11. Water Supplies—Bottling and Use by Corporate EntitiesHon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Minister for the EnvironmentWater Supplies—Bottling and Use by Corporate Entities11. Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Minister for the Environment: Does he stand by his many statements last week that it's not worth looking at a royalty on water used for bottling?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): I stand by my actual statement: you cannot look at charging for bottled water in isolation. My plea is that a discussion on water pricing be done in a thoughtful and careful way because bottled water is such a small fraction.Hon David Parker: How does he reconcile his statements last week with Bill English now asking an advisory group about charging a royalty on water used for bottling?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I just quote from the statement that I made last Tuesday on the bridge: We have got an important piece of work being done by the technical advisory group on the options for both the allocation and charging for water and if we are going to have a conversation about it we need to do it thoroughly carefully and make sure we are fair to all users."Hon David Parker: Why did the Prime Minister Bill English say yesterday that Ministers were writing to a technical advisory group to investigate a price on water but only for the bottled water industry; and why did he say the opposite in the answer to Metiria Turei's question earlier today?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Last May Cabinet agreed to the setting up of the technical advisory group and the work programme and all I did yesterday was to write with Minister Guy to the technical advisory group and make sure its deliberations include the issue of bottled water.Hon David Parker: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The point of that question was I thought pretty clear. It was to try to tease out this issue—that the Minister is saying "You can only look at all water." whereas the Prime Minister was saying "only bottled water".Mr SPEAKER: The only way forward is that I invite the member to repeat his question as asked.Hon David Parker: Thank you Mr Speaker. Why did the Prime Minister say to reporters yesterday that Ministers were writing to a technical advisory group to investigate a price on water but only for the bottled water industry; and how does he reconcile that with the opposite answer that he gave to Metiria Turei earlier?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Very easily. If you read the transcript of what the Prime Minister said he acknowledged that there was an important piece of work being done on water allocation and pricing and that that piece of work should include the issue of bottled water.Hon David Parker: Does a company that bottles water and offers it for sale own the water it is selling; if not who does the Minister imagine owns that water?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I suspect it is not much different to the company that takes water and makes it into beer the company that makes it into soft drink or the council that puts water into its town water supply and charges users for that water. The water clearly becomes owned once extra additions are made to it in terms of putting it in either a bottle or a pipe.Hon David Parker: Is he concerned that Bill English's decision to delay receiving advice on a royalty on water use for bottling until after the election will be seen as a lack of the political leadership that New Zealanders rightly expect of their Prime Minister?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Quite the opposite. The timetable for the technical advisory group working on allocation and water pricing was decided in May last year for it to report late this year or early next year.Hon David Parker: To what extent does he attribute the collapse in public support for him and his Government over fresh water to the fact that after 8 years in office most of our rivers outside national parks are more polluted not less and his latest flip-flop on the royalty on bottled water is so patently just another delaying tactic?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I would refer the member to the OECD report out today that actually commends this Government for the amount of progress that it has made with the national policy statement with the national regulations for metering and with the fact that there are now 20 catchments across New Zealand where there are caps on nitrogen—when we actually came into Government there was none.Hon David Parker: I seek leave to table that OECD report which in fact says that river—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat. That OECD report is available to anybody who wants it. [Interruption] Order!"