Hughes Gareth: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHughes Gareth: General Debate[Sitting date: 02 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9306. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. We all know that National loves outsourcing: outsourcing public servants; outsourcing how we pay teachers; outsourcing mental health services prisons conservation State houses schooling and Child Youth and Family services; and of course outsourcing its dirty politics. Is it also now outsourcing its political attacks on the Green Party’s environmental credentials? This past weekend National’s man in Epsom David Seymour said he cared more about the environment than the Green Party did. The credibility of this argument has as much substance to it as ACT’s denialist climate policy which disappeared from the website 4 hours before the speech.National members know they cannot attack the Greens on the environment because they would get laughed out of the room. National is the party that gives grand speeches on climate change at the same time as subsidising fossil fuels and promoting coal mining. National is the party that promotes glossy 100% Pure New Zealand posters while at the same time its aspiration for our polluted rivers is wade-ability not even swimmability. What is really at stake here? It is the ancient kauri forests of Northland the rugged beaches in Raglan the golden tussocks of the Mackenzie Country and the primeval wetlands of the West Coast. New Zealanders have an emotional historical and a deep spiritual relationship with our natural environment—or what the Government calls a brand. We are seeing these places that define us in the world being flogged off degraded carved up. It is happening in front of us in broad daylight through conscious decisions Government policies and laws passed in this House.Our Māui’sdolphins are going extinct for fish and chips. Volunteers have had to don hazardous-material suits to pick up oil blobs from Bay of Plenty beaches. Our kids risk getting sick when they swim in our rivers. It is a tragedy and it is a disgrace. Our Māui’sdolphins our beaches and our rivers cannot speak for themselves lobby or donate political funds. If they could maybe they would get a hearing from this Government. It is easy for David Seymour to grandstand at Alan Gibbs’ sculpture farm and say how much he loves the environment but where was he when it really mattered? We were there with hundreds of thousands of Kiwis making history saving Lake Manapōuri. We were there on the West Coast stopping the destruction of our ancient forests. We were there marching on the front lines to protect our conservation estate from mining. Where was National? It was there but on the losing side of each of those arguments. On every step forward National has had to be dragged kicking and screaming. Then when it thinks no one is looking it tries to take us two steps backwards.The Green Party has always been a champion for the environment because it is right; not just because it polls well. We always have. We always will. For 40 years alongside countless individuals and community groups we have championed protecting the environment and we will not be lectured by those with dismal track records on the environment. We however will work with them constructively to try to improve things. From working with Labour we established the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. Working with National we insulated 235000 homes. We have successfully achieved the construction of a national cycleway and now after years of Green campaigning we are finally seeing the missing critical link of Auckland’s rail infrastructure—the central business district rail loop—started. We have saved wetlands. We have cleaned up toxic mine sites. We have achieved a ban on shark finning and we saw our campaign to create the world’s largest marine reserve around the Kermadecs come to fruition. The fact is though the work is not over and the issues are more pressing than ever.In Government we will work with farmers to protect our lakes and rivers. We will scrap the dysfunctional emissions trading scheme and drive a cleaner economy and give Kiwi businesses and Kiwi families a tax cut through our climate tax cut. We will cut the subsidies for oil drilling and we will drive a cleaner economy moving towards 100 percent renewables and making sure Kiwis get a fair deal from producing their own solar power. We know a great responsibility has been entrusted to us by the people of New Zealand: to stand up and be a champion and protector of the environment. While other parties go off and play politics and outsource responsibility we will continue to earn the trust of New Zealanders and focus on what is important: protecting the places that we all love.