Smith Nick: Environmental Protection Authority Bill — First Reading 
Smith Nick: Environmental Protection Authority Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:669;Page:15704] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 I move  
That the Environmental Protection Authority Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee with an instruction that the committee report finally to the House on or before 28 March 2011 and that the committee have the authority to meet as required at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions and during any evening of a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 187 and 190(1)(b) and (c). 
This bill is an important part of the Government’s programme to strengthen New Zealand’s environment management systems. It is about central government providing stronger leadership on environmental regulation. It is about a balanced approach of growing the economy but underpinned by sound environmental systems. It is about an efficient Public Service where we group like activities together under one roof and it is about ensuring integrity independence and consistency in the way we organise our environmental institutions. 
The need for this bill is a product of our time. There was a stage in our development when environmental issues were fringe when environmental considerations were an optional extra and when only a few public policy issues had an environmental dimension. The reality is that many of the really challenging issues we face this century are environmental such as the limiting of emissions and a water-constrained world. We need better and stronger public institutions to help us manage those challenges as a nation. 
In the 1970s we got our first environment Minister; in the 1980s the Ministry for the Environment. Just as there are clear separations of responsibility in the economic sphere between Treasury the Reserve Bank and Audit New Zealand in the environment sphere there are different roles. The thinking behind this bill is that the Ministry for the Environment is the brains trust the policy thinktank and the adviser to Government whereas the Environmental Protection Authority is the arm’s-length regulator of environmental standards and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment is the environmental auditor. 
Internationally the notion of an environmental protection authority is not new. Such authorities exist in most OECD jurisdictions including at state level in Australia the USA and the European Union. The idea in a New Zealand context came out of National’s 2006  
A Bluegreen Vision for New Zealand 
 discussion document. Following public consultation it became part of National’s 2008 environment policy. 
Part of the rationale for the Environmental Protection Authority is a view that our Resource Management Act system of environmental regulation is too devolved. It does not make sense for a small country of 4.5 million people to have every environmental issue relitigated 78 times with each council. It is also underpinned by a view that some major consents are nationally significant and rather than being processed by territorial or regional councils should be dealt with by a national consenting authority. 
The bill before the House establishes the new Environmental Protection Authority as a Crown entity under the Crown Entities Act 2004 with its own appointed board. The bill disestablishes the Environmental Risk Management Authority and transfers all its functions and powers under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act to the Environmental Protection Authority. The new authority incorporates the transitional Environmental Protection Authority established within the Ministry for the Environment as part of this Government’s first phase of resource management reforms introduced in our first 100 days as a Government. We wanted to get that new national consenting function up and running as quickly as possible. The value of that is reinforced by the fact that there are over $5 billion of resource consents currently before it. 
The House should be encouraged by the progress that the transitional Environmental Protection Authority has made to date. Four major consents are currently before the authority: the Tauhara Stage Two geothermal project near Taupo the Waterview Connection in Auckland Transmission Gully here in Wellington and the new Wiri men’s prison at Manukau. I contrast the progress made by the Environmental Protection Authority on the Tauhara project—issuing an interim decision within 6½ months and its final decision within 9 months—with the 15-year-long battle over the Wellington inner-city bypass or the 12-year fiasco over the Whangamata marina. The new processes are proving robust timely and well managed by the Environmental Protection Authority. 
It was not possible to resolve the important detail of the new authority in the tight time frame of the 100-day first phase of resource management reforms so this bill presents the detailed work of designing the new authority’s form and functions. The bill achieves that by amending the Climate Change Response Act 2002 the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 and the Resource Management Act 1991 to allow for the relevant functions and powers from those Acts to transfer to the new Environmental Protection Authority. I ask the House to note that it is not the Government’s intention to alter the substance of functions carried out under those three Acts; what changes is the body responsible for them. 
The bill transfers some administrative functions of the emissions trading scheme from the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry for the Environment to the Environmental Protection Authority. These functions include the emissions trading register and the allocation of New Zealand units for industry and agriculture. The administration of the forestry portion of the emissions trading scheme appropriately remains with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. It is my intention that the Environmental Protection Authority will also assume responsibility for the regulatory functions necessary under the imports and export orders and the Ozone Layer Protection Act and their regulations. Regulatory changes to give effect to that change will likely occur alongside the progress of the bill. 
The Government is also working on legislation on New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone. New Zealand’s marine environment is an integral part of our nation and contributes significantly to our economy and environment. Obviously it is important to our fishing aquaculture oil and gas tourism transport and telecommunications industries. However there is currently no way to effectively manage the environmental impact of activities within the exclusive economic zone. The Government is determined to ensure that New Zealand’s marine environment is properly protected as we expand development in that area. We run not only an environmental risk; the gap in regulation leads to uncertainty and could constrain future economic growth from New Zealand’s extensive marine resources. It is therefore my intention that the Environmental Protection Authority be responsible for the permitting functions that will arise from that proposed exclusive economic zone legislation. 
A further function of the Environmental Protection Authority under clause 12 will be the undertaking of environmental assessments under the Antarctica (Environmental Protection) Act 1994 which currently resides within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Again I think most members would subscribe to the view that the Environmental Protection Authority rather than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is the better home for that role. 
The bill quite deliberately creates a separation between the Minister and regulatory functions. I note for instance that when we brought before the House amendments to moderate the emissions trading scheme a number of thoughtful submissions sought greater separation between the management of the registry by the Minister and our decisions over the emissions trading scheme in respect of prosecution and non-compliance. This bill refines the administration of the emissions trading scheme to achieve that separation. The broader issue of Ministers being close to policy but at arm’s length from regulatory functions is generally good public policy and is being applied in this bill. 
I acknowledge the Maori Party’s support for this bill. The capacity of National and the Maori Party to work together on important environmental legislation reflects a common interest in progressing reforms that carefully balance economic and environmental interests. 
To summarise this bill it brings together under one Crown authority a range of environmental regulatory functions that currently partially reside within the Ministry for the Environment the Environmental Risk Management Authority the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as providing stronger national direction on roles that currently reside within our 86 regional and territorial authorities. 
This bill is a balanced environmental approach. It reinforces the importance of scientific skills in good environmental decision-making. It recognises the importance to our economy of efficiency in environmental regulation. The time for a comprehensive Environmental Protection Authority for New Zealand has come. I commend the bill to the House.