Parker DavidHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green): Thank you Mr Chair. The Gisborne District Council raised a very good point in their submission that the new Natural and Built Environment Bill extends the time that councils can take to lodge criminal proceedings to two years. They noted given their resources are already stretched dealing with the response that they don't have the ability to commit all of their normal resources to investigations particularly around forestry slash. Of course it was the Gisborne District Council which undertook the prosecutions of four forestry companies in relation to slash previously. So they were suggesting that the bill actually extend the limitation period for an offence under the Resource Management Act from 12 months to two years. That's not something that was in this bill. So my question to the Minister is: is it something that he would consider for the subsequent legislation? Forestry slash is something that the community in the affected regions wants people to take responsibility for particularly the companies and those that are responsible being held to account. So is that an option in the subsequent legislation extending that limitation period?My other question relates to what monitoring the Ministry for the Environment is going to assist councils with in terms of the wide scope of permitted activities on rural land the extensive areas which those permitted activities apply to—much more than Hurunui-Kaikōura—and just ensuring that there aren't unanticipated environmental effects despite the changes that the committee is recommending to ensure effects stay on property? So what monitoring and would he consider extending that limitation period for enforcement proceedings? Thirdly is the Environmental Protection Authority able to give any assistance to councils and will there be any extra resourcing to assist with any enforcement that's needed?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): In respect of the limitation period I'm happy to take advice on that but I suspect the advice would be that you should not do that retrospectively. In respect of offences that have already been committed I would have thought that the limitation period that applied at the date of the offence would not be changed even if prospectively the new legislation is adjusting the limitation period for offences later than that. I can check on that point but I expect that's the answer. So in essence no but I'm happy to check on the matter.In respect of the forestry slash issues the forestry industry I think would make the point that in the Hawke's Bay it's actually generally not forestry debris; it's—and I've seen this myself when I was up there—that mixture of you know the—to protect the river banks of a river at high flow if you think of the flow of the river normally being in quite a small channel at the edge of that channel where you would normally have a full flow those river banks are protected by trees often willow trees and that's a good thing because it stops the banks being eroded normally. This has been such an enormous event that it's taken out all of those willows and other trees along the banks of the river and they in turn have banked up at bridges broken through the stopbanks scoured out the stopbanks and ended up on the orchards—in addition to the shelter belt from the orchards and the trees in the orchards—that's not namely plantation forestry slash. In the Gisborne Tai Rāwhiti area those issues are somewhat different and longer-standing as the member well knows. We've set up an inquiry chaired by the Hon Hekia Parata; with Bill Bayfield ex - Ministry for the Environment (MFE) and various regional councils; and a Mr McCloy who's a forestry expert looking at those issues and reporting in the next two months on those issues.In respect of Will MFE have a big presence up there?" no. We are determined that this be a council-led approach. Government is helping councils lead this in various ways. The Ministry for the Environment is not a department—Hon Eugenie Sage: Funding—funding.Hon DAVID PARKER: —that has regional presence. The member's now saying "Fund it." Well you can say that but we actually don't have the people to do that and I haven't yet received a request from the councils to help them do it."