Smith Nick: Offices of Parliament—Address to Governor-General 
Smith Nick: Offices of Parliament—Address to Governor-General 
[Volume:608;Page:5130] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (NZ National—Nelson) 
: 
 I join with others in speaking to motion No. 1 which provides for the parliamentary vote for Vote Ombudsmen Vote Audit and Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. As the National spokesperson on the environment I particularly want to focus on the vote for the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. A number of speakers have commented on the issue of the power crisis and that is important in terms of the recommendations provided for in the report on the Offices of Parliament that there be an increase in the appropriation for the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment to provide specifically for a review of the electricity governance organisations and I want to speak to some of those issues. 
I commend the United Future party and the contribution that has just been made by Mr Copeland for highlighting the nonsense and the environmental lunacy that is currently going on whereby we are so pure in stopping sensible developments of sustainable energy in New Zealand that we end up in a crisis that has us burning oil and importing coal to meet this country’s energy needs. That is a fundamental failure of public policy. But I have to challenge my colleague from United Future because we have heard in terms of the changes to the Resource Management Act that his party is supporting— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member can refer to those issues in so far as they concern these votes and whether the vote should be approved. It is not a general discussion on policy. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment provides for an increase specifically on the issue of electricity generation— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: And the member can say whether he is in favour of that. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Let me finish my point of order if I may. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member is only using up his own time. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: What a touchy mood you are in today Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member is just about to have his speech terminated. I ask him to please carry on with his speech. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: My reference is this: the United Future party members cannot give speeches such as the speech that has just been given in respect of Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment expressing concerns about issues of energy while at the same time supporting law that will make the very issues of energy more difficult. We need a Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment for exactly those sorts of reasons—to hold those sorts of contradictions to account. I challenge that party if it is going to stand by the sort of contribution it has made to rethink its views about resource management because that party is part of the problem at the moment not part of the solution. 
I also want to challenge the Government in respect of the nonsense we have seen on issues such as the Resource Management Act. I want to see the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment look at the lunacy around such issues that is dragging Government agencies into debates about cultural landscapes ancestral landscapes and chasing taniwha instead of focusing on key environmental issues. This country’s energy crisis is a very serious issue for this Parliament. It will have a very substantial effect on both the economic and social well-being of our country. It will have an adverse environmental impact. It is just the sort of work that is required of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and that is why National supports an increase in the vote specifically for that purpose—for Dr Morgan Williams and his team at the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. 
There is a further issue that I specifically wish to raise in respect of this vote. Today I want to call on the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment to use the additional financial resources to carry out an inquiry into what I think is an environmental disaster for this country—that is what is going on with the Rotorua lakes. We have a beautiful set of lakes in the upper North Island—in Rotorua and in the area surrounding Hamilton. What occurred over this last summer—I refer to the blue-green algae—was an environmental disaster. It is a tragedy that neither the Minister nor the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment or even the Green Party has shown a blind bit of interest in that environmental disaster. Last summer Lake Rotoiti one of the most used recreational lakes in New Zealand became so polluted from blue-green algae that people cannot swim in it or drink from it. It was estimated that up to 300000 people use that lake over the summer but this year that did not occur. If it were only Lake Rotoiti that was of concern we might not get so excited but the reality is that there are over 15 popular recreational lakes in the upper half of the North Island that are in one great environmental mess and in my view the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment should apply urgent attention to that issue. 
I get so frustrated that this Parliament and this Government spent so much time on an issue like genetic technology which is a non-issue posing no substantive threat to the health and well-being of the environment of this nation yet on an important issue like the environmental well-being of our lakes nobody seems to give a toss. The Minister for the Environment has even used her powers to stop sensible rules from being put in place. I have a photo here of stock openly wandering around those lakes contributing to the nutrification of those lakes and the Minister makes submissions to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council baulking at rules that would help fix up that sort of difficulty. So I challenge the Government and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in particular to give some attention to the national disaster that is taking place in those North Island lakes. I stress that those lakes are tremendous environmental and recreational assets for New Zealand. The way in which those lakes have been polluted and the way in which public authorities have failed to address the fundamental issues—the algae bloom that is causing the toxicity in the lakes the smell and the discolouration and the lack of the capacity to be able to drink or even swim in those waters—are matters that need attention. 
On behalf of National I compliment the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner on the Environment on the good work it does. It does need to keep a strong focus on science not politics. I bring the important issue of poor energy policy as well as the issues affecting the Rotorua lakes to the attention of that office in the hope that the financial resources which we are in support of will be wisely used to address those issues. 
Motion agreed to and Address agreed to.