Norman Russel: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNorman Russel: General Debate[Sitting date: 25 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13703. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green): There are two agendas that are competing in New Zealand at the moment. There is the agenda for a smarter greener more compassionate New Zealand and there is the Government’s agenda of daft dirty and heartless and nothing could illustrate that more than the debate around theRuataniwha irrigation scheme. It looks like a debate as to whether Nick Smith misled Parliament or not but what sits behind it is that the Government is absolutely determined to pursue its irrigation agenda regardless of the environmental effects.What we know from theRuataniwha scheme is that it is massively subsidised by the taxpayer—both the ratepayers in the Hawke’s Bay as well as central government which will be kicking in a lot of money—we know it will have a huge downstream environmental effect of massive nitrogen contamination as a result of this dam project if it is to go ahead; and we know that the only Government department with thestatutory responsibility to stand up for the environment to speak out for it and to make a submission into this process is the Department of Conservation and that is why the Minister of Conservation had to censor his department and prevent it from putting in a submission that was critical of this dam project.The Department of Conservation’s original submission simply stated the science. The science around this is very clear. When you have a massive irrigation project—hundreds of millions of dollars this project will cost—and then you have tens of thousands of hectares of intensified agriculture as a result you get massive downstream nitrogen pollution with all the problems that causes not only to the native fish in that river system but of course to the recreational trout fishery as well. It is the fundamental destruction of the New Zealand environment.The Department of Conservation was simply going to put in a submission pointing to these basic scientific facts but it was unacceptable to the Government that the department should tell the truth about the freshwater science so it had to be suppressed. It was just the same as when the Government got rid of the democratically elected councillors in Canterbury. Prior to the earthquake it got rid of the elected councillors in Canterbury. They were standing up to the irrigation agenda of this Government so they had to go. That is why the Department of Conservation had to be suppressed and its submission had to be suppressed. It was not allowed to go into this process.The Ministry for Primary Industries of course was allowed to put in a very large submission in favour of the dam project but the Department of Conservation was blocked. What this means is that we are heading down an economic path where we kill the goose that lays the golden egg. New Zealand’s clean green and safe reputation the foundation of our primary sector is being destroyed by the Government while it seeks short-term profits and simply an increase in more and more milk solids. The last drop of milk from the last blade of grass could describe this Government’s economic strategy.Instead of having investment in research and development and innovation making us an innovative economy that makes money from our brains we are simply becoming an economy that digs stuff up and grows milk and sells it to the rest of the world and in the process completely destroying the natural environment that underpins our primary food export sector. As theRiddet Institute—that is theagrifood institute that is an expert in this—pointed out the Government is determined to destroy the clean green and safe brand that underpins our primary sector rather than saying that what we need to do is build on that brand get value out of that brand control more of the value chain from that brand get to know our customers do the research and development so we make more money out of it and at the same time invest in research and development in more innovative industries that can complement the primary sector so we do not build an economy entirely dependent on cows and mining as this Government thinks we should do.That is the fundamental economic strategy issue that is at stake in this argument around theRuataniwha dam. It is a fundamental divergence of views between the National Party which wants to keep heading down this strategy of daft dirty and heartless and the Green Party which says that we need a smarter greener more compassionate strategy and a smarter greener economic strategy that actually adds value and makes us more prosperous and richer rather than simply degrading the natural environment on which our economy depends. That is the fundamental contradiction.When Nick Smith had the motive to get in the way of the department’s report he had the opportunity and the evidence is that he interrupted the report. The reason why he is doing that is not just some accidental reason; he is doing it in order to support theGovernment’s irrigation agenda which is fundamentally undermining the New Zealand economy.