Fitzsimons Jeanette: Appointments — Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Police Complaints Authority 
Fitzsimons Jeanette: Appointments — Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Police Complaints Authority 
[Volume:636;Page:6959] 
JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 It is hard to believe looking back that just 20 years ago New Zealand had no statutory agencies with responsibility for the environment on behalf of the Government. Not only did we have no Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment but we had no Ministry for the Environment or Department of Conservation. We had what in those days were called “little green dots” spread through some agencies like the Department of Lands and Survey and the New Zealand Forest Service but there was a huge debate in those days around creating agencies with a proper mandate to carry out the Crown’s obligations to protect the environment on behalf of the people of New Zealand. So around 20 years ago those three agencies were created—the Ministry for the Environment and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment under the Environment Act and the Department of Conservation under the Conservation Act. Up until then we had a Commission for the Environment which was not a statutory agency; it was a creature of Cabinet fiat and had only voluntary processes. 
So a lot has happened during that time. As we celebrate that 20th anniversary—and in the case of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment the anniversary in March next year—we look back on 20 years of two people who have served in that role with great dedication and in a very distinguished way. I want to pay respect at this stage to the first Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Helen Hughes who was particularly famous for a rather dry remark. When asked by a visitor from overseas what her powers were and what sort of teeth she had she said: “Oh no teeth at all but very powerful gums.” She was succeeded 10 years ago by Dr Morgan Williams who has also had a distinguished role in the position. I pay tribute today to Dr Williams as he approaches his retirement from the position and also to the new incumbent—a third distinguished person—Dr Jan Wright. 
 During the 10 years that Dr Williams has been the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment he has published a series of reports that were ignored or attacked when they first came out but have been regarded as standard good sense within a few years. I think of  
Creating our Future: Sustainable Development for New Zealand 
 in which he laid out what New Zealand needs to do to implement sustainable development. I think of his report  
See Change: Learning and education for sustainability 
 in which he talked about the need for environmental education and how important that is if we are to raise a generation of young people who are environmentally literate and who actually understand the biophysical systems we depend on for our lives. 
Possibly his most famous contribution has been  
Growing for Good: Intensive Farming Sustainability and New Zealand’s Environment 
 which is an examination of the environmental impacts of our farming and our food production systems. It goes way beyond farming and takes it right through to the supermarket chains which dictate what farmers must do and to the overseas markets. He shocked people by pointing out that we had a sixfold increase in the application of nitrogen fertiliser over a comparatively small number of years that our water quality was suffering and that intensification of farming had major environmental impacts. The report was greeted initially by screams of outrage but these days when we look at the farming journals we find more and more farmers saying that they have completely changed their practices and their view of farming as a result of the report. It has had an amazing impact on our move towards sustainability and I believe that it will go on having an impact for many years yet. It is full of good information and good analysis. 
So I thank Morgan for his contribution over 10 years and I particularly welcome Dr Jan Wright who I think will be a very distinguished performer in the role. Dr Wright has first a physics degree then she studied energy in the energy and resources division at the University of California Berkeley with distinguished people like John Holdren. She then completed a PhD in economics from Harvard specialising in health economics. It is a very wide and varied background. I first knew Jan when she was teaching at the Lincoln Centre for Resource Management in Canterbury and working on the economics of energy efficiency for households. She taught a raft of students who have since ended up in distinguished places and she taught serious energy analysis which we need more and more as the foundation of the work that has to be done as we address the serious impacts of climate change energy security and oil prices. 
We have come a long way in 20 years. I hope that in the next 20 years we will make as much progress in terms of cementing into the mainstream of Government thinking the requirements for environmental sustainability and conservation. I strongly endorse the appointment of Dr Wright by the House.