Norman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Norman Russel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 26 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8892. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
8. 
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Minister for the Environment 
: Does she agree with Guy Salmon’s comment that she is a Minister who wants to lower environmental standards? 
Hon AMY ADAMS (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 No. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Well then what does she say to Guy Salmon an ecologist a former National Party candidate co-author of the National Party’s Bluegreens vision statement and one of the architects of the Land and Water Forum who said about her: “This is the first time I have dealt with a Minister who has been wanting to lower environmental standards. This shouldn’t be happening in New Zealand.”? 
Hon AMY ADAMS 
: It is not for me to speculate on Mr Salmon’s motives but I would say to him what I have said to everyone who has asked me that question which is that absolutely the fundamental purpose and protections in section 5 of the Act have not been proposed to be changed. Where we have proposed sections for deletion from section 7 it is on the basis of expert highly respected legal and professional advice. On the contrary Mr Salmon and fellow commentators have provided no evidence whatsoever to back up their wild assumptions. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Does she agree with Guy Salmon an ecologist former National Party candidate co-author of the National Party’s Bluegreens vision statement and architect of the collaborative Land and Water Forum that her proposed changes to the Resource Management Act are “really tantamount to having the Minister direct whether a development goes ahead or not. This is how they do things in China.”? 
Hon AMY ADAMS 
: Well of course not. I would simply say that Mr Salmon in those comments is once more wrong and has shown that he has not understood exactly what was being proposed which is that central government would be able to intervene only where a clearly stated national objective has not been fulfilled. I point out to that member that it is his own party that has been calling for stronger central government leadership to protect environmental standards and that is exactly what we are proposing. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Why does she think Guy Salmon the architect of the collaborative Land and Water Forum said of her changes to the Resource Management Act allowing Ministers to overrule water conservation orders that “That really completely undermines the purpose of having a collaborative process in the first place. It is going back to Think Big days.”? 
Hon AMY ADAMS 
: I have no ministerial responsibility for what goes on in Mr Salmon’s head so I could not comment. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Is the criticism by Mr Salmon of this Government’s environmental policy not simply a reflection of the fact that since the 2011 election the Government has been taken over by Ministers like Steven Joyce with an anti-environmental agenda a takeover by a faction that opposes everything the Bluegreens says it ever stood for? 
Hon AMY ADAMS 
: No.