Fitzsimons Jeanette: General Debate 
Fitzsimons Jeanette: General Debate 
[Volume:621;Page:16545] 
JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 This afternoon a wake-up call was tabled in the House and 10 years from now when people have forgotten “John Who? Resigned when? About what?” and they have forgotten the misdemeanours of “What was that name of the leader of the National Party back in 2004?” they will however still be coping with the consequences of the fact that the underpinnings of our prosperity from farming in this country are seriously at risk. The report tabled this afternoon from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment states that our farming is currently unsustainable that our prosperity our standard of living depends on farming and that farming cannot continue to go on the way it is at the moment without major change. I would suggest that that issue ought to be occupying rather more of the attention of the House than it is getting today. If farming is to be become sustainable it must be rethought on the basis of ecological systems not just on the basis of short-term economics. It cannot be economic if it is destroying its resource base and if it destroying the natural capital on which our future depends. 
Current farming practices are degrading water quality they are overusing water quantity they are losing soil into the sea at a 10-times faster rate than the rest of the world and dependence on non-renewable energy is growing by the year they are a major source of greenhouse gases and they are changing the very climate on which our farming depends. There has got to be change. 
We all know that lakes Rotorua and Taupo are seriously degenerating with algal blooms in some places and water quality that is unfit for human contact. We have a report from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd that our lowland streams are on the whole not fit to swim in any longer. Fish and Game New Zealand has been carrying out a campaign on dirty dairying because of the impacts of the dairy industry on lowland water quality. The reason for all of this is agricultural runoff particularly of nitrogen and phosphorus. We know there is a 40-year delay from when this is applied to the land before it even gets into Lake Taupo so it will get worse even if we stop applying fertiliser. And we learn in this report tabled today that nitrogen fertiliser has increased by 160 percent across our farming system in just 6 years. We need radical action now and even then things will get worse long before they can get better. 
The area that is reliant on irrigation has been expanding at 55 percent every decade. That takes more energy to pump the irrigation water; that leaves less water in our rivers to dilute the runoff when it comes and fosters more intensive agriculture with more runoff and our aquifers are falling. The direct use of energy on farms has gone up 30 percent in the last decade and we can add to that that our fertilisers and pesticides are wholly reliant on non-renewable fossil fuels. We can add to that the dependence on oil-based transport to get our farm products to market. Oil is now $55 a barrel and that will keep rising. There is no going back to $19 a barrel or even $30 a barrel because we have got to the stage where the world’s oilfields cannot produce very much more than what they are producing now and demand is still rising. The greenhouse gases from farming are up 15 percent since 1990 and that cannot keep growing either. 
This is not an indictment of the present-day farmers or of the present-day Minister or of the present Government any more than it is of the farmers the Government and Ministers of the past. It has been going on for decades but it is a challenge to present-day farmers and the Minister and the Government. In question time today the Minister acknowledged the issue but did he pick up the challenge? He is a bit short on solutions so far. He said: “The sustainable farming fund is addressing these issues.” The sustainable farming fund has spent $33 million over 4 years on some good initiatives but it is a drop in the bucket compared with what is needed to turn our farming in a sustainable direction. We need more science invested in sustainable land management. 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER (Labour—Napier) 
: 
 In my short term in Parliament it seems to me that October is an amazing month for parties. Twelve months ago National had a clear choice: a young man with a future to lead the party or an elderly man to take them back to the 1990s. They took the latter course to move back to the 1990s. If we watch the Leader of the Opposition move around the country he is recruiting 1990s men to advocate 1990s policies to further drive the knife into the poor and dispossessed of this country. And that is the irony of today’s debate. It is a year later that the Hon John Tamihere whose commitment to working for the underprivileged the marginalised and the disadvantaged at huge personal expense has been demonstrated by the manner in which he has been excoriated by flippant right-wing individuals of this House. It is easy to make slurs under privilege it is easy to make accusations under privilege it is easy to rake through the coals of someone’s past and raise matters that are half-truths but it is much harder to come up with real substance. 
The real pity about that of course is that at a time when this country might need some leadership the House lowers itself to the level of the worst members of the Opposition. I do not want to go into that behaviour. I do not want to go into the flip-flops of the man who helped others down the stairs and paid the court $8500 for the privilege. I do not want to go into the story of the man who could not tell the truth under oath—at least that is what the High Court judge understood it to be. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: No he didn’t say that at all. 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: He disbelieved his evidence on oath which is the same as not telling the truth on oath. I did not mention that man but he spoke up in response so clearly it touched a key point. 
In the last 12 months we have seen a history of uninformed comments of not understanding what is really happening in this country of trying to grab headlines on the back of people who try to do well in this country. 
Ron Mark 
: Didn’t this man defend a child murderer? 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: Mr Ron Mark would have to understand that people who are accused of crimes are entitled to a good defence. I would have thought he would be the last person to throw any stones in that regard. 
Look at the current issue before this country which is the attack upon the Parliament by the Chief Justice and members opposite make no comment or raise no issue in the House on what really is a major constitutional issue. Our Chief Justice claims not to have thought she would be reported at an international conference and makes a criticism of the Prime Minister over issues apparently about the Budget. That is an issue that Parliament should debate. It is an issue that has been ignored in this House over the last week as people hunt around for scandals to ride to achieve 5 minutes of notoriety and perhaps a little bit of fame. 
Interestingly those who throw mud pay the price. We need to look at the polls. Who is the person throwing the mud? It is the leader of the “1 percent party”. Who are they throwing the mud at? At the person who has 86 percent support in this country—John Tamihere. Every poll indicates that he is a man who has achieved something a man with a future and a man who deserves a fair go. These people who throw mud in this House the “1 percent” and those on the way out ignore the harm on the family of someone who comes to this House—the young children and the wife who spend their time at home. They listen and are not able to defend themselves. 
Ron Mark 
: Tell us about Tuku’s underpants. 
RUSSELL FAIRBROTHER 
: If the member is comparing $89 underpants with the accusation that Mr Tamihere is facing he should go and change his. We have the politics of bitterness the politics where we ignore the issues of the day to try to pull down an individual for some short-term personal achievement. I am proud to stand here as a member of the Labour Party at a time when John Tamihere is on the ropes. He is a man who whatever he has done wrong if anything has given more to this country than those who are yapping on the Opposition benches. He has worked harder for people who need to be represented than those who foot-dance around policy.