Moroney Sue: Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Moroney Sue: Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:642;Page:11925] 
SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 In this Committee stage debate on the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill one thing is crystal clear—if members will excuse the pun. The thing that is crystal clear is that if this country was unlucky enough to have a National Government in place that Government would not be promoting safe drinking-water and it would not be putting this bill forward. It is very clear from this debate that National does not care about the health benefits of having safe drinking-water. In particular it does not care about having safe drinking-water in rural communities and I personally was quite astounded to hear that during the Health Committee’s discussion. 
I am a member of the Health Committee and it was very interesting to observe the National members on the committee arguing that if people choose to live in rural areas they should expect lesser standards for their drinking water and perhaps lesser standards in other issues as well. I was very surprised to hear that from National members because as a Labour member of Parliament living in a rural area I know that people living and working in rural areas do not believe that themselves. They want good safe drinking-water and they believe they have the same rights to a healthy lifestyle as urban dwellers and that is at the heart of the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill. It is crystal clear that National would not be promoting such a bill should it become the Government—or would it? It is never very clear with National at the moment. 
Dr Jonathan Coleman said before that during the select committee process he did not hear enough about the need for safe water. Perhaps he should have been listening to the same submitters I was listening to. More important perhaps he should listen to one of his own colleagues Dr Nick Smith who said— 
Hon Member 
: I’d never listen to him. 
SUE MORONEY 
: I certainly would not but I believe that Jonathan Coleman should because Dr Nick Smith said that 24 percent of our drinking water being unsafe is an appalling statistic and that enforcement action is needed. Those were the words from Dr Nick Smith on this very issue yet Dr Jonathan Coleman—yes he is from the same party believe it or not—got up in this debate and said he had not heard enough to satisfy his need to know about the need for safe drinking-water in this country. I say to Dr Coleman that if the Health Committee process was not robust enough for him and he did not hear enough in that process then perhaps he should just talk to his own caucus colleagues and see whether they can find out just what the National Party’s position actually is on this issue. 
I congratulate the officials on the work they did. It was the officials—not the select committee as the previous speaker alluded to—who did all the very detailed and very important work. The officials worked with Local Government New Zealand to ensure that all its concerns were heard in this process and they worked to ensure that the select committee could make practical recommendations that would actually deal with the issues raised by Local Government New Zealand so that we can ensure we have healthy and safe drinking-water and so that there are standards in place that all drinking-water suppliers need to meet whether they be in rural or urban areas. 
I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate those many local authorities who meet the standards currently—and yes they do that voluntarily. They do that because they are responsive to the needs of their ratepayers and because this bill has been well signalled by this good Labour Government—this good Labour Government that does not spring surprises on anybody. There have been many years for local government to understand what its citizens and ratepayers were demanding with regard to drinking water. They have had many years to come up to scratch and most of them have done that. 
I congratulate those local bodies who have taken their responsibilities seriously in this regard and I say to those local bodies that have not yet come up to scratch that this measure is for the greater good of the country. It is about health. I despair about the health professionals opposite who say they are not convinced yet of the need for safe drinking-water; it is something that many of us on this side of the Chamber—even though we may not be health professionals—understand.