Simpson Scott: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: General Debate[Sitting date: 21 October 2015. Volume:709;Page:7419. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): We have heard this afternoon from the Government side some of the very competent blue-green Ministers and MPs who represent the National Party in this Parliament. It has been a delight to hear from the Minister for the Environment the Hon Nick Smith from the Minister of Conservation the Hon Maggie Barry and from the Associate Minister of Conservation the Hon Nicky Wagner because they have been setting out along with Jacqui Dean and others who will follow me exactly what it is to be blue-green in the National Party in this John Key - led Government. It is a party that has done more for the environment in its term of Government than any previous administration in the history of New Zealand. I am very very proud to be part of that Government which is making such wonderful preservation steps and conservation steps on behalf of our precious environment.I have the great privilege of representing the Coromandel electorate. It is by far and away the most beautiful part of New Zealand. It represents the most environmentally precious 4500 square kilometres of New Zealand. It is a great privilege to represent the Coromandel in this Parliament but I do so safe in the knowledge that as a National Party MP I understand completely the benefits that come from our blue-green approach. That means that looking after the environment looking after conservation and looking after our precious natural heritage goes hand in hand with careful prudent management of our economy. The two are not mutually exclusive as the Greens would have you believe. I am very proud that the announcement only a week or 2 ago of the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary is one about which my grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren not yet born will say: “That was a great decision made by this Parliament by this John Key - led Government.”This afternoon we have had released this very good report. It is the first that has been produced in the spirit of the new Environmental Reporting Act and it is the Environment Aotearoa 2015report. It is the first report of its sort that has been produced since 2007 and already Labour’s current environment spokesperson Dr Megan Woods has been quick to launch into the media saying it is a disturbing read.But what about Labour’s history of reporting on our environment? Well you have to go back to the last report which was released in 2007. I want to take the House back to the great chapter 13 scandal of 2008. For people listening they will remember that one Trevor Mallard was the Minister for the Environment in the dying days of the Labour administration. A report on the environment was released and what happened was that a whole chapter was simply deleted. Chapter 13 was simply removed and why was it removed? It was removed quite simply because it reported some bad news about our environment some bad news about our water quality. Rather than confront the issues and approach it in a sensible transparent way Labour and the then Minister for the Environment the Hon Trevor Mallard simply chose to delete chapter 13 from the report. Fortunately the Greens were in receipt of a leaked copy of chapter 13 and they made it available to the public of New Zealand to see and to be viewed and cleansed by the spotlight of daylight. So Labour’s attempt to simply ignore and hide the truth about some of the more difficult challenging areas in our environment simply did not work. That was their instinctive approach.I thought for some time that it has been very obvious that Labour has had a string of lightweight environment spokespeople. Part of the reason that they have had that string of lightweight environment spokespeople is simply that they know that it is not worth a Labour member investing time in conservation or the environment because they know that if they were to do so they would have to trade it off for a Green Party member who will almost certainly become conservation Minister and environment Minister in a Labour-Green Government. That surely would be a horrible thought for any aspiring Labour Justin Trudeau - type personality who might want to make a name for themselves—like Stuart Nash for instance who might want to make a name for himself in conservation or the environment.I am very proud of the work that this Government and that these Ministers have been doing to protect enhance and secure the long-term future of our very precious environment. This is a great blue-green initiative Government and Nick Smith Maggie Barry and Nicky Wagner are doing a great job.