Horan Brendan: Financial Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHoran Brendan: Financial Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 04 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16264. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BRENDAN HORAN (Independent): I take a call on the financial review of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. The Local Government and Environment Committee report is only four lines “and has no matters to bring to the attention of the House.” But Dr Wright is doing important work and I would like to touch on some of that from the time under review and the current operations.She has produced an important report—an update on water quality in New Zealand. As previous speakers have said New Zealand’s water quality is in an appalling state. We have a clean green reputation so how can we let our waterways deteriorate so rapidly? Our country’s own spirituality that of wairua—that the blood and bones of our ancestors flow through our rivers lakes and streams—implies that we would have great respect for our water. But the reality is that our rivers lakes and streams are becoming heavily polluted. One needs only to look at theManawatū River and in my area theKaituna River. I have gone down that river. I have taken photos. It has been quite amazing because the real pollution starts as soon as the dairy farming starts. In about the last 15 kilometres of the river you have estuaries and streams running into it where it says “No human contact”. In Dr Wright’s report she touches on some of that pollution. How can our waterways be so polluted? The intensification of dairy farming is one of the main contributors to our polluted waterways and we urgently need to do something about it. Where is the funding? Where is the teeth behind legislation? We need to take note of Dr Wright’s report.I also touch on the point regarding the current operations within the scope of this debate. Dr Wright wrote to members in parties a month ago regarding the Environmental Reporting Bill which has subsequently been introduced. She made the point that if the bill is passed in close to its current form the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment will need significant resources to discharge the new functions arising from the bill. So when we come to consider the Environmental Reporting Bill this Parliament will need to pay close attention to the allocation of resources to the commissioner.In closing I would like to make two points. One is that the Officers of Parliament including Dr Wright have their budgets set by one select committee the Officers of Parliament Committee and have their financial review conducted by a different one in this case the Local Government and Environment Committee. The Officers of Parliament are the only entities treated in this way. All the ministries and departments have their financial reviews done by the same committee that reviews their estimates. We can cast our eyes to the problems faced by the Office of the Ombudsmen when its chronic underfunding did not get proper attention for some time. So I hope that we might be able to find a solution. This might involve moving the financial reviews to the Officers of Parliament Committee. That may be a better way.Report noted.