Delahunty Catherine: General Debate 
Delahunty Catherine: General Debate 
[Volume:652;Page:1859] 
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tena koutou katoa. In this time widely referred to as the recession but more appropriately named the consequences the Greens see an opportunity to address serious environmental issues and to create work. Our Green New Deal is based on the premise that the economy and the environment are absolutely connected which is so unbelievably obvious that we feel we are continually stating the obvious—but in this Parliament one can take nothing for granted. 
One dimension of the Green New Deal is the creation of green-collar jobs in one of our disaster areas—contaminated sites that need a safe clean-up. As the green technology emerges to address toxicity issues we will need people to work with the more than 800 toxic sites that are scattered across our clean green Aotearoa. This may not sound like the most appealing form of waste management but it is a vital job that will enhance more than our tourism reputation. It will also stop our communities from facing exposure to the deadly consequences of our ongoing foolish and romantic relationship with deadly chemicals. Yes we have banned DDT and pentachlorophenol and now endosulfan but the deadly legacy of these chemicals is ubiquitous in rural communities as are the residues of modern versions of these chemicals in many of our foods gardens children’s toys houses forests and farms. The Green Party is on a mission to clean up the use of dangerous chemicals by applying the precautionary principle but we must also clean up the deadly legacy of toxic sites. 
Last week I went to a hui at Wairaka Marae in Whakatane where a wide range of groups met to discuss solutions to what may have been some of the most intractable clean-up issues. Bioremediation technologies are emerging that may well be cheaper and a great deal more effective than the industrial ones used at places like Mapua with such debatable results. Scientists health professionals and local authorities attended the Wairaka hui and contributed positively to the solution but they were not the instigators. The true heroes and instigators of the work to clean up toxic sites are the Whakatane sawmill workers. These mainly tangata whenua whanau are the people whose bodies are the waste dumps for the forestry industry’s reckless misuse of pentachlorophenol contaminated by dioxin in the Bay of Plenty. They are the leaders of the collaborative model because they refuse to pretend that little signs saying “disused industrial site” or the building of subdivisions and supermarkets on top of toxic waste dumps are appropriate responses. Thanks to them we are beginning to find affordable solutions to the toxicity issues. Their commitment is to work with both Maori and Western scientific thinking. They say that if we heal Papatuanuku then we also heal ourselves and that we should look to her for answers. 
There is now evidence as well as hope that indigenous fungi and other natural forms of bioremediation will clean up Aotearoa. The pilot research on the fungi grown on the contaminated sawdust from the Whakatane board mill is indicating that pentachlorophenol and dioxin levels can be hugely reduced. The goal for clean-up is 100 percent because when a millionth of a millionth of a gram can cause cancer birth defects or a range of immune deficiencies anything less than 100 percent is a risk to human beings after a single exposure. However thanks to the sawmill workers and their colleagues we might one day be clean and green again. 
Another issue is often avoided when talking of contaminated sites and that is the pollution of land that may be returned to hapu under te Tiriti settlements. In addition wild foods gathered by tangata whenua such as tunga and watercress are affected by the toxic bioaccumulation of many pesticides. If we breached te Tiriti when we stole land then we certainly breach those articles again when we pollute it. A contaminated site needs to be fully restored to a healthy state as do our economy and our community. 
The final toxic environment that I cannot resist mentioning is the debating chamber of Parliament. Every day as question time degenerates into acrimonious backbiting or disingenuous nitpicking about the Standing Orders I look up at the public gallery— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I regret to advise the member that her time has expired.