
Dr Cam Calder 
: How many? 
NICKY WAGNER 
: —15 million—whereas the National Government has planted 5.5 million more so we are on the way and are increasing that as well. 
We are also making progress with renewable energy. In 2010 74 percent of our energy was generated by renewables.