Hoggard AndrewHon ANDREW HOGGARD (Associate Minister for the Environment): Thank you Madam Speaker. Like the previous speaker Lan Pham this is my first opportunity to speak in this House and I guess never in a million years did I think I would be up here speaking to support the reintroduction of the Resource Management Act (RMA). Spending many years complaining about it it seems a very weird position to be in bringing it back. However sometimes you've got to take a step back to be able to go forward. We were going down the completely wrong track with the RMA and then it got even worse with the Natural and Built Environment Act (NBA). This bill was going to take things in a very bad position. Like the Minister responsible for RMA Reform said we had a piece of legislation that was exactly the same size as what was previously there. It was not making things simpler. As the Chief Justice commented in her submission The Bill is long and complex. It deals with issues of great significance for communities in Aotearoa New Zealand that are frequently litigated before the Environment Court and other courts. To date there has been little consultation with the judiciary about the [applications] of the proposals contained in the Bill for the operation of the Environment Court or for other courts." When the Chief Justice submits against a piece of legislation that should send up a huge red flag to anyone listening that maybe we haven't got it right and unfortunately that didn't happen.Now I dare say the only winners with what is in the NBA are going to be lawyers. It is not going to be the environment. We are going to spend decades and decades working out what these terms mean and the impact of that is going to be a dramatic loss in confidence of many businesses throughout the community trying to get ahead trying to make investment decisions for the future. People will not be able to plan for the future if they are uncertain as to where things are going. Yes the RMA isn't that particularly great and that is why we will be replacing it with decent legislation that we will be working on this term that will respect property rights and ensure that businesses throughout this country people wanting to build can get ahead and be able to do this.I also want to speak about the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPS). As part of this bill we are pushing out the time line for when that is going to have to be reported on by councils to give us an opportunity to replace this. The NPS is truly and utterly unworkable. We are seeing councils up and down this country coming out with plans that are going to be truly disastrous for their local communities. In Otago you are seeing requirements for reductions that are going to take off a couple of hundred million dollars from the local community. In Northland the only option many farmers up there will have is to plant huge tracts of their land potentially up to 50 percent into trees. Now I don't know how many of you saw the article on One News I think it was the previous night talking about the disaster that is happening with planting pine trees and the acidation that is being caused in soils by this. Also you don't have to think back too far to the impact of forestry slash and the erosion that was being caused in the events up in Tai—Hon Member: Or Cyclone Gabrielle.Hon ANDREW HOGGARD: Yeah in Cyclone Gabrielle exactly—thank you. In the Manawatū my catchment we've had a council come out with a plan that they've had to rush ahead because of this time line saying there will be a 50 to 100 percent reduction. They have no idea what that actually means. They've got no time at all to try and decide what this actually means.People talk about the need for swimmable rivers. I am proud of the fact that my daughters are able to go swimming in the river that runs alongside our farm. It is vitally important to me like it is to farmers up and down this country that we take care of what is happening on our lands. Myself and my colleague Mark Patterson will shortly be meeting with catchment care groups talking about the great work they are doing within this country. You know farmers are moving ahead. We need legislation that is going to help us not hinder us. Thank you for the time."